For sodium… I found it very helpful to do the Precision Hydration survey to estimate sodium needs (but I also already knew I’m a pretty salty, pretty heavy sweater). You don’t need to use their products to get value from the recommendations.
For more on the recovery shake, here is one of @ambermalika’s posts I was talking about:
Maybe it was in the episode of the podcast where she broke down the cost, but here is my take: the more expensive per serving your recovery shake is, the more likely you are to use it for “special occasions” (really hard workouts, long rides, etc.) The cheaper it is, the more likely you are to consistently use it all the time. Every dedicated recovery mix I checked was at least 2x the cost per serving of mixing sports drink and protein powder, and only chocolate milk was really comparable. The need to refrigerate chocolate milk (or buy shelf-stable chocolate milk, which is more expensive and involves more packaging, at least in the US) made it less convenient, which again reduces how often I actually use it.
I optimized my approach to maximize consistency of use, which meant (for me) making it as cheap and easy as possible. Other approaches are reasonable too. For example: maximizing flavor so you are happy to drink it! “Whatever Gatorade flavor I have plus whatever protein powder flavor I have” is not always the most palatable combination, and every dedicated recovery powder I’ve tried has been delicious. However, the weird flavors don’t really bother me, or keep me from doing it, so I chose to optimize for cost instead.