31 Ways to Use Kool-Aid

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Kool-Aid comes on sale once a year here for 10 cents, so when it does I buy a bunch ( you wouldn’t believe the looks you get when you buy 150 to 200 packs of Kool-Aid lol) I use a lot of it, here are some of the things I use it for besides drinking.

 


I mix several packs of Kool-Aid with the sugar (1 cup sugar to 1 pack of Kool-Aid) and put in a jar
to use it in several things.

1. Use it to make a single glass of Kool-Aid. 1/8 cup to 1 cup of water.

2. Add to homemade or plain yogurt for flavored yogurt. If making homemade yogurt add after it is made.

3. Add to plain applesauce for flavored applesauce. The girls use to always want the flavored applesauce, but I would never buy them because they were so expensive. They really liked when I started doing this.

4. Add to snow for snow ice cream. You can add a little milk to it also, makes it a little creamier.

5.  Put some in applesauce to dry and make fruit leather.

6. Make lip gloss. Melt a small amount of petroleum jelly with a small amount of the kool-aid in it to get the desired color, microwave for a few seconds to soften up the mixture let cool before using.

7. Add to club soda or sprite for a flavored soda.

8. Put into cool whip to ice a cake.

Things to use the plain Kool-Aid for

9. Make syrup for snow cones.

  • 1 pkg. of unsweetened Kool-Aid (whatever flavor you like)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water

In a medium saucepan make a simple syrup by combining sugar and water. Bring to a boil. Once all of the sugar has completely dissolved, remove from heat. Stir in one envelope of desired Kool-Aid flavor. Allow mixture to cool completely.

10. Make syrup for pancakes. Same as for snow cones

11. Add to homemade or canned frosting for a flavored, colored frosting.

12. Make play dough, I just add a pack or two to my favorite homemade play dough recipe. It colors it and it smells great.

13. Remove Chlorine from hair. Combine a pack of lemonade kool-aid with a dollop of shampoo. Apply to hair let sit 15 minutes before rinsing out then re shampoo hair.
Note: Try not to get the Kool-Aid powder in your eyes or it will sting.

14. Dye Yarn. I am hoping to have a tutorial on this soon.

15. Make flavored popcorn.

  • 12 Cups popped popcorn
  • 1 Cup Sugar
  • 1/2 Cup Light Corn Syrup
  • 1/3 Cup Butter
  • 1 Envelope Unsweetened Kool-Aid drink mix, any flavor
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda

Heat oven to 225 degrees F. Measure 12 cups popped popcorn into large mixing bowl. Mix together sugar, corn syrup and butter in medium saucepan and bring to boil over medium high heat. Cook 3 minutes stirring frequently. Remove from heat and add Kool-Aid drink mix and baking soda.Mix well and pour over popcorn stirring to coat the popcorn. Spread popcorn in large baking dish (ungreased non-stick pan) or cookie sheet lined  parchment paper. Bake 50 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread onto wax paper to cool,  and cool completely. Break into pieces and store in zip top bag.

16.Clean your dishwasher. Pour one or two packs of lemonade Kool-Aid in the detergent compartment of you dishwasher run an empty cycle.

17. Add to your homemade dishwasher detergent. Helps remove water stains.

18. Tye Dye a T-Shirt. Mix Kool Aid with vinegar, apply to a twisted shirt (according to the pattern you want), leave in the sun to dry and then iron at a medium heat.

19. Make your own Jell-O, Go here to see how

20. Color Easter eggs. Choose your flavor and color of Kool-Aid, all have their own specific color usually matching the color on the packet
Add 2/3 cup of water and packet to hot or cold water and stir.
Add hard boiled eggs and let them sit in the mixture until the desired color is obtained. You don’t need vinegar as Kool-Aid contains citric acid. Let the eggs dry completely

21. Make an easy no bake pie.

  • 1 graham cracker crust (homemade or store bought)
  • 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip
  • 1 package Kool-Aid drink mix (flavor of your choice)

In a bowl mix together sweetened condensed milk and kool-aid packet. Fold in Cool Whip. Pour into graham cracker crust. Place in fridge for 4 hours or in freezer until set and ready to serve.

22. Make popsicles. Pour mixed Kool-aid in small plastic cups when partially set up add popsicle sticks or plastic spoons in the middle, when frozen out of the cups to eat.

23. Kool-Aid Cookies
1 Pack Kool-Aid your choice of flavor
1 2/3 Cups sugar
1 1/4 Cups butter
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 Cups flour
1/2 Cups sugar for dipping
Mix kool-aid with the sugar. Add softened butter and mix until fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Stir in salt and baking soda. Add flour in 1/2 cup increments and mix well after each addition.
Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll in the sugar. Place them on greased cookie sheet and into 325 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Don’t overbake! Remove cookies from sheet after 1 minute and let cool.

24. Check for leaks in toilet tanks. The darker colored soft drink powder works the best because you can see it better. Carefully lift the lid off the toilet tank and set it aside. Open up a pack of Kool-Aid and pour it into the tank. The test can take as little as ten minutes or as long as thirty minutes, depending on the size of the leak. Don’t flush the toilet! Just watch the toilet bowl. If you see the colored powder float through from the tank, then there’s a leak present. It’s quite possibly the flapper piece. But, you’ll have to investigate further to determine the exact cause

25. Make fruity sherbet.

  • 1 cup sugar
    1 envelope unsweetened kool-aid (any flavor; not artificially sweetened)
    3 cups Half & Half (or milk)
    1/4 c. Water

In a small saucepan mix kool-aid, water and sugar over medium heat until smooth and sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and cool 10 minutes. Mix with 3 c. of Cold half-half and pour into ice cream maker, process according to manufacturer’s directions on your machine. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, now worries, you don’t need one! Simply pour into a dish ( large loaf pan works great!) and place in the freezer. Remove from freezer after 1 hour, blend well with a blender until smooth and return to freezer for 20 minutes or so. If using milk, it will have an “icy” texture rather than a smooth sherbet texture.

26. Kool-Aid Water Colors. Pour several different packs of Kool-Aid into individual glass containers ( Plastic will stain) add a tablespoon of water to each container stir until dissolved. Give the kids paint brush and paper and let them go to painting

27. Dye your hair. You want a different color for Halloween or any time take a pack of kool-aid mix with 1 tbl of hair conditioner to make a paste put o clean hair let sit for 5 minutes before rinsing out will wash out in a couple washings.

28. Make Hard candy.

29 Make your own Gatorade. the recipe is HERE. My husband likes this better then the store bought and he goes through a lot in the summer.

30 Make your own pedialyte. the recipe is HERE. The little ones seem to like this better then the store bought.

31. Kool-Aid Pickles

  • 1 quart jar of dill pickles spears
  • 1 pkg. Kool-aid (cherry, black cherry, lime, grape work well)
  • 1 c. sugar

Drain the juice/brine off of pickles into a pot or bowl. Stir in Kool-aid and sugar until sugar is completely dissolved in the brine. Pour Kool-aid mixture back in jar over pickles making sure pickles are covered.  Place in refrigerator for at least a week (longer for large whole pickles) stirring or rotating jar every day or so. They are ready when the flesh turns a color that aligns with the flavor of Kool-aid used and the pickles taste of that flavor and have some of the dill tang as well. The longer they sit in the liquid, the more flavor they seem to absorb.

Do you have any other ways use Kool-Aid? I would live to hear them.

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