Disclosure: I sometimes earn products or commissions from affiliate links or partnerships on my blog. I only recommend products and services I trust to serve you. Learn more.
Building a homestead in 90+ degree weather has us really working up a sweat. Water is great, but on these super hot days it just isn’t enough to keep us going. Instead of chugging loads of Gatorade with lots of sugar and artificial dyes, I whipped up an easy batch of this in less than a minute for just pennies!
For anyone who has been following along, we have been busy building our cordwood house all summer long. The past few days have been very hot and humid for our region – high temps in the 90’s and heat indices over 100! Yikes!! And while we have the benefit of a roof and a cool concrete slab now, there’s no denying:
IT’S F@#&ING HOT.
We are blessed/spoiled to have both a convenience store AND a small grocery store within a half mile of our house, so I found myself shamelessly going down there each day to pick up some Gatorades or Powerades, depending on what was on sale. Normally my hippie side would be all over the artificial ingredients and such, but I was desperate and stopped caring for a bit. I didn’t really think anything about it until I started reading the labels one day during lunch.
Red 40, Blue 1, sucralose in the “zero” version and up to 50 grams of sugar one bottle of the regular version! 50 grams!!
I’m pretty sure that isn’t helping my body on these long works days. So I decided to scour Pinterest for some good homemade versions. I liked them okay, but none of them quite had that bite I got from the store-bought versions, so I made my own addition of apple cider vinegar and got a drink that tasted and performed like actual Gatorade.
I made one 24 ounce bottle for $.29! TWENTY NINE CENTS!! A 20 ounce Powerade cost me $1.66 at the store!
What’s even better, is that you can completely customize it to be as low sugar as you want! You can:
- Use any juice or brewed tea
- Use whatever organic ingredients you want (or don’t)
- Use honey, agave, or stevia in any amount you want (or don’t)
- Use however much apple cider vinegar you want – my recipe uses 1 teaspoon, which was plenty to give me the bite I like about Powerade Zero without the added gunk. If you prefer less bite, use less ACV.
HOMEMADE “GATORADE”
Basic Version – Dye Free, Gluten Free, Lower Sugar Than Original! – Makes 24 ounces for about $.29!
20 ounces water
4 ounces [organic] juice (any juice you like without dyes, fake stuff, and added sugar! – ours cost $.16 per serving)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt ($.07 per serving)
1 teaspoon [organic] apple cider vinegar ($.03 per serving)
1 teaspoon [organic] honey (optional – $.06 per serving)
Combine ingredients in a bottle and shake! Recipe for 24 oz. has 21.6 grams of sugar per serving as opposed to 35 for regular Powerade. You can lower this considerably by using tea instead of juice and stevia instead of honey.
Gallon Size Recipe – costs about $1.54 to make!
13 cups water
3 cups juice
2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1 1/2 – 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (optional or to taste)
+/- 2 tablespoons honey (optional or to taste)
Combine ingredients in a gallon jug and shake!
Juice Ideas:
Orange
Lemon – Lime
Cherry
Grape
Apple
Pomegranate
Your favorite brewed tea!
The possibilities are pretty endless here, so get creative! I know it’s hard sometimes to get clean versions of the food and drinks that we commonly consume, so I wanted to share how I make mine cleaner than the original for WAY less money! I hope you truly enjoy it!
Like making your own versions for less? Maybe you’re battling a summer sunburn or chapped lips? If so, check out my easy DIY “anything” cream recipe! I originally made it to be a cloth-safe diaper cream for my kiddo, but have found that it’s pretty great for the occasional burn, scrape, or chapping too.
And as always, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more crunchy, hippie goodness. And be sure to check out the great stuff over on Pinterest too!
I plan on making a batch of your Gatorade recipe right away. My husband has been experiencing horrible leg and food cramping at night. He thinks due in part to picking his ripe
blueberries right now. He’s shortly to become an Octogenarian, so no doubt his muscles
are screaming in protest!