to think we should be able to make our own choice regarding sugar free juice

[starshaker]

I am fed up having to scour the shelves to find drinks that dont say sugar free. Id much rather my kids have a little bit of sugar instead of the crap they use instead of it. My kids mostly have milk or water but occasionally (maybe a few times a week) have diluting juice. Sometimes i dilute fresh juice but i like the convenience of having diluting juice.

Why dont we get the choice anymore?

I agree, I love robinsons squash, but I hate double concentrate because I always forget and have to pour some away and I hate sugar free because it tastes funny and is full of crap, I literally have to spend 5 mins hunting the shelves for the 'normal' squash.. However, I'm just grateful they still have a tiny selection of normal squash left.. I doubt it's long before it disappears...

'Choice' is the result if what people actually buy.

If not enough people want the same as you, it disappears.

Kep writing to manufacturers (especially those who used to make the version you liked) to ask them to reinstate, and to retailers (to ask them to keep stocking such versions as still exist).

Have you written? How did companies respond?

Because apparently were are in the minority wanting sugar rather than sweetners.
Personally for me it is also about taste - sugar tastes much better afaic.
Buit for the kids, its about less mucked about.

But, yes, some labels that clearly should Sweetner free would be excelent for me.

YY OP. Even worse, they are now putting all the crap in drinks that are not marketed as sugar free/diet, so it is even harder to avoid the evil artificial sweetners .

Sainsbury's is one source where you can get 'normal' diluting juice without any artificial sweeteners in it - don't know about the others.

I don't have any DCs and rarely drink pop or juice. I drink water, tea, coffee and wine or gin & tonic. When buying tonic, I usually get small cans of Waitrose or Tesco finest tonic water - even Schwepps has articificial sweeteners in it FFS!

Where are you shopping? There's plenty of it in sainsburys.

Last time I was in both the sugar free and the full fat had sweeteners in :(

Yay to that OP! UADNBU.

Sainsbos and LIDL still do squash with the least number of chemicals in.

Tesco, asda and the co-op. There really arent any other options nearby. I found 1 that said contains sugars and sweetners. WTH is the point of that.

All the supermarkets sell hi-juice with no sweeteners.

This has been the situation for a while. The fizzy drinks without artificial sweeteners are all much more expensive - Appletise, Belvoir etc. I used to buy shloer - but it has glucose-fructose syrup in it so I don't get it now either.

Ribena has varieties without artificial sweeteners. The cordial contains preservatives but the cartons don't. I add water to them to reduce the sweetness.

Very annoying.

I think it is more because a vast amount of the population actually think that they are doing the 'right thing' by buying 'sugar free'. I discovered this after a good number of my friends would offer my DD 'sugar free' cordial thinking that they were buying what I would buy. I prefer DD to have diluted pure juice anyway which is available in small cartons so doesn't 'go off'. I can't believe the junk they put in 'children's' products.

Yanbu. We don't buy sugar free squash either - it tastes like shit. Everything on the supermarket shelf is the sugar free guff, and we don't bloody want it thanks. The crap in that stuff is no better.

I prefer the squash without artificial sweetners too.

But I'm obviously in the minority - the manufacturers are responding to what they believe the majority of the population want and will buy. Which is sugar free squash (with added artifical sweetners), because it's perceived as healthier.

Yes some one else who feels like me. lucky we have a local Sainsbury, so get juice there. But you agree right the only place you can now buy full fat lemonade that doesn't also contain sweetners as well is Sainsbury or waitroes. unless you buy a brand like 7up I think sprit have now added them though.

Tis outrageous if I want a product with sugar in it I don't want artificial sweeteners in it to.

Another minority member here. I can splash out on more expensive cordials, but it would be nice to have a cheaper option.

The other drink I have found difficult to source sweetener-free is lemonade. Not sure how I'm going to survive a summer without Pimms

Yanbu. I've started squeezing a lemon into a bottle and adding sugar and water.

My eldest daughter gets terrible stomach pains from sugar free squash and I struggle to find normal not mucked about with orange or black currant squash (well, I'm assuming it's the sweetener that causes the pains, as she hasn't had them since we stopped buying sugar free stuff)

Half the time my local Tesco has run out of the high juice stuff as well

She usually drinks water, but every now and then fancies squash so it's a pain

I wish they'd just sell normal, sugar, no sweetener orange squash

Agree, OP. Artificial sweeteners are the work of the devil. I am not generally fussy about my children's diet (I'm too crap a cook to worry), but artificial sweeteners are banned from our house.

Rock's organic cordial is fine. So is Bottle Green cordial. Fentiman's has no artificial crap in their lemonade, so Pimms is safe!!

Do people really drink that much of squash/juice to make this such a big deal? People seem to be always complaining about this on MN. We never buy squash and very occassionally pure fruit juice which I dilute down for the DCs. They sometimes get given squash at friends or I buy it occasionally when out and about, but it's such a negligible part of their diet the sugar free/full sugar issue doesn't even register with me.

Sainsburys and M&S both sell high juice squash with sugar in.

www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/sainsburys-high-juice-blackcurrant-squash-1l

It has preservatives, which you need to buy something like rocks cordial to avoid, but no sweeteners.

Completely agree. Sweeteners taste horrible to me. Plus I think it's healthier to have a small amount of sugar, which is actual food, rather than some chemicals.

It's not about how much you drink. I usually have one a day and drink water the rest of the time, but still want that one to taste nice.

We usually buy Bottle Green or similar because of this issue.

Sugar and sweeteners is my major gripe!
Lemon Fanta used to be a nice alternative to Coke, now it (and several similar lemon/orangade brands) have been ruined.

I don't drink fizz often and I'm usually after something decent tasting with lunch on a hot day or in a pub because I'm driving. I do not like the taste of sweeteners and really would like a choice.

Waitrose hi-juice has been my reliable source of no sweeter squash. Though I noticed last time that a few of the varieties did have sweetners (grrr).

I like the cordial types with fizzy water, but the kids not so keen and like a bit of sugar (they drink plenty of plain water and milk too, so I don't mind a bit)

The worst thing are those damn kids bottle drinks, Fruit Shoots and so on, that all the cafes have. Fortunately my kids have finally given up asking for them and resign themselves to a glass of water if nothing else is available (mean Mum, but that stuff makes them pee like horses for an hour afterward)

mockingbird - do people really want to drink something that tastes nice to them, rather than something that doesn't? Why yes, they do! I'm not sure why you struggle to comprehend that.

Why not list some of your personal food and drink preferences so we can scoff at them and tell you how not arsed about it we are, hmm?