Squash Optics

I’m switching to a more healthy diet right now and part of that involves cutting down on things that are bad for me.

Cakes, sweets, biscuits but mostly sugar. Yes, I know that the main reason most of the things in that list are bad for me is because of the sugar in them.

I’ve tried to cut out sugar in hot drinks and by hot drinks, I mean Tea. I only drink tea and working from home means I’ve gotten into a bad habit of drinking too much.

The problem is I can’t stand tea without sugar.

I can’t really say that I like it with less sugar in either. So I’m cutting out tea too.

That being said, I need to keep hydrated throughout the day but plain water doesn’t cut it either.

A couple of years ago, when we were on vacation in Florida we found that Publix were stocking those squirters that allow you to inject a burst of flavour into a regular bottle of water. We bought some back and they lasted a while until we found out that the stores in the UK had started stocking them.

Now this is a great idea if you’re on the go. I’m not. I’m at home, so I have all the facilities I need to go to the cupboard and pull out a bottle of undiluted squash and make myself a glass of whatever I fancy.

Problem solved, you would think but label on the side of the bottle tells me that the undiluted squash bottle contains enough for N servings.

How can I be consistent in my pour, so I get

  1. the right number of servings
  2. the right strength for my preferred taste

I think I need some sort of optic device that I can mount the squash bottle into and then get a hit whenever I want a drink.

Before you say anything, I know I could buy a squash dispenser jug and make up a batch of drink beforehand. I don’t like those jugs. For me the idea of the drink sitting around for hours on end doesn’t seem all that safe/appetising. Besides, I don’t have enough room in my fridge for one.

Now, the water that comes out of my tap is quite cold. It’s not iced cold but it’s nice enough to give me a cold thirst quencher when I need one. Plus if it comes out of the tap like that, it’s free chilling and I don’t have to add ice to a dispenser to keep that cool in the event that someone wants a drink before the ice melts.

I’m going to have a look into this and see what is available. I’m sure there’s something out there that already does this. Either an up-ended bottle with a bar-style optic on the neck or a limiter which only releases one doze of squash when you tip the bottle. If not, then I’ll just have to make one.