Vegans how much is your food bill?

@Danielle and @Emma JC
I spent an hour this morning researching the soda makers and I don't think I'll buy one.
I only started drinking soda this year. Pretty much instead of beer and since it's both healthier and cheaper than the beer I figure I'm already ahead of the game. I'm not that concerned with the price of soda, but i am a little concerned with the health factor

I'm not sure how long I'll be into soda.

I'm not particularly worried about food colorings making things nonvegan but I'm pretty sure things like coke and Dr. Pepper (and root beer) aren't vegan cause of the food colorings. So I avoid them. When I can find it I've been buying Zevia cause it's vegan and probably healthier.

I've been looking for a Ginger Beer that I like but so far they all are too spicy for me.

I've only been buying one six-pack a week. I keep some sparkling spring water in the frig and will have that quite often. I add some sliced lemons or limes to it. I also have some of those Mio water drops that I can add.

Anyway, I saw this ad for a cyber Monday deal on SodaStream and I became interested in it.

Emma brought up the concern about getting the cartridges refilled. I couldn't find any refill stations near me. But i did find one place that does it by mail.

There is one soda maker called Sparkle that doesn't rely on cartridges. And it has the advantage that you can carbonate liquids besides water. Like wine or fruit juice or whatever.. They sell these packets to carbonate your water. The packets are citric acid and baking soda and you can make it yourself. Making this pretty economical.
 
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@Danielle and @Emma JC
I spent an hour this morning researching the soda makers and I don't think I'll buy one.
I only started drinking soda this year. Pretty much instead of beer and since it's both healthier and cheaper than the beer I figure I'm already ahead of the game. I'm not that concerned with the price of soda, but i am a little concerned with the health factor

I'm not sure how long I'll be into soda.

I'm not particularly worried about food colorings making things nonvegan but I'm pretty sure things like coke and Dr. Pepper (and root beer) aren't vegan cause of the food colorings. So I avoid them. When I can find it I've been buying Zevia cause it's vegan and probably healthier.

I've been looking for a Ginger Beer that I like but so far they all are too spicy for me.

I've only been buying one six-pack a week. I keep some sparkling spring water in the frig and will have that quite often. I add some sliced lemons or limes to it. I also have some of those Mio water drops that I can add.

Anyway, I saw this ad for a cyber Monday deal on SodaStream and I became interested in it.

Emma brought up the concern about getting the cartridges refilled. I couldn't find any refill stations near me. But i did find one place that does it by mail.

There is one soda maker called Sparkle that doesn't rely on cartridges. And it has the advantage that you can carbonate liquids besides water. Like wine or fruit juice or whatever.. They sell these packets to carbonate your water. The packets are citric acid and baking soda and you can make it yourself. Making this pretty economical.
I find unsweetened sparkling water really cheap in the generic brands, like 1 liter bottles for .55 cents.

I remember when Soda stream came out, we all drank soda then, and thinking it just wasn't worth it!

I've always wanted to do this, I love ginger-- Make Healthy Homemade Soda With a Ginger Bug
That sounds so good!
 
I find unsweetened sparkling water really cheap in the generic brands, like 1 liter bottles for .55 cents. I remember when Soda stream came out, we all drank soda then, and thinking it just wasn't worth it! I've always wanted to do this, I love ginger-- Make Healthy Homemade Soda With a Ginger Bug That sounds so good!
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Silva, your Reaction Score just clicked up to 10,000 !
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Would suck if sodas weren’t vegan, that would be harder than quitting cheese lol
I always thought they weren't. I didn't pay much attention because I didn't drink soda. I thought they all used beetle wings in their food colorings. Maybe that info is out of date. Live and learn.
 
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I think I was 4-6 when I started drinking soda
I was addicted to coffee from the age of four. It was hard to quit. Much harder than to quit smoking.
Now that I don't drink coffee anymore I safe maybe 4-8 euros a month. I know from experience that I can never drink even one cup or else I'll become addicted all over again.
I hope that you find what works for you. And I hope that you aren't being too hard on yourself.
 
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A twenty-something acquaintance saw me leaving Starbucks one day. The next time he saw he asked what I spent on Starbucks a week. I told him that I spent under $2 a week. And I spent maybe another $2 a week on coffee at home. He looked totally surprised. I explained that I only went to Starbucks once a week to meet with some old friends and that all I ever got was a tall black coffee. And at home, I drank less than one cup a day (on average).
He admitted that he had asked cause he was trying to save money and was going to budget for Starbucks. He thought that his weekly Starbucks bill was over $30 a week. Then it was my turn to look surprised. but later I realized that if you got fancy frappes and lattes every day you would be spending that much.
 
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I go through a 12 ounce bag of coffee about every ten days. That’s with having one cup a day. I can spend anywhere from four dollars to eight dollars depending on what brand coffee I buy and that depends on what’s available. But there are three of us and we each have one cup a day. So three bags of coffee every 10 days or so. I feel like that’s a lot of coffee. But it’s cheaper than going to Starbucks every day.
 
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I don't even know what I spend anymore! I spent so much of my life scrimping, and now I feel more than fine to just spend-having said that, I am naturally a frugal person, so don't really spend that much!
Like coffee- I buy Aldi German fair trade blend at I believe, $4.99 for 17.6 oz. Good coffee, good price
I should date a bag and find out- it's between myself and my son
 
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For me it’s an issue of liking it so strong and using a pour over. I end up with a very small cup of coffee in the morning because I try to stick with three scoops for 6 ounces of water I maybe get a little more than 4 ounces of coffee out of that. ☹️
 
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Ahhh. I wasn't quite sure how many cups of coffee a bag of coffee makes.
I used to have 12 oz of coffee everyday. But now I don't have coffee every day. to make 12 oz of coffee I use 3 tbsp. but I don't know how many tbsp is in a 12 oz bag of coffee.

Would you say it's about 20 tbsp?

My favorite coffee is the Fairtrade/shade-grown coffee at Starbucks. It's about $12 for 12 oz. If i drank more coffee I probably would buy the regular coffee.
 
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I’m so bad with math! There is approximately .36oz in one coffee scoop. So I rounded it off and figured 3 scoops per ounce. So is that 36 scoops in a 12 oz bag? Making 12 cups of coffee? 🤦‍♀️ I should probably be embarrassed to even attempt to figure this out but I’m not lol. So there it is. Someone else can sort it out and correct me haha.
 
For me it’s an issue of liking it so strong and using a pour over. I end up with a very small cup of coffee in the morning because I try to stick with three scoops for 6 ounces of water I maybe get a little more than 4 ounces of coffee out of that. ☹️
Arabica is stronger than other varieties, so you (might) save some money if you start using that. Might, because arabica can also be more expensive than the other ones, if I remember correctly.
Arabica was my favourite. And it still smells good.
You can also buy your own coffea arabica. It's a house plant and with it you can grow your own coffee beans. But for the most part the plant is toxic, so those who have pets or kids probably shouldn't get one.
 
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I’m so bad with math! There is approximately .36oz in one coffee scoop. So I rounded it off and figured 3 scoops per ounce. So is that 36 scoops in a 12 oz bag? Making 12 cups of coffee? 🤦‍♀️ I should probably be embarrassed to even attempt to figure this out but I’m not lol. So there it is. Someone else can sort it out and correct me haha.
I'll try and check your math tomorrow. But... I think I get more than 12 cups of coffee per bag. I'm thinking about 40. When you say scoop - do you mean a tbsp or the thing that measures coffee. My coffee thingie holds 3 tbsp. and i use one tbsp per 4 oz of coffee.
 
I'll try and check your math tomorrow. But... I think I get more than 12 cups of coffee per bag. I'm thinking about 40. When you say scoop - do you mean a tbsp or the thing that measures coffee. My coffee thingie holds 3 tbsp. and i use one tbsp per 4 oz of coffee.
It seems crazy only 12 cups. I just know we are always running out of coffee. I use a scoop that came with the pour over. I think it’s a tablespoon. I’ll compare the scoop with a measuring tablespoon in the morning.