Rant - Lipton Diet Tea mixes - different formulas for different packaging!

[haele]

My disabled husband cannot under any circumstances use Nutrasweet, he's ended up in the hospital at various times after taking a product that has that in it, so we're always happy when we find a diet product that has Splenda or Saccharine in it (Stevia's quite a bit out of our reach, and he's not supposed to have sugar until he loses 70 more lbs).
So we were ecstatic when we found out the Lipton "To Go" individual packet drinks were sweetened with Splenda. A bit of sweet for him as well as the liquid he's supposed to keep drinking.
Unfortunately, there are only enough packets for about 5 quarts, less than one week for him.

Thinking of saving money, I purchased the same flavored Lipton Tea mix (Peach Flavored) in the 10 qt servings container for him. Heck, it's the same product, why should I check the ingredients? I started making a gallon for the fridge - and smelled Nutrasweet in the mix. Sure enough, that was in the ingredients...
Why oh why would any company make two totally different product lines for the same product - the only difference other than the Nutrasweet/Splenda is the packaging?
And I had to hunt through their site to find the "contact our customer service rep for your questions and comments" window - they hid it in the FAQ section.

This sucks. If it weren't for the lack of diet drinks other than soda Laz can drink (and he's not supposed to drink more than 8 oz of soda a day), I'd just quit Lipton altogether.

Haele

[skygazer]

1. I'm not trying to be a smartass here

But why doesn't he drink water? Better for him, no sweeteners of any kind, artificial or otherwise and no chance of getting sick because of it. And an excellent diet drink.

I realize a lot of people find water rather boring but when you start drinking it, you gradually reach a point where it's about the only thing you want. I can no longer stand sodas or iced teas or any of that stuff because I've been drinking water all day for years.

Which I started doing because of health issues. Took a while to get used to but wasn't that hard. Just a thought.

[haele]

5. Not a smart-ass question -

He grew up with well water (filtered through granite) in Alabama; if it was well or the glacial water I grew up with, he has no problems. The tap water around here in Southern California, heck, even filtered through those machines at the markets water, is very "hard" and has a nasty aftertaste - especially to those who are a bit more sensitive to taste. He recently went a whole two weeks on nothing but local water, and he'd end up throwing up after sipping through around 12 - 15oz a day of just the local water. Bottle water is better, but that's way too damn expensive and environmentally evil in any great amounts.

As it is, with his disability and current diet, he has so few flavor pleasures left to him that the little bit of sweet in a diet tea or koolaid lemonade mixed with Splenda. I just wish there were more options in that arena.



Haele

[trof]

2. Same thing with Tang.

My daughter's family likes it.
Go figure?
She avoids Nutrasweet and the similar derivatives like the plague.
She noticed Tang had a new package.
And it didn't taste the same to her.
She can spot Nutrasweet at 100 paces.
But when you stripped off the plastic 'safety seal' stuff, the nutritional info went with it.

So she put it away and on her next trip to the grocery got a jar and read the label.
Sure enough.
She is PISSED!

[philosophie_en_rose]

3. Same thing happens with Diet Coke.

Splenda is the only artificial sweetener I can stand. Some diet coke is made with splenda. Some with nutrasweet. Sometimes BOTH! Sometimes "Splenda" and Nutrasweet are on the label. Sometimes not. So I have to check the ingredients list.

I stick with water, for the most part. However, I do like to have a soda now and then.

When it comes to mixed drinks, I buy splenda in a bag and mix with unsweetened drink mix. It's vile in some drinks (ex: Kool-aid), but pretty good with unsweetened tea.

[Katina]

4. It might be worth your while

to just make your own iced tea. Tea mixes have preservatives, too much sodium and like you said, you can't be sure what they've used to sweeten it.
I've started making my own green tea & pomagranate juice(sp?) drink. 50/50 tea to juice. You can use any other juice you like, just make sure it's natural. You accomplish a couple of things, first, he will be drinking green tea which is incredibly good for you. Second, the natural juice will sweeten the drink and provide added vitamins. Third, if it's still not sweet enough, you can control it by adding your own sweetener (splenda) to his tastes. On top of all that, by making it yourself, you are saving a lot of money. It takes very little time. Once you brew the tea (about 4-5 minutes) you are pretty much done.

[haele]

6. I do that to some degree -

But again, this has to do with providing him with a variety and something to look forward to when he's stuck at home alone for long periods of time.

He's not allowed juice (Lemon/Grapefruit acids, calorie and carbohydrate counts), and I have to be careful what tea flavors I use - many of the flavored teas with fruit bits have too many calories, carbohydrates - or the citric acids, which react badly with some of his medicines - especially when made in pitchers where you usually use more tea to keep the flavor strong. I love the Celestial seasoning "Zinger" teas in pitchers, but I usually use close to twice the tea packs to get the same flavor per cup, so it's a matter of not only time and effort, but cost.
One box of Zinger at $3.00 makes 3 pitchers. One 10 quart container of Lipton Tea mix at $2.50 makes 5.

The mixes mostly are for when I'm at work and when he runs out of drink; it's very difficult for him to stand for any more than a minute or two make his own drinks. (Losing the weight should help, but for now, this is where he's at.)

Thanks for listening. I just needed to rant - and this is mainly about the packaging issue.

I think a lot of this Nutrasweet/Splenda has to do with the manufacturers of Nutrasweet basically giving away their product to the other manufacturers to get rid of it rather than dispose of it as the toxic waste byproduct it really is.

Haele

[hippywife]

7. You can still buy

tea bags in sizes that make anywhere from a quart to a gallon. We buy the gallon size ones and make it in an old pickle jar or a sun tea jar. Maybe flavor with a little apple juice every other pitcher so he gets something a little different than straight tea once in awhile?