Energy Drinks on the Cheap!
In these uncertain economic times it’s important to stretch you dollar as far as it can go. As an energy drink junkie it is easy to spend $30-$40 a week feeding the habit.
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view) manufacturers and distributors are having the same issues you and I have. Some have gotten to the point that they have cases upon cases of product with no movement and is ready to expire. What’s left for them to do?
Closeout retailer! If you have a Big Lots, Dollar Tree, or similar store around your area, you can find a treasure trove of energy goodness. It is not unusual to find these castaways for between 20 and 60 cents a can! To help you separate the wheat from the chaff, I’ve sampled some of the goods and will review them here in an abbreviated format and as I find new drinks I’ll continue this series.
To keep things succinct, I’ll rate each category on a 1-5 scale, 1 being terrible, 5 being legendary.
Stoked Original
- Taste – 4; Stoked takes the Monster formula and kicks it up a notch with a nifty biting aftertaste that is quite surprising at first.
- Energy – 2; With only 160mg of caffeine per 16oz can, this is more of an Amped buzz.
- Overall – 3; It tastes great but I wish it had more kick. But for 60 cents a can, slam two…
Stoked WindChill
- Taste – 4; Again, Stoked come through with something unique. Citrus blended with a cool, almost minty aftertaste = Delicious.
- Energy – 2; Sadly only 160mg of caffeine per can…
- Overall – 3; I liked this as much as the original, only the lack of caffeine keeps this from being perfect.
Guru Tangerine
- Taste – 3; A decent citrus tarnished by lack of carbonation and vitamin aftertaste
- Energy – 1; I don’t know how much caffeine this thing packs but it isn’t much…
- Overall – 2; This drink is for the curious only.
Inked Chikara
- Taste – 3.5; A rare grapefruit energy drink. The blandness keeps me from bumping this to a 4.
- Energy – 3; These 12oz cans can give you a kick but it doesn’t last long.
- Overall – 4; How does a drink that only rates a 3 and 3.5 get to 4 overall? $5 per case.
Red Devil
- Taste – 3; A weird berry/tea flavor is better than it seems. One of those that grows on you rather than wears on you.
- Energy – 3; A solid performer but not overwhelming.
- Overall – 3; This Dutch import is solidly average and at 60 cents per can you could do far worse.
Written by TNT
17 Comments
RECENTLY ADDED CAFFEINE
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yeah, i can usually find 12 oz cans of jolt for about 60 cents each at big lots, it’s pretty nice
unfortunately, they usually only have like 2 flavors
I keep seeing energy drinks at the Big Lots here, but none that I recognized or had tried before. Thanks for the info, I’ll keep an eye out for these, and maybe try something new!
Biglots rocks! Found 32oz. Rockstars there $12 for a case of 12. $1 for 32oz of Rockstar? Crazy not to.
Yeah I found that same deal Adam. I have been picking up $.70 12oz NOSs for a while now. Those things have a 172mg of caff so its a nice kick for only 12 oz. Might as well drink two.
I found a Stoked Energy flavor called “After Burn” at the local Big Lots and I must say.. it wasn’t drinkable at all. The “Wind Chill” flavor I thought was pretty good. There was also a drink there I hadn’t seen before called “Bad Boy Power Drink” with a very minimal packaging, but I was surprised to find it tasted rather good, actually. http://www.badboypowerdrink.com.au/
while still at $1.00, Rip It is a brand you should look for in Family Dollar and Dollar Tree. The quality, taste, and kick of any one of their 9 flavors will blow your mind.
Don’t sell GURU short – the caffeine content in that drink is not uniform between sizes. the ones I get at whole foods are one of the few energy drinks that still give me a buzz.
Thanks for the tip, I bought a bunch of cheap ass drinks from big lots thanks to this article. I also decided to video review some of them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No1BjwZn3NQ
I really like the Badboy drink!!! Badboy is actually a MMA promotion company. They have some great fighters including UFC Light Heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida.
big lots is awesome, but im disappointed to find that they r cutting back on a lot at my store. im also looking for an energy milkshake that is in a small can that costed $0.25 and it was something like strawberry yogurt, if anyone has any info message me at migz191@yahoo.com thanks.
i make my own energy shots that in retrospect are like $0.05 each. I make them using:
kool aid
water
sugar
crushed TASTELESS cafiene tablets
pinch of salt.
AWSUM!
red thunder at aldi is like red bull but a whole lot cheaper
Is there any harm from taking too much vitamin B12? For example, taking B12 pills in addition to consuming energy drinks? How much B12 is too much? Don’t care if the excess B12 gets pissed out but just don’t want to damage body.
You shouldn’t consume more than 3 micrograms a day. Side effects can occur because excess B12 isn’t pissed out.
Ok ted I’m confused about the units here, did you mean 3 milligrams? According to pill bottle one b12 pill contains 500mcg. What is mcg?
sorry I wasn’t clear, that 2 to 3 micrograms is the daily recommended amount. When you take 500 micrograms unfortunately only 1.8 micrograms get absorbed.
i think the $$store xtra energy is pretty good…i used to drink 3 medium sized cups of coffee a day and now it just takes one of those 2 oz shots and im good to go…and remember its only $1 a shot…
thanks!