Some deals are too sweet

Every so often I’m tempted by a fantastic deal on Sunkist orange soda (along with other 7UP-y beverages), but my kids now inform me they will no longer drink that beverage due to its high sugar content: 85 grams in a 20-ounce bottle.

Ben did the math as part of a homeschool project, and discovered that translates into 20.2 teaspoons of sugar per bottle. That’s a little less than half a cup, in case you were wondering.

Then we got to thinking about how this compares to Kool-Aid, which calls for 1 cup of sugar per 2-quart pitcher. Turns out that a similar-sized pitcher of Sunkist would contain 1.3 cups of sugar. Which is a lot -- but not that much more than Kool-Aid. Where do you draw the line?

I’m reluctant to give up Kool-Aid altogether because it’s so darn cheap. Just the other day I bought 43 packs for $3 in the scratch-and-dent cart at the neighborhood grocery store. Ben informs me that when he makes Kool-Aid -- which he does just about every Friday night, which is the kids’ movie night -- he uses only half a cup of sugar. So we’re keeping this beverage on our “buy” list. For now.