You're Drinking....What?

I have friends who like to drink Coke and don’t want to be served Pepsi, and visa versa. Seems like most cola drinkers a have their preferences. My husband prefers Diet Pepsi, my cousin drinks Coke. Myself, I can’t really tell the difference. To be fair I have to confess that I am not much of a carbonated beverage drinker (unless it’s being mixed into a nicely flavored Vodka- then I’m a club soda all the way girl). I’ll drink Tonic water mixed up in a cocktail if that’s what is being offered. I just love the look of a tall cool drink poured over  ice cubes garnished with a slice of lemon, lime or orange. When I’m on really good behavior I even like club soda on ice with a slice of fruit squeezed in there and a pretty little twist.

I’ve found there to be many cultural differences when it comes to beverages and what they are called. Vacationing on the Jersey shore as a college student (from the midwest) we were constantly harassed when ordering a “pop”. The guys at the first bar we tried that at thought it was hilarious. They said “pap”, what is “pap”? When my roommate tried to order Scotch on the rocks that just set them off all over again. “Scaaatch? What’s that”? hahahaha. It was a long week.

Here in the midwest we call all varieties of carbonated beverages “pop”. Maybe that’s short for soda pop. In the east “soda” is requested, as in “what kind of soda do you have”? Don’t even get me started on whether there should be ice in the glass or not. Learned that on my one trip to Europe years ago. Visiting Spain and Morocco on a business trip I quickly learned how to order agua with or without gas, but forget the ice cubes. The lack of ice cubes definitely hampered my enjoyment of the Spanish Riveria’s beach experience. That and the shock that people of every age, size and color were traipsing around topless or in a speedo.

Here’s the point to my story. Although many of my family members like to drink soda pop, I don’t buy it for our home very often because it’s bad for you (too many empty calories, high in acid on your teeth and high in sodium meaning it won’t really quench your thirst). I don’t forbid them from drinking it and they order it when we are out for meals. I just don’t choose to keep it stocked in my house because they’ve all proven they don’t seem to be able to use a judicial approach in drinking it at home.

I push water consumption. Funny thing is it turns out I’m just as picky about what water I’m drinking because I seem to have inherited a discerning palate for water. So over the years it’s been an ongoing debate at our house about what water to drink and how to facilitate that with those who would rather be downing pop. When drinking spring water in bottles became popular I was thrilled. I liked it, made it easy, it was portable and I found the kids more amenable to it. Winning idea, right?

Well, my husband questioned the need to buy water when we could get it free from the tap. I patiently explained that it was much less money than buying soda pop, juice boxes and being able to keep cold water bottles stored in the refrigerator was immensely practical. So, for years it became the way things were done around here.

Until... we became more enlightened consumers and realized how many plastic water bottles were littering the roadsides and overflowing from land fills. So we needed to find a a plan B. We seem to have struck a good compromise that has been working out for us this the past year.

Plan B. I bought a water filtration pitcher to filter out the impurities, odors and bad taste out of our tap water.  Because of the size of our family 1 small pitcher doesn’t do enough water for us and I can detect the plastic taste from being stored in the hard plastic container in the refrigerator. One day while preparing for company I decided to rinse out some of the glass half gallon milk containers we had to store our filtered water and keep it really chilled and yummy.

Result is....it works out great! The glass stores the water and doesn’t add any taste. At any given time you’ll find 2 full glass containers of water in our fridge, chillin’ and waiting for our consumption. In my area, there is an Oberweis Dairy store that sells milk in these great half gallon glass containers. Now, if you’re a milk nut like me, you will appreciate the fresh taste of milk stored in glass containers and in coolers shielded from sunlight. They charge a small deposit for the glass bottle. And if you look closely at my picture you will notice a nifty little plastic spout that my store sells for 75 cents that make pouring liquid out of the bottle really efficient.

We still keep a stock of bottled water in the extra fridge when we need the portability. For the most part we are very happy with our compromise. When home, we mostly drink the water stored in our fridge from glass bottles. It ‘s economical, healthier and a small way to be more environmentally responsible. What are you drinking at your house?

Comments

[The Mother]

We have a built in reverse osmosis unit under the sink. It powers a faucet and the ice maker, so we have clean, great tasting water all the time. I bought some reusable, safe plastic bottles and we keep a few in the frig for drink and run emergencies.

I'm with you on the pop. We don't keep it in the house. It isn't good for you, and when I do buy it, the kids rip through it so fast that it seems as though it never came home.

I don't stop them from drinking it. I just don't support their habit.