And doing the math a bit.  i think that a standard bottle can do around 50 liters of water.  Which for some of us vanishes rather quickly.

And instead of just waving my hands in the air, here is a longer version ( and not trying to sell amazon products, its just for picture reference instead of trying to describe them ) 

• Old way - 2 pound paintball tank to stream adapter -> https://www.amazon.com/Conversion-Adapter-SodaStream-Paintball-Canister/dp/B0798DTRJ
• The "gauge" set i have for the 10 pound tank -> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008EKR0UG        ( bought mine at a local home brew shop, way cheaper )
• Gage to plugin adapter -> https://www.amazon.com/PERA-assembly-liquid-disconnect-brewing/dp/B079LX9575
• Then plugin to PET bottles ( i use a 1 liter to make it easier to shake.. )  https://www.amazon.com/MRbrew-Stainless-Carbonation-Coupling-Pressure/dp/B0CSXWY571
• I have both a 5 and 10 pound tank, mostly just use the 10 now and the 5 is for backup when i cant get up to the store. Refill it at the local gas supply place in town for not too much. Can also get larger tanks, but that was plenty for me.  typical tank ->  https://www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Cylinder-Siphon-CGA320-Valve/dp/B00A7X4S44   ( tank style, but NOT that one.. did not pay anywhere near that at the local store )  

I started with the real thing, it was on sale ilke 2/3 off.  "sure why not, get back into experimenting with fizz stuff, its been a while". But after the first bottle of gas ran out in a blink of an eye, "Nope".  Got the paintball adapter, lasted 3x as long. and 4 bucks to refill and fit inside my stream so no extra space.  Then the local sporing goods place was getting to be hit-miss on stock, and then eventually stopped selling it totally ( no more guns! evil guns! ), so just tossed it in the garage and instead of going with a gauge -> stream adapter just went with the gauge -> PET bottle.  Originally was going to get a "filter stone", like you do with beer.  But, that meant taking up a lot of space in the fridge ( or a new one ) and turns out it takes forever.. so went with the soda jerk idea.. open the valve and just shake it for a few seconds, done.

Ages ago i had a large bottle thing, same sort of connectors and what a lot of beer people use today, was about 3' tall and had a trap door on top. Fill it with stuff, add dry ice, wait.. I had quickly outgrown using little co2 cartridges. Sort of lost interest over the years, but doing it the above way, with my home made flavors, to me is worth the effort. 

And, i didnt mean to imply above that sodastream should not make money, but not a fan of gouging customers like they do with the gas.

I tried to do a little reading on that, and as far as I can tell, "seltzer" really is just carbonated water.  Club soda has other stuff added (mostly minerals) and of course "sparkling water" comes from sources that are naturally high in minerals (which explains why the Italians call it aqua minerale) and the carbonation can be either natural or added.

It also seems that lots of people do their carbonation straight into reused 1-liter or 2-liter bottles, which seems reasonable.  Worst thing that happens is it opens up and spills (so no glass of course).  Add a few drops of flavor ... and maybe a splash of vodka ... and you're good to go.

Which is what i do, using tap water.  ( 1 liter bottles, easier to shake around than a 2 liter ). You fill to the line where it starts to get smaller, squeeze the air out, open the valve and shake like its 1940..

But, i don't add flavor to the bottle. I add flavor to a glass, then add fizz water to the glass.   

1. it wont taint future batches of different flavors
2. the fizz lasts longer in waiting..  flavors do reduce lifespan.

Sun Nov 17 2024 22:14:46 UTC from IGnatius T Foobar Subject: Re: So Duh Stream?

 

It also seems that lots of people do their carbonation straight into reused 1-liter or 2-liter bottles, which seems reasonable. 

If you are going for pre-cooked meals, grub-hub and door-dash will go to a restaurant and get it.  

If you are meaning 'dyi' food, depends on the area, but many ( most? ) of the chains offer delivery now.  in my area, Kroger, Walmart, Mejier.. but im sure its similar across the country.  I guess even amazon does, if there is nothing else... 

Mon Nov 25 2024 18:35:21 UTC from darknetuser Subject: Sending food as a gift to an USan.

I am aware that Christmas is culturally impactful there in the US and I happen to have a friend under finantial distress over there, so some wild idea I got was "maybe I could send them some Christmas food as gift."

What would be the right way to do it?

That works too. I was thinking 'actual food'.     And ya, if they are out in the boonies, it might limit options off the bat.  Most wont travel too far.

I had a friend cross country that needed a bit of help last year, i bought a 'prepay debit' and emailed her the numbers.   USPSed the actual card afterward.  

Mon Nov 25 2024 19:50:37 UTC from darknetuser Subject: Re: Sending food as a gift to an USan.

2024-11-25 19:15 from Nurb432
Subject: Re: Sending food as a gift to an USan.
If you are going for pre-cooked meals, grub-hub and door-dash
will go to a restaurant and get it.  

If you are meaning 'dyi' food, depends on the area, but many (
most? ) of the chains offer delivery now.  in my area, Kroger,
Walmart, Mejier.. but im sure its similar across the country. 
I guess even amazon does, if there is nothing else... 

I was considering something like giving them a coupon so they could order whichever food they wanted. They live in a remote village which is not a good area itself so I am not sure door-dash-like services would do.

I mean, figure out they had to stand waiting for the dinner to arrive because the delivery agent got lost on his way or something.

Ya its sort of impersonal, but when you re separated by many hours.. it all is.    No clue about wire transfers that may be a problem no matter what you do. 

( and in my case i trusted the person to do the right thing, food for both her and her animals in this case. and some medications for one of the dogs. )

So not done it in years, but used to often get those little red tins of marzipan shaped like little fruits.  Over the years I switched to German, or the 'loafs' at the grocery instead.  Not quite as granular, and less sweet than the 'US version'.

Wife got me one this week. The shapes were pretty dismal, now, really just different colors.. But that does not effect flavor and i'm not into 'presentation' really, just that i noticed it.  Few days go past,  I finished off the top layer, went to pull out the paper between layers,  wtf.. its got foam for the 2nd layer .. no food.    so price has increased dramatically AND they reduced it by 1/2 AND they made it look like it was full.   ****ers.