This Cheap Frozen Drink Fave Is Making a Comeback

You don’t have to be over 40 or older to remember the cherished ubiquity of frozen-from-concentrate juice mixes—but it certainly helps. For many children of the ‘90s, those freezer-burnt peel-away tins that kept you stocked with ice-cold OJ all year long are as vivid a reminder of youth gone by as Proust’s madeleines. (Proust really didn’t know what he was missing with pink lemonade slushies—and he could only dream of the savings on juice!)

These childhood staples (and pivotal ingredient in a beloved annual East Coast holiday slush) have become vanishingly rare in grocery aisles of late. Earlier this spring, Coca-Cola announced it was discontinuing its iconic Minute Maid brand of frozen juice concentrates due to decreased interest. That came on the heels of other category providers like Canada’s Lassonde ditching the frozen juice market. That manufacturer told CBC they, too, had stepped away from production due to dwindling demand.

But where there’s absence, there’s opportunity—and one big-name retailer is pulling the release tab on the frozen drink category to the delight of remaining frozen-from-concentrate fans. According to the Toronto Star, Loblaws’ No Name brand is filling the gap in the freezer aisle, and just in time for some summer budget relief.

A Loblaws representative told the paper that there’s still significant enough consumer desire for the budget-friendly staple and they’re quenching that thirst for cheap-and-cheerful berry punch on-demand with a new line of No Name brand offerings.

Though it's not clear when exactly, consumers can soon expect to find six familiar flavours in Loblaws' stores across the country. That means you'll be able to shop frozen lemonade, pink lemonade, grape punch, fruit punch, berry punch and limeade, with three orange juice options also reportedly slated for 2027.

With cans selling at $2.35 per 283 mL can, the price is right, too. (By comparison, a 2.5L jug of orange juice can run anywhere from $9 to $13.) It's the kind of savings many cash-strapped and grocery-bill-weary Canadians are increasingly looking for at the moment, especially those with juice-guzzling kids and teens at home.

According to Canada's Food Price Report, Canadian families are being squeezed to a fine pulp themselves by rising grocery prices that will likely see a family of four drop an additional $1000 on food this year.