Hot-Day Cool-Down Drink Mix
Sugar, two salts, and lemon powder. Mixed cool, not ice cold, and sipped before anyone gets wobbly.
- calories
- 150
- weight
- 1.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 100
- protein
- 0 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 2 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 2 min
- water
- 750 ml cold
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Drink
- No cook
- Day hike
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Bikepacking
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| White sugar | 3 tbsp | dextrose or maltodextrin works too and tastes less sweet |
|---|---|---|
| Table salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Potassium chloride salt substitute | 1/8 tsp | sold as lite salt; skip if you are on a potassium-restricted diet |
| Powdered lemonade or lemon drink mix | 1 tbsp | unsweetened citric-acid style mix, for flavor |
| Baking soda | a pinch | optional, softens the salt edge |
Method
- Tip one premixed bag into a 750 ml bottle.
- Add cold water. Not ice water. Cold enough to want, warm enough to actually drink a lot of.
- Cap it and shake for ten seconds. Shake again halfway down the bottle; the sugar settles.
- Drink it steadily over an hour rather than all at once. Sipping keeps up with sweat better than chugging.
- Refill the bottle with plain water after. One mixed bottle per two plain is a reasonable ratio in real heat.
Heat problems usually start before anyone notices them. Nausea, cramps, a thirst that a few gulps will not touch, or a kid who suddenly says they are done playing are the signs worth watching for. This drink exists so there is something in the pack that is easy to keep drinking once those show up, and easier still to drink before they do.
Sugar and salt are both doing work. Sodium is what sweat takes, and plain water alone dilutes what is left. A little sugar helps the sodium and the water move out of the gut faster, and the lemon powder makes it taste like something rather than like a saline drip. Keep it cool rather than iced. Very cold drinks get sipped, and sipping is how people end up short a liter by the end of the afternoon.
Packing
Measure single-bottle doses into small zip bags at home. Fewer things to fumble in the sun, and nobody has to eyeball a quarter teaspoon of salt on a trail.
Variations
- Swap the lemon mix for powdered lime or a splash of vinegar if sweet drinks make you queasy in heat.
- Halve the sugar for a lighter version that still replaces salt.
- Freeze one bottle at the trailhead and pack it against the other; it thaws into something cool by noon.
https://thesurvivalmom.com/help-kids-stay-cool-hot-weather