Just Peachy! ($.04 per cup!)

I used to have an addiction to Sonic beverages. More specifically a Diet Dr. Pepper with Vanilla Cream added in. Nearly every day I would swing by during Happy Hour and get a Route 44 size. Some days I would get a $.99 Large size in the morning and return for the half priced X-Large later in the day. I've been told for years how bad soda is for you. I have always ignored it. I only started paying attention once I realized that the diet soda might have something to do with the stalling of my weight loss.

I always heard stories about water being the key to weight loss and there is definitely fact in that. Our bodies are composed of so much water we should obviously be replenishing with water in order to be healthy, right? So I stopped drinking soda completely in an effort to start losing weight. It seems to be helping... I'm down 8 lbs in 6 weeks! Of course I have been watching what I eat and exercising 5 days a week but I was doing that while drinking soda and nothing was happening. Hail holy water!

Anyways... back to what I was going to post about. I have been steering clear of Sonic for a long time now. All those half-priced drink trips were adding up and I quickly started to realize how much money per week that I was simply drinking away. $1.42 x 5 days = $7.10 x 4 weeks = $28.40 x 12 = $340.80 per year!
And that's if I was only going once a day Monday-Friday or only buying for myself. There were many times I'd pick up a slushy for kiddos or grab one on a weekend road trip. If we factor those in a few times a month we are talking up to $500.00 per year just grabbing a drink here and there... WHAAA???!!

I will still stop every once in awhile when we leave town for a weekend road trip but rather than getting a soda I have been drinking the wide tea assortment that they have. My favorite is the Diet Green Tea with Peach. Zero calories and 100% delicious! And I have NEVER been a fan of tea...

In an effort to drink more water at home and extending that effort to keeping the money in my pocket rather than Sonic's cash register I have found a way to make that yummy-licious peach green tea at home for a fraction of the cost!

Items needed: Gallon pitcher, bagged frozen peaches ($2.97 Wal-mart), green tea bags ($1 at dollar tree for 30 ct) and tap water.

Before I go to bed at night, I fill a 3 quart pot with about 2 quarts of water give or take - this is no exact science! ;-) When it starts to boil I then pull the pot off the burner and drop 5 green tea bags in and let them steep until the water is cool enough for me to stick my finger in without being burned. In the meantime, I put about a cup worth of frozen peaches in the bottom of the pitcher and once the tea bags have steeped I remove the bags then pour it over the peaches. Fill up the pitcher the rest of the way with tap water and put the pitcher in the refrigerator! DONE! In the morning, once the peaches have infused into the tea overnight, I'll add some sweetener to the pitcher (I have never been a big fan of unsweetened anything!!) I always strive to drink a full gallon of water/tea per day so the following evening the pitcher is ready to be refilled! There is a good chance that those peaches can be used on day two for another pitcher of peach green tea without needing to be replaced! Stretch those puppies out! ;-)

Estimated cost per gallon of Peach Green Tea $1.15 (only $.65 if you reuse peaches on day 2!) I do occasionally like to change it up and use frozen raspberries instead of peaches! Enjoy!