Suffering withdrawal from British water!
 

Can anyone help me? When I was in London this summer I discovered my favorite beverage ever: a brand of flavoured water sold only at Boots chemist. It's their own brand of low-calorie food and drink product (called Shapers) and the waters come in a few different fruit flavours. I brought a few back home, but now they're gone and I'm missing them more than I expected. Does Boots ship? Would plastic bottles of water survive being shipped overseas? Is there anyone in London who would like any American items? If so, I'd be happy to send you the money up front (in whatever currency you prefer) for a box of water bottles plus shipping, and would be happy to ship you any US product you might want, in return. Kimberley

Boots website is <BR>www.boots.co.uk <BR> <BR>

Kim, they sell 'em all over Britain - anyone in Britain could do this for you.

Give up that fruity water, switch to peanut butter. <BR>

Safeway here sells something like that--it's like a soda but sold in water bottles and it comes in all kinds of fruit flavors (kiwi strawberry, peach-apricot, etc.). Is this the same as what you are trying to find?

Thanks for your answers, everyone. I'm been fortunate enough to receive e-mail from someone who is willing to try sending them to me! However, Monica, if you have a local alternative that might have to be my next step (espacially when my new shipment is gone!) I'm not sure if what you describe is the same, but it certainly sounds similar! I don't recall ever seeing Safeway around here (I'm in Ft Lauderdale, Florida). Do you know whether it's a Safeway brand, or some other brand that might be in other stores here? KK

It's a Safeway brand (Safeway Select) and it's called something like "Clearly select" or some such. I too am addicted to the stuff. Luckys also has a similar product, although their flavors aren't as good. Maybe it's a California thing? Come to think of it, I have seen another brand at Costco too. Maybe you should try all the big chains in your area and see if any of them has it.

Sometimes these flavored waters are in the section of the grocery store where the club soda, tonic water, and "mixers" are. It seems like almost every grocery store has its own brand now with lots of flavors.

A lot of those have LOTS of sugar. Be sure to check the labels carefully.

The mango flavouring in these clear flavoured drinks is made from the scrapings of a cats anal glands. Dont ask me how I know - I just do. Think about that when deciding between mango and strawberry, hehe.

TONY! I don't need to know these details! Please, if I choose to ingest various animal glands, please let me do so in ignorant bliss. S.F. - thanks for the sugar warning: I am aware of the sugar content of many fruit drinks - this is one of the things I love about the Boots water (it is not high in sugar and is very low calorie). KK

Tony, I do believe, has ingested too much mango-flavoring over his lifetime. Explains SOOOO much, right, Champ? <BR> <BR>p.s. I made the mistake of buying flavored water NO SUGAR ADDED...took a big swig of the swill and discovered it was sweetened with Aspertame...so Kimberley make sure you don't get fooled too (I have senior moments because of alcohol consumption, not mango flavoring)

nonono, I think there's some confusion and now I'm not even sure which kind it is Kimberley is after. There are at least 3 different types of drinks that people may be referring to as "flavored water" and it is confusing because all three different kinds are clear and carbonated, but they're very different. One kind is sweetened and fruit-flavored. Another kind is sweetened but low-calorie (sweetened with aspartame/NutraSweet/saccharine) and fruit flavored. The third kind, which is the kind I like, is not sweet at all. It is basically just VERY lightly-flavored seltzer water and tastes like club soda with a twist of lemon, or lime, or whatever (there are lots of flavors; my favorite is raspberry). There is no sweetness to that kind, which I like. But it is also low-calorie because it's basically just bubbles and water. Unfortunately the brand names of all of these escape me at the moment. <BR> <BR>So anyway, Kimberley, you said it was low-calorie, but here's my question: was it sweet, or not? <BR> <BR>Who knew this was so complicated...

Wow...I certainly didn't know it could be this complicated! Well, the question at hand seems to be the sweetness of my water, but here's a new twist: the water I'm after isn't carbonated! I probably should have mentioned that earlier, because I realize that carbonated versions of flavoured water are quite easy to come by in the US. The water I want is still and not particularly sweet...it just has a light fruit taste to it. I'm not sure whether it was sweetened, and if so, what it was sweetened with. I just know that it went down really light and easy, the label said it had only a few calories, and it was certainly most UNcarbonated! KK

Kimberly- <BR> <BR>I thought you might be interested in knowing that VeryFine is now making and marketing a new product called Fruit-2O (not 20, two-oh, like H2O) that appears to be the kind of product you're looking for. It's a non-carbonated water with a light fruit flavor. It comes in six different fruit flavors. It's a new product, so I don't know if it's being sold everywhere yet, but good luck finding it.

Thanks for the info, I will definitely look for it. In case you never saw my epilogue, an extremely kind and generous Fodorite in Aberdeen actually sent me 36 bottles of my water, so for the time being I'm am sated (and extremely happy!). However, the shipping for those bottles ran me $120, so it would be great to find a local alternative!!! Kimberley

Cheryl - thanks so much for letting me know about the Fruit-20. I just checked the VeryFine website, and the product saounds a lot like what I'm looking for. Better yet it can be ordered on the net for 22.95 (24 bottles) plus $5 shipping. The only downside is that Boots has way cooler flavours (like apricot-mango and boysenberry). But I think a taste test is definitely in order - it's definitely worth $28 to me to find out!!! Thanks again. KK

It cost WHAT to ship!!!??? <BR>

It's either a cruel joke, Sheila, or we are getting screwed over here. Probably the latter in my opinion.

Yes, Sheila - can you believe it?! And that even includes the volume discount my office has (because of how much shipping we do). It actually didn't upset me, because I truly wanted the water that much - but it could become an expensive habit if I keep doing it!! By the way, Tony, how do you figure that you're getting screwed? KK