Are there any homemade drinks I can make with long shelf life?

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Technical_Bell5745@reddit

Ludy's Instant Ginger Juice.

Mix with water, add some additional sugar and champagne yeast leave in a sealed bottle for a couple days. Becomes Ginger Ale.

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Get a book called Wild Fermentation. You can make a slightly alcoholic naturally carbonated beverage from just about anything. Blueberries, apples, ginger, especially ginger, strawberries... You can even make a Sprite type of soda from pine needles. It is fun, easy, and the drinks are outstanding on top of being way better than the processed 💩 we get at the stores.

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gilbert2gilbert@reddit

Water

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Xsiah@reddit

How do you make water at home?

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AdGreedy6076@reddit

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Asclepius-Rod@reddit

You mean like in the toilet??

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preppers-ModTeam@reddit

Your comment has been removed because it violates our rules on post quality. This is a subreddit for substantive discussion of emergency preparedness, not reposting movie quotes that everyone has already heard countless times before.

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FinnfinnLP@reddit

Stinging nettles are very common in temperate climates and can be brewed into hot or cold infusions with or without sugar. As an added bonus, young leaves can be used for salads, once they flower they turn gritty and damage your teeth. In that case, they should be chopped, cooked thoroughly and slurped like a soup.

They pack quite a punch when it comes to vitamins and minerals, too. If you like foraging, passing these over is just silly.

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rbprepin@reddit

Homemade wine has a shelf life of 1-10 years.

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War_Hymn@reddit

You can buy and add potassium metabisulfite powder to homemade wine to extend shelf life. 1 gram of KMBS will preserve about 5 gallons of wine. Also doubles as a food-grade sanitizer.

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BookLuvr7@reddit

I just use extra sugar and yeast so it has a higher alcohol content to "sanitize" mine. Plus that way it increases the chances it will turn out sparkling.

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War_Hymn@reddit

Issue is stuff like lactobacteria or acetobacteria that can survive and even thrive in high alcohol environments. Maybe not harmful, but they tend to sour the wine over time.

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Salty_Dragonfly-326@reddit

Freeze dry fruit. Use a food processor to make it a powder. It works for vegetables to make broth too.

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smsff2@reddit

Personally, I buy chicken bones from a local Asian store for $2.50 per pair. They yield roughly 30 pints of soup. After removing all the fat and solids, I’m left with about 15 pints of clear broth.

I process the broth in jars using a pressure cooker, so I end up with a clean chicken broth with no fat or solids. It’s ready to drink and works as both a drink and a food source.

I make other types of jars as well, but this one is especially convenient because it’s so quick to consume. You just drink a pint. It takes only a few seconds, and no utensils are required.

If needed, I can warm up the jars on a backpacking Jetboil stove.

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academiccatastrophe@reddit

I'm confused OP asked about beverages and you're talking about soup?

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ScaryFrogInTheMorn@reddit

It’s also a good drink for pets!

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academiccatastrophe@reddit

That's a great point! My dogs would love a canned bone broth

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smsff2@reddit

Clear broth can replace drinks to some extent.

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academiccatastrophe@reddit

Oh I see! Didn't mean to come off as rude was just confused lol

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curious_grizzly_@reddit

About twice a year we go and buy 4 Costco rotisserie chickens. We shred the meat and freeze it, and then use all the bones for broth. Then grind up the bones for the garden. All for about $20

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custhulard@reddit

Boom. Grind up the bones for the garden. We always put them in the chicken area, and then they go away. Probably wild animals as the chickens don't pay much attention to them. Thanks for the idea.

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premar16@reddit

You can home can juices. You can maybe do tea infusions.

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TrickyCow1992@reddit

You can can homemade juice. There are many different flavors, my favorite is watermelon lemonade.

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academiccatastrophe@reddit

You can water-bath can lemon concentrate, as well as fruit flavoured syrups. Also, soda streams run on CO2 tanks, so if there's a power outage you can still make fancy drinks

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Fluffy_Job7367@reddit

You can buy boxes of powdered Gatorade and they come in small packets enough for a quart though I still water them down. I buy them to avoid plastic bottles. They come in an assortment. Not sure on nutritional value.

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nobody4456@reddit

So I do citrus concentrates. I forget the guy’s name but you can google depression era citrus concentrates. Basically you zest and juice about 4 pounds of whatever fruit you want to use and put that in a half gallon jar. Fill the jar half way with sugar and pour in boiling water to fill and dissolve the sugar. Add a tbsp of citric acid and let it sit out for a couple of days. Then strain out the zest. Iirc clear juices can be canned, or you can stick it the fridge and it will last longer than it takes to drink.

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infinitum3d@reddit

You can freeze dry lots of beverages

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Purple-Literature781@reddit

Moon shine

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Tasty_Impress3016@reddit

Ginger ale. or non-alcoholic ginger beer.

Essentially you make and store a syrup and mix with carbonated water as needed. If you have a soda stream it's very easy, or just a seltzer bottle.

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Eredani@reddit

Powder based drinks might be an option: lemonade, tea, fruit punch, etc.

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WSBpeon69420@reddit

That’s what I was thinking too

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dumdumwagoo@reddit

Tea. Grow and dry your own herbs/flowers

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MeasurementLow5073@reddit

This. I didn't realize how many zones camellia sinensis can grow in until my wife bought one. Now I want 10 or more so we can always have caffeine.

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Due_Middle_2241@reddit

Martinis last a long time premixed

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infamouskeyduster@reddit

High gravity beer.

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No_Alarm_3993@reddit

Whiskey

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grapefruit279@reddit

You can water bath can homemade juice and lemonade concentrate and variations on that - rhubarb lemonade, strawberry lemonade. I haven't done it but there are recipes for cranberry juice that are sugar, water and raw cranberries, waterbath canned, allowed to steep and then you strain out the cranberries and serve. You can also start a kombucha scoby or a ginger bug if you are wanting something fizzy. You can't store the end product for a long time, but you can have a continuous batch of a homemade drink going.

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joelnicity@reddit

Crystal Light

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SpaceGoatAlpha@reddit

There are a wide variety of beverages you can make that have a decently long shelf life when properly prepared and preserved. (3-7 years)

From a small scale/homestead perspective, the best way to do this is to make beverages that are high in antioxidants (which preserves them longer) and fully pasteurize through pressure canning.

I'm going to stress how very important it is that any beverages made are properly pasteurized and sealed in appropriate containersin before being stored in a cool, dark area for best long term storage.

A beverage that will store for a long time are those that contain vinegar, acidic juices, alcohol, and/or high concentrations of sugar. Sometimes all of the above!

Switchel is a very popular example, and 'shrubs' are a concentrated version of Switchel used for mixing, similar to cordial syrups.

u/Kementarii is giving you a good lead in regards to cordial syrups. Low moisture, high acid, high sugar concentrates will last a long time.

It used to be that most fancy beverages were made from bottled concentrated flavored syrups. These were often mixed in bars, pharmacies and eventually soda shops/diners.

If you're looking to have the maximum possible shelf life, look into freeze dryers. Many non-alcoholic beverages and juices can be freeze dried into a crystalline form which can then be broken up and vacuum sealed into jars for long-term storage.

If you're not looking to diy this process, you can always just buy instant coffees and teas, flavored drink powders, powdered milk, etc etc.

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InsaneNorseman@reddit

High-proof spirits last forever and can, in fact, be made at home, depending on your local laws and your level of creativity.

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Isildil@reddit

for fruit based drinks I have seen fruit concentrate. it's kind of a syrup so the high content of sugars (and I'm guessing a pasteurization process too) extends their shelf life, but I haven't tested how long. you could also make your own concentrate and can it? Both options need to be refrigerated after opening though. Powdered flavors might be your best option if flavor is what you are looking for.

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Kementarii@reddit

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/cordial-recipes

Gives many examples of cordial syrups - rhubarb, raspberry, elderflower, elderberry, blackcurrant.

Not there, but a ginger syrup would be delicious.

If you have gardens, you can make a cordial from whatever you want.

Then, just add water (or plain soda) and ice when you need a cool drink.

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