How to Meal Prep Your Water (aka making infused water at home)😅

Natural antioxidant infused water is a healthier alternative to syrups or powders containing artificial flavours, colouring, sweeteners, or other additives.

It’s super easy to make infused water at home. You can even batch prep this to save time.

All you do is freeze the ingredients for your favourite detox water recipes.

Here’s a quick TL;DR version.

Buy Frozen Fruit. Just get bags of frozen fruit, like raspberries, strawberries, peaches, cherries😝, dragon fruit, or whatever’s available. It’s easy, cost-effective, and great all year round. You won’t have to wash anything or worry about fruit spoiling before you get around to prepping.
Prep Savoury Herbs. Rinse and freeze herbs like basil, rosemary, mint, tarragon, and sage to make a basic infused water recipe a little more elegant.
Slice Lemon and Lime. Wash, slice, and freeze a bag of lemons or limes. Lemon and lime perks up other flavours and adds a whole lot of detoxing benefits. Lemon is a staple in our infused waters and fresh juices. (Concentrated lemon or lime juice is an option, but this generally contains sulphites, benzoates, or other preservatives, which we’d rather avoid.)
Ginger. Scrub, slice, and freeze fresh ginger or get some good powdered ginger. Ginger is stimulating, a natural flavour enhancer, and another staple detox ingredient.
Batch Prep Fresh Fruits. If you’d rather use fresh or seasonal fruits, play around with some recipes then batch prepare your favourite ones.
Collect other Spices. Cinnamon, turmeric, bay leaves, cloves, vanilla bean, dried herbs, and other spices can all be infused into water for natural antioxidant rich hydration. 👏
Sparkling Water (optional extra). Sparkling mineral water or homemade soda water is amazing for livening things up without calories, additives, or artificial nasties. Top off your infused water with some or add a splash of lemon/lime. (Obviously, this ingredient shouldn’t be frozen.)
Tea (also optional). Sprinkle in some loose leaf white, green, or red tea for extra antioxidants. Don’t add too much since we’re not making iced tea.
Flowers (another option). Rose petals, butterfly pea flowers, lavender, and hibiscus will turn your water into an enchanting elixir that looks fit for a fairy queen. You can find edible flowers at specialty grocery stores or from herbal apothecaries. Keep your favourite dried ones on hand and snap up fresh ones when available.

Make ahead then assemble your infused water recipes. You can freeze ingredients individually or in recipe packs. Then just grab what you want and pop them into an infusing pitcher, infused water bottle, or large water bottle.

So yeah, it’s pretty easy to make really good infused water at home and stay hydrated no matter what.

How long does it take to make infused water?

Infusing water with fruits, herbs, or spices takes a bit of time. Most detox water recipes are best when infused overnight or for at least a few hours. If you’re only using frozen fruit, it’ll definitely take some hours for the flavours to infuse.

Some ingredients infuse faster than others. It’s all about surface exposure and whether or not the flavour (and nutrients) are tightly fibre bound. In general, smaller or thinner ingredients infuse better. Water-rich ingredients infuse faster than dense, fibrous ones.

E.g., thin apple slices infuse faster than big apple wedges. Thin grapefruit slices infuse faster than apple slices. Powdered ginger infuses faster than fresh ginger. Etc.

Softer ingredients like berries, melons, and cucumbers don’t need to be thinly sliced in order to infuse. In fact, you might want to leave some soft ingredients in bigger pieces so they don’t turn to mush.

5 Tips for making the best ever infused water at home:

Make a big pitcher of detox water in the evening and let it infuse in the fridge overnight.
Add sliced frozen fruit to a large personal water bottle that you will sip throughout the day. (Use a big water bottle for this. Like a 1/2 gallon jug, gallon jug, Stanley, or whatever else is practical for you.)
Combine fresh or easily infused ingredients (like basil and lemon juice) with ones that take a little longer (like frozen strawberries). You can start sipping right away and the mix gets better through the day.
Create a huge batch of concentrated infused water to keep in the fridge. Store it in the fridge and add splashes into your water throughout the day.
- Or make spice infused water using longer-lasting ingredients, like ginger or cinnamon. Store that in the fridge and use it in daily variations with ingredients that infuse faster, like diced apples or frozen cherries.
Use a mix of sliced or diced ingredients for faster infusing and frozen, whole, or chunked ones to last the entire day.

Ok? We’ve outlined the basic process so here’s what you need to get rolling.

Here’s what you need to make your own infused water

You don’t need anything special, aside from a cutting board, knife, some freezer bags, and any water bottle. (You really don’t need those infused water bottles either, even though they’re super cute).

But, let’s be real.

Really good choppers make meal prep so much faster. Eco-friendly freezer bags can feel better than using basic plastic ones. Fresh fruit keeps better in the fridge when you have the right containers. And aesthetic trendy water bottles are the best way to show off how healthy, chic, and better than everyone else you are.😅

So let’s go. (Btw this list includes affiliate links, ok?🙃)

Slicers, Dicers, Choppers, etc.

Top Pick:

This Ultra Cute Dash Mandoline: it has a 100 cuts and is dishwasher friendly, making it the perfect sidekick for all your meal prep.

Good Knives

If you have really good knives, sharpeners, (or patience), you can skip the choppers above.

Top Pick:

This simple 6 piece knife set. It’s affordable and compact but still has the essential knives you need and even a pair of kitchen scissors.

Cutting Boards

Cutting boards are on the list because cross-contamination is a thing. If you cook meat or seafood at home, it’s a good idea to have separate cutting boards for different things.

Top Pick:

7 Piece Cutting board Set: BPA-free, icon coded, and ideal for small spaces.