Drinking the Kool-Aid

I started regularly drinking Kool-Aid for the first time since grade school.

Although I feel incredibly judged while buying Kool-Aid packets at Kroger, my intentions are rather responsible.

I buy Kool-Aid for two reasons:

1. Staying hydrated in this Texas heat, and,
2. Avoiding the awful ingredients and calories in many cocktail mixers.

So I recently started throwing Kool-Aid in my ice sphere molds. (I bought mine at World Market in Oak Lawn, but they are the same price on Amazon.)

During the day, I pop the colored ice spheres into club soda or mineral water. The ice spheres release a light color and flavor which is identical to many of the expensive flavored waters at the store.

In the evenings and weekends, the colored ice spheres can be used as a calorie-free way of spicing up a vodka-soda or mimosa.

Club soda with purple Kool-Aid ice ball.

Making strong Kool-Aid ice balls.

Diet Sprite with orange Kool-Aid ice.

A blue mimosa made with a blue ice ball.

Kool-Aid ice balls at various strengths.

Some considerations

Here are some things to keep in mind while making Kool-Aid ice cubes:

• For stronger flavor and colors, pour the Kool-Aid directly into your ice tray or ice molds. For lighter flavors, dilute the Kool-Aid first.
• Remember that Kool-Aid stains, so wipe the ice tray down before freezing so your freezer doesn’t resemble a Skittles experiment gone wrong.
• Kroger sells individual Kool-Aid packets, which seems convenient until you realize that the packets are too light for the self-checkout sensors. It’s far easier to buy individual packets through a cashier.

To buy a Kool-Aid packet using self-checkout, you have to select “place in my own bag.” This sends an approval notification to the self-checkout monitor each time, which gets pretty annoying for 15 packets.

Also avoid the temptation to open your Kool-Aid molds early – you’ll just have a colored spill in your kitchen.

I might have learned both of these things the hard way.

Despite the learning curve and glares at Kroger, I think I’m sticking with the Kool-Aid water for the summer.

Club soda with a purple Kool-Aid ice ball.