To think summer is ruined?

[Panicmode1]

I thought, as it's going to be a nice weekend, I would get some Pimms and lemonade - but I couldn't find a single lemonade in Sainsbury's that didn't have aspartame/sweeteners in it.......

So AIBU to think summer has been ruined? What is one to drink at the events of the season now?

Try Fever Few brand. Top notch tonic water and I think they do lemonade.

Sparkling water?

Move over to limonchello with prosecco instead as a summer drink.Yum.

OP Waitrose in Edenbridge too.. However just order it to be delivered and your all sorted..

Sorry, don't want to take this off track but a quick question for those that don't like/can't have sweetener, can you let me know what toothpaste you use? I would like one without sweetener but they all seem to have it.

Well, I must be doing Pimms wrong because I tried it once after reading too many Jilly Cooper's and it was foul. Foul. Rupert lied to me.

Honestly, just have a G&T or pear cider. Or drink anything from old man's shoe - would taste just like the Pimms I had.

How do I make it so it doesn't taste like fermented evil?

@JosieJasper I use Sendodyne Pronamel mostly because it doesn't have the Sodium Laurel Sulphate in it that gives me mouth ulcers.. I am not desperately keen on the taste but nor do I hate it.

Thanks mumsnet. I have just bought 4 bottles of Waitrose lemonade and 6 cans. Bought a bottle of gin too! Chin chin!

Lemonade recipe:

1 - 2 ratio water to sugar
Bring to boil
Cool
Add fresh squeezed lemon juice
Pour into pitcher
Add more water
Pour over glass of ice

All to taste. Substitute estivia which is a natural, plant sweetener if you prefer sugar free. I use beet sugar which is usually what you get if it doesn't say "cane" sugar.

Cheers.

Even San Pelligrino is tainted

Yes, I've been to Pizza Express this weekend and had my usual San Pellegrino limonata and it tasted weird. Checked the can and it was the new low sugar formulation 😝. Won't be getting that again.

Local Sainsbury's sell Fever Tree sicilian lemonade, its with the tonic and other mixers rather with the other nasty lemonades.

Loving the apron ^!

@JosieJasper I use tooth powder instead of toothpaste. I found the SLS in toothpaste was what was causing my mouth ulcers, I've had about 3 in the last 5 years instead of 3 a month since switching. Also realised it was causing dandruff too as SLS is in shampoo!

I had this problem. Waitrose own brand does not have artificial sweeteners. Only one I could find. Was two years ago, though...

Pimms is good for you? Genuine question

The fruit that you put in means that a couple of Pimms and you've had your 5 a day. It's practically a health food!

Pimms is immeasurably enhanced by the addition of a tiny bit of dry Martini. It seems to really bring out the flavours.

Someone I know makes fantastic Pimms. Their recipe is one part gin, 2 parts Pimms, 3 parts lemonade and a dash of dry Martini. I'd been to a few parties of theirs and could never work out how I ended up so pissed. Then he told me his Pimms recipe and all became clear ...

Ginger ale is the way to go. I have just got back from the UK, and I'm pretty sure the ginger ale is still aspartame-free (Schweppes Canada Dry, I'm talking about, not sure about "own brand" versions).

I was really upset to find that everything now has aspartame or acesulphameK or sucralose in it. Really upset me, that did. I know it's because of the "sugar tax" but ffs.

Oh and a warning about stevia, if you've never tasted it - it CAN taste like aspartame. I have tasted neat aspartame (university experiment) and can taste it anything ever since - stevia tastes very similar, to me. I therefore can't take anything with stevia in it either.

I stole a swig of DS’s San Pelligrino yesterday. Oh my word, it was revolting.

Sainsbury's yesterday in "a high ITV viewing area": Belvoir brand lemonade. Sainsb own Sicilian lemonade was out of stock. There was at least one other full sugar lemonade on offer. We barely have tofu but fine for lots of lemonades. I wonder where OP is.

I was in Waitrose yesterday, and they were only selling the sweetener-free lemonade in the smaller, 1 litre bottles, which was a bit annoying as I was catering for a barbeque.

Stevia tastes like aspartame to me.

I absolutely fucking hate the taste of sweeteners. & I think those chemicals are BAD news - I'd rather my kids had sugar. What about sprite? Or if it has too much of a distinctive flavour, 7up?

I think they're all trashed too, Shabby, along with Lucozade (of all things!!) There was a thread here recently about Lucozade now being low sugar, thus entirely destroying the reason for its existence. No longer useful for people who need quick sugar fixes :(

Ginger ale all the way now...

Does anyone else find that if they've had something with aspartame they struggle to sleep, or have a "wide awake" spell?

@thelastredwinegum only because it gives me a headache so bad I can't sleep. I also think combining it with caffeine made it much worse before I discovered what was causing the problem. Sucralose is also hideous for me, and to a lesser extent acesulfame K. There are a couple of others that I scan for before buying but they're not as common.

Good old Waitrose! What would we do without them. ❤️

As someone who has a child that is allergic to aspartarine it drives me insane that EVERYTHING now contains it. They really havnt thought about people who can’t have it. Even things that used to be safe can one day contain aspartarine and it never tells you there is a change in recipe so has caused some issues for us and poor DS.