How To Make Your Ice Water Taste 10x Better This Summer

I am not someone who dislikes drinking water. I don’t usually need flavor enhancers or bubbles or anything like that. As long as it’s cold, I have no problem drinking the recommended ounces of water per day.

However, spa water is my kryptonite. Put some fruit or herbs into a jug of water, and suddenly I am drinking gallons and gallons of the stuff. There is something about the light flavor of real fruit, as opposed to the powdery chalkiness of flavor enhancers sold at the grocery store, that I cannot get enough of.

Because I am constantly turning our recipe developers’ best recipes into videos on social media, I end up having a bunch of leftover produce hanging around my kitchen at the end of a shoot day. Half of a lemon, a few leftover limes, sliced ginger, basil leaves... you name it, it’s probably on my counter.

One day, while cranking out a bunch of produce-heavy videos, I thought of an idea. It was an idea that I’m sure other people have thought of before me, but in the moment it made me feel like Martha Stewart.

My Zero-Waste Upgrade for Ice Water

I took my slices of lemons, limes, and ginger and laid them out on a baking sheet before popping them in the freezer. Once they were fully frozen (which didn’t take long because they were all pretty thin), I put them into a reusable silicone bag and stashed them back in the freezer.

For a month, whenever I wanted a little extra zhuzh in my water, I would take a few frozen slices and plop them into my water. (For herbs, I just put the whole plastic container of leaves in the freezer. I have found that they don’t usually stick together.)

Mix and Match Flavors

It takes barely any extra effort to create my little produce ice chips, and I can create seemingly endless combinations of flavors. Ginger and lemon, lemon and lime, lime and ginger, ginger and basil. Plus, they keep my water cold like ice, but they are more fun. You can refill your water glass about three times before the lemons get too bitter or the flavor isn’t as strong.

I cannot wait to try out new combos over the summer. Some ideas I’ve had: frozen watermelon cubes, frozen strawberry slices in my kombucha, making a sangria-style glass of wine with some frozen fruit (or maybe a few slices of frozen jalapeño, à la the TikTok trend from last year).

Is this a revolutionary idea? No, not really. But if drinking water is a chore for you, or you are just looking for something fun to spice up your drinks, you may want to clear out some freezer space for slices of your favorite spa water add-ins.