“Making carbonated water and soft drinks is simple! Turn tap water into sparkling water in under 30 seconds, with no clean-up. Enjoy the freshness and convenience of homemade soda and protect the environment at the same time. No heavy bottles to carry, store at home or throw away. Fizz to your taste and add the flavor of your choice to make your favorite drink. Simple to clean and reuse. With a variety of colors and silhouettes, you’ll be sure to find a soda maker to match with any decor.”
Why I Chose The Sodastream
As you may know, one of my New Years Resolutions was to reduce my family’s waste by 50%. In January, I started writing down all of the things we do or consume that result in something being thrown away, and started searching for solutions that would either eliminate, significantly reduce or allow us to re-purpose them. I also took a closer look at the things we recycle that create a lot of waste during manufacturing & transportation to the end consumer (us).
One of the things I realized when I was taking a closer look at what my family consumes, is they drink a lot of soda! (I personally don’t drink soda, but I do enjoy a glass of sparkling water on occasion.) If it were up to me, I would eliminate the soda all together, but it’s not something the Dear Husband is willing to sacrifice, and thanks to him, our two older children enjoy drinking soda as well. While I am adamant about recycling every soda container that enters our home, I did a bit of research and was disturbed to find out how much energy and resources are wasted to mine the aluminum (and transport it), manufacture the can (and transport it) and fill the can with product (and transport it). I thought that by purchasing soda in aluminum cans (rather than plastic bottles) and mak aing sure to recycle them, I was doing my part to be as eco-friendly as possible, but in all truth the carbon footprint being left behind is still HUGE.
The solution to reducing a good part of my family’s waste and carbon footprint has been committing to make as much of our food from scratch as possible. So I wondered, was it possible to make your own soda too? With a quick google search I came across the Sodastream, and while it’s not exactly making soda from scratch, or 100% waste free, it is a big improvement over buying soda from the store!
Eco-Friendly
The Sodastream is an “Active Green” product, meaning that consumers are actively reducing their carbon footprint every time they make soda or sparkling water at home instead of buying it from the store. Because the Sodastream uses water straight from the tap, the system makes traditional store-bought beverage bottles & cans obsolete. That means less waste is created through manufacturing, transporting & throwing out or recycling bottles, cans and packaging. (Yes, even recycling uses energy!) .
Using your own home carbonation system means:
- Less packaging waste from cans and bottles.
- Less pollution caused by transport of bottled beverages.
One Sodastream carbonator makes 60 or 110 liters, equivalent to 170 or 310 aluminum cans! When empty, the carbonator is refilled and reused, ready to make more fizzy and tasty soda whenever you want it.
Great Value
At just 25 cents per “can” of soda, the Sodastreamis a great value! The Dear Husband drinks about a 12 pack of soda per week, and at the cost of $5.00 per 12 pack (not including the govt. deposit) using the Sodastream will save us about $100 per year on his soda alone! If I factor in the occasional soda my 2 oldest kidlets drink, and what we buy for parties & company, the savings is even greater. The Dear Husband and I also enjoy an energy drink every once in a while, and now instead of paying $2-$4 per can, we can make the Sodastream energy drink for just twenty cents per serving!
Better For My Family
If my family’s going to drink soda, I want it to be as healthy as possible! Regular sodamix flavors have less sugar, calories, carbohydrates and sodium than store-bought brands and contain absolutely no high fructose corn syrup. Sodastream also offers “Sparkling Naturals” mixes, sweetened exclusively with natural cane sugar, and un-sweetened MyWater flavor essences for making lightly flavored sparkling water. The best part is, everyone in my family thinks the Sodastream mixes taste BETTER than store-bought soda!
Convenience
I don’t know about the other mamas out there, but I do 99% of the grocery shopping with little ones in tow, and lugging soda in and out of the cart wearing a 16 pound baby in a carrier isn’t an easy task- especially if there’s a sale and I’m buying in bulk. Thankfully, now that we have a Sodastream lugging around soda is a thing of the past! I also don’t have to store the soda at home, or have a separate garbage can in the kitchen to collect empty cans in. The Sodastream and sodamix bottles fit neatly on top of our microwave, and we have a ton of different flavors available at the touch of a button!
My Experience
I received the Fountain Jet Sodastream to share here on Eco-Crazy Mom, and it’s quickly becoming our favorite new kitchen gadget. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to set up- simply install the carbonator, fill the carbonating bottle with tap water, screw it into the unit, and you’re ready to go. The hardest part was deciding which sodamix flavor to try first! After much deliberation, we finally agreed on good ole Cola flavor. Each of our three oldest kidlets took a turn pushing the carbonation button to add the “fizz”, then we removed the bottled, added a cap full of sodamix and all toasted to a glass of yummy “Cola Free”! Like I mentioned earlier, I’m not a soda drinker, but much to my surprise, I actually enjoyed it. The Cola wasn’t as sweet, nor as fizzy as it’s store-bought counterparts, which are both good things in my opinion. I love that you can control how carbonated your beverage is simply by pushing the carbonation button more or less. The Dear Husband and kidlets were pleased with the Cola as well!
- Install Carbonating Bottle
Fill Carbonating Bottle With Water
Screw In Carbonating Bottle
Push Button To Add Carbonation.
Add 1 Cap Full Of Sodamix, Gently Shake & Enjoy!
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve had a great time trying out different sodamix & MyWater flavors, all of which we considered to be at least as good, if not better than store-bought brands. My two little ones (ages 1 & 6) wanted to try out the Sodastream too, so we experimented adding the carbonated water to various juices creating everything from “organic sparkling cider” to “bubbly lemonade”. We also had some guests over last weekend, and the Sodastream was amazing for creating all kinds of mixers for adult beverages!
Overall, I’m very pleased with the Fountain Jet, and look forward to never to buy store-bought soda again!
Connect With Sodastream
Win A Sodastream!
Sodastream has teamed up with Eco-Crazy Mom to give one lucky Eco-Crazy Reader the chance to win…
- Fountain Jet – winner’s choice of color (black/silver, red/silver or white)
- 1 carbonating bottle, reusable for up to 3 years
- Reusable carbonator to fizz up to 60L of soda
- Variety 6-pack of popular sample-size flavors
- 3 full-sized flavors of the winner’s choice
Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product to facilitate this review, no other compensation was received. Regardless, all opinions are my own and may differ from yours.
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its healthier then drinking other soda. you get to have fun making your own stuff and i just really want to win it for my mother.
less plastic bottle waste
Didn’t realize that Sodastream comes out to just 25 cents per “can” of soda.
I want to try SodaStream because I hate the waste of soda cans and bottles.
I like the fact that it cuts down on waste.
I want the sodastream because it would help me save money and its less waste.
i wanna try it cuz its healthier than soda and because it cuts down on waste !
I would love this because we all like different sodas and buying a 12 pk (or even a 6 pk) gets really expensive. This way we could each have our own favorite soda and will save money too! Plus there’s no empty soda cans to worry about!
We don’t drink a lot of soda but are very concerned with the environment so I’m very glad that sodastream is available. Plus saving the storage space would be awesome.
I’d love a Sodastream because I want a soda that’s less processed, less hassle, and less expensive!
I learner that with sodastream each “serving” is only 25 cents
It is very economical. I mean less plastic, much healthier for you and I don’t have to stand in the pop return dept. anymore. Thank you for hosting this great give away.
i want to save money
My mom is a huge soda drinker, I’d like to get one for her- she wants one but won’t buy one.
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I want to try the Soda Stream because it’s healthier than soda’s you can buy in store. It’s less processed, it’s a heck of alot cheaper, and it cuts down on waste! What’s not to love about that!
I would really love to drink soda as a treat that has less sodium and less sugar.
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Great review!! I absolutely love that there are options without HFCS, and how much money this saves! Really cool.
It’s healthier, and made from tap water.
I would love to have this because its better for the earth in so many ways and its also better for my budget and health (especially if you only buy the naturals line of products)!
angie lilly aka tofu fairy on fb recently posted..frosty black berry
this would pretty much eliminate having to go to a certain big box store for us other than once every couple of months. what I want to know is, how do you get refills of the mix, and can you tell me if it’s local or has to be shipped and how much shipping is?
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I want to try this because I would love to save some $$ because I am a habitual soda drinker. I woudl also love to consume less materials, even if I do recycle the cans I drink.
I would love to try/have it because I think it could be good for health, help me to save a lot money, and it’s very friendly for environment
Thank You So Much for the review!
I would love to have a soda stream because it is so much more healthy for my children and they would LOVE it.
Sounds like my cup of tea…er, soda!
I’d like to try Sodastream because it is a completely “green” product.
I like this product because it is much cheaper and less waste!!
I love the concept of this product, green and saves money.
I would love to try this because I would love to minimize the amount of bottles we throw away. (recycle)
Thanks!
It’s easier and cheaper than buying Sprite all the time and with this system I don’t have to worry about cleaning the top of cans to ensure they are clean and not carrying bug dirt or other disgusting germs or urine from animals running around the plants that get on the cans we drink from.
I like that you can make so much for so little cost and helping the environment as well
LOVE the detail you give here. Really proves the cost effectiveness of this.
I WANT TO WIN ONE!!!! [whine]
This is fabulous! It’s a healthier, less expensive alternative to soda! Thank you for the review!
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I like how easy it is to make at home and not have to carry heavy containers home from the store, but I’m really happy about the reduced waste.
my hubby is infatuated with these things! we tried a sample at our local warehouse store, but i didn’t think it was any good.
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lol My honest answer, I just want to try that thing lol it looks like a gadget I’d like playing with.
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I want to try the soda stream because it will make seltzer water and I drink it all day!
This would be perfect for our spontaneous movie marathons
I’d like to try the soda stream because I think it’ll save us so much money.
I love this idea. We all enjoy different flavors whether it’s soda, water or tea, this would solve the issue and save us a lot of money!!
I didnt know you can make the soda in less that 30 seconds
I’ve heard how easy it is to use, and I love that.
I learned that ….”One Sodastream carbonator makes 60 or 110 liters, equivalent to 170 or 310 aluminum cans!”
kimbuckjr@yahoo.com
I would love to try this as it is green, and has a great varieties of flavors.
I learned that one bottle of flavoring makes up 30 cans, that’s amazing!!
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I am dying to get one of these… especially because they are being plastered all over the blogs! Each time I see one, I feel a need to get one! It sounds great especially b/c I’m not a huge soda drinker, but my hubby is & we can both have what we want. He can have his soda & I can have sparkling water & diet teas. Then on occasions where we host parties or friends for dinner & such, we can accommodate wants of our guests with FRESH soda & other beverages! Thanks for the great review!