to wonder why I can’t find a cheapo squash drink that tastes as good as Robinson’s?

[BoldRoo]

DH and I are trying to cut back on our food bill, and something that consistently comes up as a silly cost is the amount of orange squash we all drink (and yes, I know it’s not good for us). I don’t drink any alcohol or fizzy drinks so I rely on enjoying some nice tasting squash, but none of the cheaper ones we’ve tried taste good. Some of them taste really strange and a couple have given me headaches. AIBU to think that whilst most supermarket own brand products are cheap AND delicious, they are massively failing in the orange squash department? Why do they taste so shit?

I can agree that Tesco's double strength Orange and Mango is delicious

@BubblyBarbara Rocks is £2.70ish a bottle though! And the bottles aren’t massive, we could easily smash our way through one of those in a couple of days. Agree that they taste really nice and fresh though.

Have tried quite a few of the squashes recommended on here - agree that some of them are quite nice in their own right, but none tried so far match up to my beloved Robinson’s.

I like asda and ALDI orange high juice

Sorry, I've voted that you're unreasonable purely because Robinsons ruined all their drinks many years ago with the wretched sweetners.

It is only the premium brands like Rocks or Belvoir that taste nice on drinking, don't have hours of aftertaste and on-going thirst and don't trigger headaches. If saving money was the priority, that leaves me resorting to the cold tap.

When I do the squash at a youth group, the smell of the own-brand artificial stuff is really sharp. The apple and blackcurrant smells like petrol. It only has about 2% blackcurrant in it anyway!

Robinson’s orange squash is awful - contains aspartame. Sainsbury’s squash is aspartame free and tastes better imo.

Partner drinks so much of the stuff.

His tried lots of different types, but always comes back to Robinsons....

Different flavour but I love IKEA’s elderflower syrup as a grown up version of squash, I find I only need a small amount so a bottle lasts ages.

Definitely Robinson’s in our house ...definitely worth the extra few pence !!

Asdas strawberry double strength squash is great. It tastes like how the old strawberry ribena used to taste

I buy it in bulk when it's on offer. Whenever I've tried to economise I just stop drinking it (and end up dehydrated as I'm crap at drinking water). I don't even buy it for my kids. Only one of them drinks it at all and only then occasionally (and can't tell the difference between Robinson's and cheap own brand stuff). But I don't think I'll ever switch to a different brand (or stop drinking it). I don't even like Ribena anymore since they changed the recipe a few years ago. I am fussy with all drinks though.

Have you tried making your own? It's really easy. Get a bag of frozen fruit (I like farm foods cherries, 59p I think), add water and sugar to taste, boil up, mashing up the fruit a bit, allow to cool and strain! Proper recipes are available from the internet as you get through it so quickly I wouldn't worry too much about all the sterilising bottles etc, just keep a few days worth in the fridge and freeze excess.

I buy it in bulk when it's on Offer though, and often ends up cheaper than buying supposedly cheaper alternatives

I think Rock's is the only one that uses sugar only, and no artificial sweetener. That's what we have. Anything with any artificial sweetener in it tastes foul in my opinion, I'd rather drink water.

Tesco double strength orange and mango. We've tried all of them and it's the only one DH will have.

I can only drink full sugar squashes so YABU (IMO) for preferring Robinsons. I drink Blossom, Cottage, Belvoir, Bottle Green and Tiessere (sp?), bit more expensive but worth it to avoid the headaches & sickness.

Is Kia-Ora still available anywhere?

Another vote for Tesco Orange and Mango here. It got my elderly parent's fluid intake to acceptable levels as it tastes nice enough to want to finish a glassfull.

we only drink one type of cordial too - vimto, and there isn’t really a supermarket own equivalent anyway so to keep costs down I buy in bulk when it’s on offer. Iceland do 3l bottles which my dc can’t actually hold properly to pour so I keep an empty smaller bottle and decant!

If you're drinking a bottle of squash in 2 days you need to cut down, that's insane, especially if you need to spend less, your money needs to go on actual food not treats.

But if you like ribena try any blackcurrant high juice without sweeteners, Asda do one and I think Waitrose and M&S is everything that's available, possibly sainsburys, should cost £1.50 a bottle, maybe a bit less in Asda and that's pretty much your lot apart from expensive Rocks type drinks.

The high juice also has orange and sometimes pink grapefruit, which is gorgeous.

I’ve tried a few different high juices but always find them a bit sharp and tangy
I always find the recommended dilution way to high, and generally use about half the suggested amount - Robinsons and own brands. Have you tried using less.
I only use in summer, and find lemon from pretty much anywhere OK - I think a Sainsbury ione s open at the moment.
Post above reminded me of how much I like pink grapefruit.

Tesco here too either orange and mango or orange lemon and pineapple

To be honest, if you love it that much, you will struggle to give it up. Could you dilute more or drink it less often?

They all taste sweet now. I dont drink tea coffee like you. Recently stop buying squah and find they all taste strange now. Its because they removed the sugar and put sweetens in.