Soda. Wtf are they even thinking at this point. Hell, I ran into a Dollar General to get carbonated water the other day and the only product they had was $9. For carbonated. Water. GTFO
soda is overpriced everywhere, people also stopped drinking them for the most part. i think some places have added tax too. i mostly drink sparkling water with flavours, of different brands. i usually dont mind stevia infused ones much. even in discount stores they are expensive asf. sparkling water is cheap compared to soda, like most of the time its half the price.
Sparkling water with flavours is soda with a different name, friend. And it used to cost less around me, but now it’s the same price as any other soda. We don’t have a special soda tax here.
Soda at the movie theater near me costs $11 now. The entire place is also falling apart and looks like it’s on the verge of bankruptsy even though it’s one of the most well-known locations.
You can pick up a used ball keg, probs $25-30, a cheap regulator, some tubing and a carbonating cap (you can skip the carbonating cap, which last I looked is some $25, just hook the CO2 line to the dip tube, it’ll take longer to reach carbonation saturation, but it works fine), and a hand faucet for $1 and rent a CO2 tank (last time I filled a 5lb cylinder it was $30 which includes the cylinder) and make gallons of the stuff for decreasing spend.
Upfront cost is moderately high, yes thats true, but the more you use it the less it costs per gallon. And no plastic bottles, no questionable water source, no shipping pollution. You just have on demand carbonated water. If you add fruit puree, you can make “Italian soda”, or you can buy the soda syrup businesses and such use if you want, though you’ll want something in a pump bottle and not a box that hooks to a big system…
One 5lb tank of co2 is enough for 5-10 batches, depending how heavily carbonated you like, and each batch is 5 gallons, assuming a standard 1/8 barrel keg, so the math is pretty appealing if carbonated water is a thing you like.
Those co2 cartridges are like $30 for 20 16-gram charges. I have them for my ukeg (pressurized growler). They keep 2 gallons of beer pressurized and dispense it, but I’d assume they are only enough for about 2 liter to carbonate from still. So roughly 10 gallons for $30 vs 25-50 gallons for about the same price (only considering ongoing CO2 costs) with the keg setup.
So you can, yeah, but it’s substantially more expensive in the long run, and a 5 gallon keg plus everything else really doesn’t take up a lot of space. They are tall and narrow, and you need to put the soda syphon thing somewhere, too, and I assume that’s taking precious counter space, rather than sitting in a dead space corner behind a door, or tucked into a closet or something.
Really it’s just a matter of how much you’ll use. If you don’t go through 5 gallons of carbonated water in a reasonable timeframe, like monthly so you can clean everything out, it doesn’t really pay to make a big batch. You can get a 2.5 gallon keg if you want a smaller batch, but those are tough to source used and are thus pricier (place I’ve bought from before has them for $120, about the same price as a full-size keg of the same brand)
its shrinkflationed to maximize the cost. and then larger chains started doing ti to. like with carbonated drinks 8pk vs 12pk, and fruit, energy, protein bars. 5 vs original 6-8. same goes with alot of toothpastes too. og is 8.2 to 5.4, and 5.1 to 4.6, and finally 4.3. i noticed that with foils too at the discount(grocery outlet) they used to have wafer thin for 200sqft, removed to 150max.
they play the same trick with TOILET paper too. try to trick people by reducing the ply and keeping the rolls the same, or the amount of paper the same.
target used to have very good instore brand thier up and up, i stopped buying it when they switched to"deal worthy"
Soda. Wtf are they even thinking at this point. Hell, I ran into a Dollar General to get carbonated water the other day and the only product they had was $9. For carbonated. Water. GTFO
soda is overpriced everywhere, people also stopped drinking them for the most part. i think some places have added tax too. i mostly drink sparkling water with flavours, of different brands. i usually dont mind stevia infused ones much. even in discount stores they are expensive asf. sparkling water is cheap compared to soda, like most of the time its half the price.
Sparkling water with flavours is soda with a different name, friend. And it used to cost less around me, but now it’s the same price as any other soda. We don’t have a special soda tax here.
Soda at the movie theater near me costs $11 now. The entire place is also falling apart and looks like it’s on the verge of bankruptsy even though it’s one of the most well-known locations.
You can pick up a used ball keg, probs $25-30, a cheap regulator, some tubing and a carbonating cap (you can skip the carbonating cap, which last I looked is some $25, just hook the CO2 line to the dip tube, it’ll take longer to reach carbonation saturation, but it works fine), and a hand faucet for $1 and rent a CO2 tank (last time I filled a 5lb cylinder it was $30 which includes the cylinder) and make gallons of the stuff for decreasing spend.
Upfront cost is moderately high, yes thats true, but the more you use it the less it costs per gallon. And no plastic bottles, no questionable water source, no shipping pollution. You just have on demand carbonated water. If you add fruit puree, you can make “Italian soda”, or you can buy the soda syrup businesses and such use if you want, though you’ll want something in a pump bottle and not a box that hooks to a big system…
One 5lb tank of co2 is enough for 5-10 batches, depending how heavily carbonated you like, and each batch is 5 gallons, assuming a standard 1/8 barrel keg, so the math is pretty appealing if carbonated water is a thing you like.
Yep, I’ve altered a decade old Sodastream to use a 20 lb Co2 canister. This is the way.
You can also get a soda siphon that takes co2 cartridges. I’m sure it’s more expensive but takes less space. Also you can feel all cool and retro.
Those co2 cartridges are like $30 for 20 16-gram charges. I have them for my ukeg (pressurized growler). They keep 2 gallons of beer pressurized and dispense it, but I’d assume they are only enough for about 2 liter to carbonate from still. So roughly 10 gallons for $30 vs 25-50 gallons for about the same price (only considering ongoing CO2 costs) with the keg setup.
So you can, yeah, but it’s substantially more expensive in the long run, and a 5 gallon keg plus everything else really doesn’t take up a lot of space. They are tall and narrow, and you need to put the soda syphon thing somewhere, too, and I assume that’s taking precious counter space, rather than sitting in a dead space corner behind a door, or tucked into a closet or something.
Really it’s just a matter of how much you’ll use. If you don’t go through 5 gallons of carbonated water in a reasonable timeframe, like monthly so you can clean everything out, it doesn’t really pay to make a big batch. You can get a 2.5 gallon keg if you want a smaller batch, but those are tough to source used and are thus pricier (place I’ve bought from before has them for $120, about the same price as a full-size keg of the same brand)
Totally. I will only buy soda when it’s on sale for half off. Otherwise it’s like $1 per can and that’s too damn much.
huh, i but carbonated water for like 50 cents a liter at the regular grocery store, and that’s not even the cheap shit.
even the famous brands are cheap. and they often have sales/deals all the time.
Dollar stores are just large convenience stores. Very few products are cheaper than an actual grocery store.
They are great for cheap cards though. I only go there when Mother’s Day or someone’s birthday is coming up.
A lot of items are more expensive per unit.
Like a roll of aluminium foin is half price at the dollar store, but only has 1/3 the foil.
its shrinkflationed to maximize the cost. and then larger chains started doing ti to. like with carbonated drinks 8pk vs 12pk, and fruit, energy, protein bars. 5 vs original 6-8. same goes with alot of toothpastes too. og is 8.2 to 5.4, and 5.1 to 4.6, and finally 4.3. i noticed that with foils too at the discount(grocery outlet) they used to have wafer thin for 200sqft, removed to 150max.
they play the same trick with TOILET paper too. try to trick people by reducing the ply and keeping the rolls the same, or the amount of paper the same.
target used to have very good instore brand thier up and up, i stopped buying it when they switched to"deal worthy"
That’s the poverty trap. Spend ‘less’ up front but way more over the long term whether we’re talking about aluminum foil or car loans.
Yeah they do seem mostly exploitative, but I don’t have any experience going to them.
They didn’t exist where I grew up even when I was poor. We just went to the regular grocery store and clipped coupons religiously.
They used to be halfway decent, but the line must go up.
blessed be the line.
Haha what, 1.5 L of store brand soda water is roughly 30 US cents here, and I live in an expensive country.