The Affordable Ikea Food Court Hack That Brings Fun To Your Beverage

Ikea is one of those places where you visit for affordable-priced goods and stay for the food. Similar to going to Costco to try the latest food-court pizza hack, it's nearly impossible to visit Ikea without grabbing something to eat. Renowned for its affordable Swedish meatballs and tasty hot dogs that are even cheaper than Costco, there's a fun Ikea food court hack that you probably haven't thought of: adding the furniture chain's signature lingonberry juice to its cola to create a Scandinavian version of a cherry cola.

Also known as alpine berries or partridge berries, lingonberries are small, tart, red berries that grow on low-lying evergreen shrubs native to Eurasia (and North America), particularly Scandinavian countries like Sweden and Norway, and are often used to make jams, spreads, syrups, and, of course, juice. At Ikea's food court, you can get an order of lingonberry juice alongside its fountain sodas for around $2. The juice has the refreshing zing of cranberries, paired with the mellow sweetness of blueberries – two close berry relatives – so it adds a fruity twist when combined with cola. 

The best part: You never have to worry about ordering this secret menu item since all of the fountain sodas at Ikea are self-serve. You simply order one drink and then combine the two beverages, figuring out your preferred ratio of cola to lingonberry juice along the way. That said, this hack could also work with other beverage options. For example, for an extra fruity beverage, you could pair lingonberry with Ikea's pear soda. The zinginess of the ligonberry flavor nicely complements the subtle sweetness and fizziness of the pear soda. 

If you really want to make your beverage fun, there's another hack you may not have considered: turning your hacked Ikea soda into an ice cream float. Like Costco, Ikea also sells ice cream in its food court. For $1.75, you can get a deliciously creamy cup of vanilla soft serve. All you'd need to do is add a dollop of ice cream to your ligonberry cola, and you've got a delicious ice cream float for less than $4.

While vanilla soft serve is a natural choice for a fruity cola ice cream float, Ikea also offers a strawberry soft serve option. If you want to emphasize the fruitiness of your float, add a scoop or two of strawberry soft serve to your ligonberry cola mix. Alternatively, if you can't decide between vanilla and strawberry, you could order half of each flavor and add them to your juice-and-soda mix (this would also work well with the pear soda and lingonberry combo mentioned above). Whichever option you choose, paired with the fizziness of cola or any other soda, you get a deliciously creamy and refreshing beverage to enjoy next time you head to Ikea to grab some flat-pack furniture and affordable must-have kitchen organization items.