Copycat Gatorade vs. Real Gatorade

Living in Florida is like living in paradise. The sun's generally always out (except for our daily rain storm during the summer) and it's generally warm to hot all year long. But June, July and August are just extremely hot. So hot that most Floridians either spend the summers indoors or hanging out by the beach or pool. (It really is too hot to do anything else.) However, this is the time that Mike decided to start re-flooring our patio. I always say when inspiration hits you have to run with it, so I can't really fault him for the poor timing. (And he's been meaning to get out there all year).

As if the universe knew what was happening in our house, I stumbled upon a recipe to turn Kool-Aid into Gatorade. At first I was intrigued, but didn't really think it would that well. The more I watched Mike sweat, the more I wondered about turning Kool-Aid into Gatorade. Finally  I knew I had to try it and Mike would be the perfect person to test it out on.

The Project

Here's What You Need:

• Sugar Free Kool-Aid (Either packets or container)
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/16 teaspoon Baking Soda
• Sugar
• 2L Pitcher
• 2L Water

Here's How You Do It:

(There are a couple of different recipes for copy cat Gatorade and they all are very similar. I went with the What2Cook version. You can find an exact recipe here.)

Mix the packet of Kool-aid (or a 2 quart scoop) with the salt and baking soda

(I mixed my dry ingredients in a measuring cup to make it easier to pour into my pitcher, but if you're using a wide mouth pitcher you should just mix your dry ingredients in the pitcher itself)  

. Pour into the pitcher. Fill the pitcher with water. Either shake or stir everything together. Add sugar to taste.

(It'll look something like)
Either enjoy or refrigerate

Results:

1.Is it easy to make?

Yes it is easy to make. The only problem I had was that I couldn't find sugar free Kool-aid packets, so I went with just a regular Kool-aid container and omitted sugar from my drink. I also had a 3L jug I was using so I used the recipe and then half to make my Kool-Aid Gatorade.

2. How does it compare to real Gatorade?

At first Mike thought it was too salty and the flavor was too strong for his liking, so I switched to sea salt and used only 2 quart scoop for my next batches. Afterwards he couldn't tell the difference and thought I had just made him Kool-Aid to drink. So I guess it tastes like Kool-Aid but works like Gatorade.

Conclusion

Is it worth making?

I had my reservations from the start about this project. And while it does taste like Gatorade (especially if you go with the fruit punch flavor) and if you drink it, it will replenish the salt you've sweated out, it doesn't replace any of the potassium you might have lost. So for me it's not quite a finished recipe and I've got to research how to add potassium to it without compromise flavor and something we have laying around the house (besides bananas).

However as much as I want to say that its not really worth it (and if you really want Gatorade it might be better to just go out and buy it), but I'm about to make another round for Mike. He really enjoys drinking the Kool-Aid while he's working and I really do enjoying things like this for him. So really there is no harm in making the Kool-Aid Gatorade.

(Eventually I'll get a picture of Mike drinking the Kool-aid while working on our patio)