The summer of 2018 is fast approaching, and it is hard to believe that I first posted this recipe six years ago and I still use it on a regular basis. Since I originally posted this recipe, many things have changed in my life including the fact that I have been on a ketogenic diet now for almost two years so it was time to update this article once again. Summer is rapidly approaching and many of you who are on a low-carb, ketogenic or paleo diet will be out in the heat working, playing, sweating and consuming commercial low-carb sports drinks like Gatorade G2 © and Powerade Zero ©. There is however a better alternative to these high priced commercial sports drinks. Don't misunderstand me, I am not advocating that you stop using electrolyte replacement drinks, rather I am in favor of reducing their impact on both your waistline and your wallet.
Depending on where you live, low
calorie sports drinks such as Gatorade G2 © and Powerade Zero © can
cost anywhere from $1.00 - $2.00 for a 20 ounce bottle. What would
you say if I told you that you could make one gallon of your own
electrolyte replacement drink for less than 30 cents? And that this
sports drink contains almost the exact same electrolytes as it's
commercial counterparts? That's an amazing 5 to 8 cents per 20 ounce
serving or a 95% savings over commercially made electrolyte
replacement drinks! Impossible, you say, not at all. So let's get
started!
Frugalade F2 (Zero Calorie)
4 quarts of water (128 ounces)
2 packages store brand or Kool-Aid
powdered fruit punch
½ teaspoon liquid sucralose (sweetness
equivalent to 1 cup sugar)
¾ teaspoon Morton kosher salt (1440mg
sodium)
1/4 teaspoon Morton Lite salt (290mg
sodium, 350mg potassium)
Total Recipe
Calories – 0, 0 grams fat, 0 grams
protein, 0 grams carbohydrates
Electrolytes: sodium 1440mg, potassium
350mg
Per Serving (20 ounces)
Calories – 0, 0 grams fat, 0 grams
protein, 0 grams carbohydrates
Electrolytes: sodium 270mg, potassium
55mg
Heat a pint of water (2 cups) in the
microwave, in your 'hot shot' or in a small pan on the stove just
until it boils, then add the salts and remove the pan from the heat.
Stir until the salt is completely dissolved. Add the powdered fruit
punch or your favorite flavor of Kool-Aid to your one gallon water
pitcher then pour in the water with the dissolved salts and then top
off your container with water to make one gallon and refrigerate.
Once cold, use it as you would any sports drink.
Chef's Note: I pour all of my dry ingredients into a 1 gallon Gatorade container, I use a small Sunbeam 'hot shot' hot water dispenser to heat up 2 cups of water then add the hot water to the gallon container, swirl it all around until it is mixed, then top it off with tap water, put the lid on it and throw it in the fridge. Takes me less than 5 minutes to make.
Chef's Note: I pour all of my dry ingredients into a 1 gallon Gatorade container, I use a small Sunbeam 'hot shot' hot water dispenser to heat up 2 cups of water then add the hot water to the gallon container, swirl it all around until it is mixed, then top it off with tap water, put the lid on it and throw it in the fridge. Takes me less than 5 minutes to make.
The Comparison
So lets look at how our homemade
Frugalade F2, stacks up against the competition when it comes to
actual electrolyte replacement.
Frugalade F2 (20 ounces)
Calories – 0, 0 grams fat, 0 grams
protein, 0 grams carbohydrates
Electrolytes: sodium 270mg, potassium
55mg
Gatorade G2 © (20 ounces)
Calories – 0, 0 grams fat, 0 grams
protein, 0 grams carbohydrates
Electrolytes: sodium 270mg, potassium
75mg
Powerade Zero © (20 ounces)
Calories – 0, 0 grams fat, 0 grams
protein, 1 grams carbohydrates
Electrolytes: sodium 250mg, potassium
57mg
As you can see, all of these
electrolyte drinks are zero calorie or have less than 1 calorie per
20 ounces. The Frugalade F2 Formula has the same amount of sodium as
the Gatorade G2 ©, and has 20mg more sodium than the Powerade Zero ©
per 20 ounces. As for the potassium, the Fruglade F2 has 20mg less
potassium than the Gatorade G2 ©, but only 2mg potassium less than
the Powerade Zero ©. So when it comes to electrolyte replacement,
the Frugalade F2 is comparable in every way to commercial electrolyte
replacement sports drink, with the exception of the impact it has on
your wallet.
It only costs you 29 cents to make one
gallon or six 20 ounce servings of Frugalade F2 which is about $0.05
per 20 ounce fluid oz serving. A one gallon bottle of Gatorade G2 ©
for example, is about $5.00 at my local supermarket, BTW that's 17
times more expensive than homemade.
Conclusion
Six years later, I still use and enjoy
my Frugalade F2 Formula. I have even streamlined the making process
and have changed the instructions to include those changes. I have
abandoned the ½ gallon recipe and make my frugalade in one gallon
batches as I obtained a couple of old 1 gallon Gatorade container's
from my mother-in-law. However, If you want to see the original ½
gallon recipe check out my original article 'Make Your Own Sports
Drink' on my blog.
As for the taste, side by side I could not taste any difference between the two. I am not saying that Frugalade F2 is delicious, simply that it tastes just like Gatorade G2 © and that was my primary goal. If you want a wider variety of flavors, you may need to use Koolaid © brand of drink mixes. My local supermarket only has three flavors in the store brand: fruit punch, grape, and lemonade. This will increase the cost a little, as Koolaid © in my area sells for about 25 cents as opposed to the store brand of 12 cents per package.
If you have read any of my keto
articles then you know we use a liquid form of sucralose to sweeten
all of our recipes, and nothing has changed with this recipe. You can
however, make your own Gatorade G2 © clone, by using Splenda, or any
other keto friendly sweetener that you prefer. So what if you are new
to keto and you do not have liquid sucralose or one of those other
keto sweeteners? Well, you can make your own Gatorade G2 © clone, by
using Splenda, or any other keto friendly sweetener. Before we
started using liquid sucralose, we used the Walmart version of
Splenda labeled as 'Great Value No Calorie Sweetener'. If you use
Splenda, the amount of sweetener used will vary per your personal
preference, but for one gallon recipe I would suggest ¾ to 1 cup of
Splenda.
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