I've literally just been buying powder mixes instead of energy drinks (see: mio, crystal light, etc...) and using caffeine pills for the caffeine. I could just do plain water, but then I have that minor desire for flavor. Absolutely not necessary, but helps cut the urge for an expensive can of energy drink.
My last purchase was a 4.75 can of Gatorade flavor (not uh, low cal, alas), makes 9 gallons, far cheaper than energy drink. But you can buy low/no cal flavoring too. I think this might be the future (til they jack prices to reach parity with canned/premixed drinks cuz the market says they can).
Precisely. OTOH, I am glad that more and more are switching to sweeteners like Monkfruit rather than aspartame and the rest. (Yes, I know the jury is out on them being carcinogenic, blah blah, I don't care - I'm just glad that people seem to want to see a greater variety of sweeteners like Monkfruit and Allulose on the market)
There seem to be many new products which are just overpriced soda water with some minor fruit flavoring.