I drink a fair amount of Crystal Light type drink mixes (though I usually buy the Walmart or Target brands, because they're cheaper but come in a lot of the flavors I like).

If you think sugar free drink mixes such as Crystal Light are evil, read no further, this won't be the thread for you. There are a lot of threads on 3FC where you can voice critical opinions about any sweetener you choose to criticise, but I would like this thread to be for recipes rather than warnings. We've all heard the warnings (and if you haven't, look it up, do your research, and make your own decision).

You don't have to use a particular kind of sweetener (since there are many unsweetened drink mixes to which you can add your sweetener of choice whether sugar, agave nectar, stevia, Splenda, Aspartame, xylitol or anything else.

Obviously if a drink mix is not made using the sweetener of your choice, you will have difficulty recreating the blend (but you probably can come close with unsweetened packets and whichever sweetener youi do prefer).

So, if you do use drink mixes (plain or unsweetened) and blend the flavors, how about posting some of your combinations here?

I often combine drink mixe flavors to make new flavors. Here are a few of my recipes (the trick of combining two packets but the sweetener and water for only one from a women's magazine article).

Strawberry Lemonade

1 packet (not the single serving size, the standard packet that makes 2 quarts) sugar free lemonade drink mix (Crystal Light or any brand)

1 packet unsweetened strawberry drink mix suck as KoolAid or Wyler's.

Mix in 2 quart pitcher (or larger) and add water to desired strength (start with 2 quarts).




Strawberry Margarita

Same as Strawberry Lemonade, but instead of lemonade, use margarita or lime margarita drink mix (Target and Walmart sell the Crystal Light margarita as well as their own store brand called lime margarita at both Target and Walmart).



Pomegranate Cherry Lemonade

1 packet (standard size) sugar free lemonade drink mix
1 small (individual serving) packet sugar free pomegranate cherry drink mix (Walmart carries their own brand as well as the Crystal Light).
2 quarts water

(If you can't find the individual size, you can pour about 2-4g or about 1/4 the packet into the pitcher. Add a little extra water about 2 cups).


Peach Melba

to make a gallon:

1 packet Peach or Peach Tea flavored sugar free drink mix
1 packet raspberry ice or raspberry tea flavored sugar free drink mix
4 quarts of water


you can also use the small packages and just use 32 to 40 ounces of water.

When I use the small packages I make a bit more than 2 quarts by using 2 packets of each flavor.


So am I the only one who mixes flavors? If not, what are your favorite blends.

Walmart brand apple flavor (not the appletini) warmed up with a bit of cinnamon is almost like having a mug of hot cider...for only 5 calories.

Crystal light mojito is also also quite tasty when warm (or cold).

I never thought of having it warm! Or mixing flavors! WOW! Maybe getting my fluids in just got easier

Kaplods, you're a friggin genius.

I'm going to go check my stash and see what I can mix up.

All I've ever done is added True Lime to the Crystal Light mojito - it's just not lime-y enough for me.

I have a friend who likes to mix flavors of the Mio liquid - blueberry lemonade with cherry caffeinated is pretty good.

I love mixing my flavors! I usually have 2 bottles of koolaid w/sweetener or crystal light going with different flavors and mix them as I go through the day. I think my favorite is pink lemonade and black cherry.

Hubby is constantly exasperated at my drink mix "collection." It really is a mini hoarding situation (though the "hoard" is convined to a 10" cube-shaped plastic container in the pantry.

We'll be out shopping, I'll see a "new" flavor and have to buy it, and hubby asks "Don't you have like a bazillion drink mixes at home?"

Flavor, novelty and variety are really essential to me. I've often said that I'd rather have a horrible food experience than a boring one. I love trying ethnic dishes and really do have more fun trying something I end up thinking is absolutely horrible than eating something I consider super-boring (like pizza and mac-and-cheese, which I always found TERRIBLY boring until I stopped eating wheat because of the skin reaction I'd get. Now pizza and mac-and-cheese sound good because it's been so long since I've had them).

One of my favorite KoolAid flavors when I was a kid was the green lime (that doesn't taste anything like real lime). Only when you add artificial sweetener, it just doesn't taste quite like I remember.

However, if you combine it with sugar free lemondade (1 packet unsweetened Lime Koolaid and 1 packet of sugar free lemonade, and 2 quarts of water), it tastes more like I remember. Although it's more like a cross between lime KoolAid and the green flavor of those tiny, little plastic jug drinks that had foil caps, remember those?)

And cherry mixed with orange tastes like cherry sweet-tarts (if it's the right cherry. I think if I remember correctly, it's the Walmart cherry sugar free).

I found "lemonhead," and "cherryhead" sugar free mixes in the Dollar Tree this summer, and they really tasted like the candies. I fell in love with the cherry, but they've either discontinued it, or it's a seasonal item (man it was really good).

It was a little too tart to drink a huge glass of it, in fact it was tart enough that it helped me drink more plain water, because I wanted water to wash it down with.


I also like to mix dry sweetened sugar free drink mix into greek yogurt, or my homemade yogurt. (Stirring one small package of sugar free pudding mix into 6-8 ounces of yogurt, along with a tsp of cherry or other fruit flavored drink mix makes a rather good cheesecake substitute).

I too hoard drink mixes. I LOVE this combos though and can't wait to try some out.

I've been having a bit of fun after hoarding some MiO when I found a number of them at Dollar Tree. Throwing it into seltzer tastes like soda so for me I get an endless number of flavors of soda! Hahaha.

Probably not any better than diet soda, but I certainly enjoy the concoctions nonetheless

Has anyone had the NICE brand flavor drink mixes? I stumbled across them at a Rite Aid in NJ when I was there over the summer and recently found that the walgreens near me carries them as well. I find that their pink lemonade mix just tastes a bit better than Crystal Light—it's not quite as strong. I always need to mix the crystal light mix in a bigger water bottle, but the nice one tastes fine in a smaller water bottle. I still have a box, but I'm glad to see I can get it locally.

I always pick up new flavors whenever I see them. I got my father and brother hooked on the orange crystal light when I picked some up because it looked interesting. Of course, both now know that I always carry some in my purse and will turn to me when we're out and about and they're thirsty. "What flavors do you have today...?"

I have to say though, Peach Tea is still my favorite out of all of them. We're out of it at the moment and I am a bit annoyed at that.

I'll have to look for the Nice brand next time we're at Walgreen's. I too find most lemonades too strong. Which makes my love of the lemonheads brand I found at Dollar Tree even funnier, because it's like super, duper strong. But it's kind of fun when I'm craving candy.

Ok here's a fun question for the group - Any one else have a problem with open packets and their storage? Or am I the only one who ever uses partial packets.

I used to fold over the tops and close them with a paper clip, then I discovered teeny, tiny tupperware-style containers at Dollar Tree (God I love these).

Hubby hates them because they get stuck in the bottom of the dishwasher - so he's always throwing them away (and I'm always buying them again. It's a funny passive-aggressive war we have going on).

I actually have a preference against Mio and even the individual packs, because the cost per beverage is outrageous compared to the cost of the 2 quart pack. So what I'll do is pour the 2-quart packets into these tiny tupperware style containers and then dip out what I want to make my own single servings.

The problem with doing that is I need a teeny-tiny little spoon to measure out the drink mix so I can better guess how much I'm going to need (I wish McDonald's coffee stirrers were still spoon shaped, that tiny 1/8 or 1/16th teaspoon would have come in handy).

Hubby hates the little tubs so much that I'm trying something new (and he hasn't complained yet).

I have a big spring clip refrigerator magnet on my fridge, and when I use a partial pack of drink mix, I'll fold the top of the package over and then clip it into the clip (sometimes there'll be three or four partial packages clipped to the fridge this way).

Initially, I figured that they'd spill onto the floor (and figured it would illustrate to hubby the value in the teeny-tiny containers), but now I like it better than the container system, because I was always forgetting WHICH open packages I had in the containers so I'd have to label them, and even then (because my box is so packed) that I'd forget which packet flavors I had open, so there might be three or five - or more - little containers filled with the same flavor. And after a while the powders, once open to the air do start to clump. Even in the containers they will clump if not used. Having them on the fridge helps remind me to use them quickly and to not open another packet of the same flavor.






Sunless Not-so-Sweet, Sweet Tea

I also make a "sunless tea" by filling a gallon pitcher with water (I actually fill it a little past the gallon mark, because in my pitcher, I can). Then I add one 2-qt packet of drink mix and a few tea bags, and leave it in the fridge at least overnight (usually I forget and just leave the tea bags in until the pitcher is empty, though if I do that I don't drink the mix past 5pm if the tea bags aren't decaf or non-caf herbal teas).

I mix-and-match the tea and the drink mix flavors. I like mixing more than I do matching, but once in a while I'm in a matching mood: matching say a raspberry green tea with a raspberry or other berry drink mix, or a a peach or peach tea drink mix with a peach flavored bag tea.
Any way I use them for taking salad dressings to restaurants (so few restaurants have a decent low-calorie dressing), though I put it in a ziploc bag just in case the seal isn't so good). I use them as pill containers in my purse as well, and I use them for storing partial packs of drink mix.

Ooh also, does anyone know if Walmart has discontinued the cranberry drink mix, or is it just a seasonal flavor? I'm hoping it's seasonal (like Sierra Mix diet cranberry).

If it shows up, I'm going to be stockpiling the stuff, because I love it (and hubby does too. It's one of the few drink mixes he'll actually drink).

He actually likes Jamaica better (we discovered this at a Mexican restaurant). We buy the packages of dried Jamaica (hibiscus) flowers from a Mexican grocery store. There are tons of recipes online so I just look one up to guesstimate the right flower-to-water ration before simmering the flowers (I don't add any sugar or other ingredients that are in some recipes).

Then I just sweeten to taste. It has pretty much a sweet-tart cranbery flavor. Very good, but I don't always want to simmer flowers on the stove before making a drink mix, and if I make enough for a pitcher, hubby drinks it all before I'm ready for my second glass (at least if I make it, I get the first glass).

The jamaica is also really good unsweetened and mixed half-and-half with the Crystal Light or Walmart pomegranate-cherry (for me that's about the perfect sweetness level).

I think I might have some of those dollar tree containers. I know my mother bought some small ones at dollar tree and said she was going to use them for dressing. I don't use dressing on my salad, so I haven't had any use for them.

I know MiO is expensive, but when it goes on sale (or it winds up at Dollar Tree!) then it really isn't that bad

I LOVE those big crystal light mixes. You would think they were going out of style the way we've stocked up at my house! We've got lots of fruit punch and pink lemonade, which makes me want to try mixing SOMETHING with all of that plus the little packets (like maybe orange and pink lemonade? hmmmm). Especially since I'm probably going to be stuck home the next few days with Sandy barreling up the coast.

I've never really thought of a way to store the packets once opened though. I usually hold onto bigger water bottles (the 32oz ones) and throw a packet in there.

Halloween combo

Tonight I mixed pink lemonade (2qt) with a packet of lime KoolAid (the unsweetened green packet with 2qts water.

I've made this before with yellow lemonade and the color comes out pretty much like you'd expect lime KoolAid to look, but I didn't have yellow lemonade, so I used pink, and the colore ended up.....

a very sickly green.


And I made it worse by combining (in my glass) a half glass of strawberry margherita and a half glass of the lime-pink lemonade, and it made a very weird brownish-greenish-reddish mystery color -sort of swamp mud color.

I like a 3:1 ratio of Cherry Pomegranate and Margarita Crystal Light.

So yummy.

I use those small containers, too, and use a device made to hold small items like bottle tops and nipples in the dishwasher. You can find one in the baby supplies department at Walmart. Give it a try!