Rants and Raves of a Bum: July 2012

My husband and I are MAJOR soda lovers. We spend an endless amount of money feeding our Mountain Dew and Diet Pepsi habits. I was extremely excited to get the goodies pictured above. I have always been curious about the SodaStream and have heard it is a great way to conserve money rather than continuously buying 12-24 packs of soda at the store.

**The advantages of SodaStream's Home Carbonation System include:

Convenience: No need to carry heavy bottles from the store. The SodaStream system is simple to use and requires no batteries or electricity.
Environmentally-Friendly: SodaStream is an "Active Green" solution that minimizes the huge eco-footprint caused by the manufacture, transport and waste of plastic bottles.
Variety: SodaStream offers over 100 flavors to suit everyone’s taste. Regular, diet, natural, fruity flavors, ice tea, energy drinks, sport drinks, tonic and many more.
Space Saver: No need to store bottles of beverages or empty bottles for recycling in your home.
Personalization: Make drinks just the way you love them… more bubbles, less bubbles, sweeter or lighter, even create your own flavor!
Family Fun: The system is quick and easy to use. It's fun for everyone and kids just love it!
Value for Money: Great savings compared to pre-packed carbonated water and beverages.
Satisfaction Guaranteed: SodaStream drinks makers are of extremely high quality and include a money-back satisfaction guarantee.

The eco-friendly features of this product are attractive to me. I have a family of four and it seems like we have a LOT of trash so minimizing our collection of cans and bottles is a great selling feature of the SodaStream. It is also SO incredibly easy to use. The machine has no confusing parts to put together or electrical equipment. You open the back and put the carbonator in, fill the bottle with water, twist it into place, push the button a few times to carbonate the water, untwist your bottle, pour your syrup in and that's all there is to it! The bottle makes one liter of soda and is reusable, so no bottles are going in the trash.

I tried the root beer and lemon-lime flavors. I must say, the SodaStream soda has a much more natural flavor than any soda I've ever tasted. The directions tell you to push the carbonator button three times. I had to push it five or six times to get it to a carbonation good enough for me but the flavor is great! Lemon-lime can be compared to Sprite for me but the difference in nutrition facts is outstanding.

The SodaStream syrups have a significantly fewer amount of calories, sugar, and carbs. You have to make sure your water is VERY cold before using the SodaStream. I stored a bottle of cold water in the fridge for a couple of hours and the soda tasted much more comparable to name brands. If the water isn't cold enough, I noticed the soda tended to go flat.

The SodaStream is also cost effective. You can shop on their Web site or at various retailers around the world (JCPenney, Target, Staples, Sears, and more). Every 10th soda mix you buy is FREE and each bottle of mix contains the equivalent of 33 cans of soda. These can be purchased for as low as $4.99. A 24-pack of soda cans here in Indiana costs around $6.99 ON SALE, so the SodaStream is extremely cost effective.

Will the SodaStream replace my Mountain Dew? Probably not, but it is a great "filler" or alternative to drinking an excessive amount of Mountain Dew. Plus I feel more comfortable letting my kids drink from it, because neither of them are allowed to have soda at this point in their lives due to the high sugar content. I can reduce my carbon footprint a bit with this nifty little machine too!

**Source: http://www.sodastream.com/aboutsodastream

GIVEAWAY

One lucky reader will receive a:

Fountain Jet Soda Lover's Start-Up Kit ($99.95)
http://www.sodastreamusa.com/Fountain-Jet-Soda-Starter-Kit-P184.aspx

It includes:

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

Enter on the Rafflecopter below! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure:

This giveaway is open to the U.S. only. Winner must respond within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen. The giveaway begins July 24 at 12:01a.m. and ends July 31 at 11:59p.m. Kara's Deals and Steals was given a SodaStream product to try and review. I am not responsible for shipment of the prize. I will report the winner's information to the sponsor. All opinions are 100% mine.