Red Bull v Aldi’s Flying Power: Bowen has made the switch

I’ve been a Red Bull drinker since I was 18, I don’t really know why but I guess everyone has a vice. But increasingly I’ve really been thinking about how much I’m spending on this Austrian made energy drink. Take Woolworths for example, right now a 250ml can is $3.00, at a servo you’re likely to pay closer to $4.00 or more. 

Now here’s another admission, I definitely exceed the “2 CANS MAX. DAILY” warning, so you can see my concern here. Financially it’s a big drain. Sure there’s the health concerns, but I’m still upright after all these years. Although I don’t condone drinking anymore than what Red Bull state.

However, I’ve long been aware Aldi sell an alternative brand, also made in Austria. It’s called Flying Power. My go to Red Bull drink is the Sugar Free can; Flying Power offer a 99 per cent sugar free offering. It’s said to have less than 0.3g of the sweet stuff in it.

Remarkably when you look at the ingredients of both brands, they’re near identical. There’s the same amount of caffeine, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12 and Taurine. The Aldi brand does have more salt at 200mg as opposed to Red Bull’s 104mg. Plus both seem to use different artificial sweeteners.

But what I care about is the massive price disparity, the Aldi 250ml cans are just 99 cents. I went in and took a 30 can box off the shelf, I’m sure you don’t need to hear the math from me to work out the savings. 

There’s a couple of obvious things people will throw back at me, taste for example. But honestly, does Red Bull really taste that good anyway? I’m flat out even describing the taste. I can more than tolerate the Aldi brand, even more so when it’s $1 a pop.

The other issue is why am I drinking this stuff? Well why do people drink Coke, have five coffees a day, drink four glasses of wine at night. It’s just something I do, I’m sure my body could go without it but lots of people are big consumers of these products. 

So, there we have it, call it Bowen’s Best Buy if you will. But either way if you’re like me at least give it a go! It’s good enough for me to make the switch.