V8 Fusion Exposé

I love vegetables. A little asparagus, a little hollandaise, I'm in heaven. Broccoli? My long-lost brother. Still, it's hard to get enough veggies in my diet. You know what I'm sayin'...

My solution? V8 Fusion. Talk about awesome. Why didn't they come out with this product 20 years ago? One 8 oz drink of V8 Fusion has 100% juice and has a full serving of both fruits AND vegetables! And it doesn't taste like a yucky veggie drink - we're talking full on delicious fruit flavor.

But there is one small problem. V8 is out to get us.

Exhibit A: Two delicious bottles of V8 Fusion. My two personal favorites, Strawberry Banana and Goji Raspberry. What's the difference? The bottle on the left is 'Light'. Why did I pick Light? Because it was a complete mistake. The bottle looks exactly the same as the regular except for the 'Light' stripe and the non-colored cap. Being in a hurry at my friendly local grocer, I grabbed the wrong bottle.

But that's ok, right? Half the calories, half the sugar, still giving me my veggie intake...we're good so far here.

Popping the cap, I found that the 'Light' product tastes just like a watered-down version of the original. Though not as good as the original, it's still quite tasty. We're still good, right?

Exhibit B: Notice that the 'Light' product is only 50% juice, compared to the 100% juice of the original product. Taking a look at the ingredients, they're exactly the same. But both products are reconstituted juices - water is the number one ingredient. Adding more water doesn't change the ingredients list! So I really am drinking watered-down V8 Fusion? Surely they must add some non-caloric vegetable goodness that still gives me a full serving of veggies and fruits, right?

Exhibit C: Wrong. The original has one full serving of veggies and one full serving of fruits per 8 fluid ounces. The 'Light' has 1/2 serving of fruits, 1/2 serving of veggies per 8 fluid ounces.

A full bottle of V8 Fusion has 46 ounces, so the 'Light' has 23 ounces of juice, 23 ounces of water. At an MSRP of $3.99, This means I'm paying $2 for the 23 ounces of juice and $2 for 23 ounces of water. If my math is right, this translates to $11.13 per gallon of water. Here in Meno Falls, we pay less than 6/10 of one cent per gallon of water. That's a markup of 2000% on the water. Blimey! What kind of water are they adding to my juice? Bling H2O bottled water?

V8...you've kept my diet straight for so long! Can't we be friends again? If I want to water down my V8 Fusion, I'll do it myself at a cost savings of 2000%.

Avoid those white caps at all costs!!!!!!!!!!