DIY Almond Milk - Price Vs Flavour Vs Ease Vs Healthy

Charlotta on 02/12/2022 - 19:11

About two years now since I got off of cow juice,

I switched to buying 1 litre bricks of Almond Milk - usually NAS - no added suger.

We only use it for breakfast cereal - which perhaps means taste expectations are less critical that they might be in other uses??? - given the cereal taste can mask any flavour blandness for the milk. We probably use about 3-4 litres per week.

Wish I'd gone DIY DIY. By doing so, I expect that I can remove the food miles of transporting the weight of so much added water (?? 90%) - plus of course the production and disposal of the tetra-packs.

I'm looking for systems that OzB folk are using on a regular basis in similar or higher volumes - esp comparing ease of prep vs cost - but also considerations of flavour and health. Lots of stuff on the web about buying raw whole almonds - either blanched or skin-on - and then soaking them. Also there is lots about alternatives of buying almond flour, or almond meal or almond butter esp on YouTube - but not much of this is based on retail products from Australian supermarkets.

I could soak whole almonds - but I suspect I don't want to do that more than once/week. So I'm interested in any systems variations that contemplate min 4 litres per week - don't want to be soaking almonds more than once per week. I wonder if the soaking can be done less often, but then the resultant nuts put air-tight into freezer, ready for usage by just adding cold water in blender? If viable - frozen pre-soaked almonds would, as a bonus, make the resulting milk icy colder too. I like cold liquids to be icy cold, and the colder a substance is, the less flavour it has.

So to people who do this: What form of almonds and which brand? and from where? And which brands and systems work best in terms of price vs flavour vs ease vs health?

Buying:-
1 - raw whole almonds
2 - blanched almonds
3 - almond meal (blanched/unblanched?)
4 - almond flour (blanched/unblanched?)
5 - almond butter
6 - ?? calcium supplement to add??

And any comment re your blender choice/use? Some info sugests that 1 and 2 appear to require a "high speed blender". True/false? Or are all blenders in Australia "high-speed" given we're 240V? I'm wondering if 3, 4, and 5 work fine with a "normal" blender?

Health: any buys have problem of pre-added sugar? Or palm oil? (esp almond butter?) Anyone adding calcium in some format? Or zero/less salt? Or finding a product that meets these?

Thx in advance.

Food & Grocery Almond Milk

Comments

  • theHMASfriendship on 02/12/2022 - 19:26
    +8

    So that’s how you make almond milk. I could never find nipples on them

  • Tily on 02/12/2022 - 19:30

    I have almond milk with my coffee and had considered to make my own when I first bought my thermomix last year. However after weighting up the efforts and costs to make 500ml of almond milk, it just wasn’t worth it. Also I was worried that the homemade almond milk would split when I warm it up for coffee.

    I now just watch the price on Amazon and buy them when the price is right. I currently have 13 litres of almond milk in my garage. Pure harvest no sugar is my go to.

    • Charlotta on 02/12/2022 - 19:34

      My usage is at a higher weekly volume. If it was just for a dash for coffee or tea I'd be with you.

      • Tily on 02/12/2022 - 19:43
        +1

        I have lattes in decent size mugs so I wouldn’t say I only use a dash here and there. I use about 2 to 3 litres a week myself depending on how much coffee I drink.

        Even at your usage of 4 litres a week, i still wouldn’t be bothered making my own. For the price of the ingredients and the time involved to make and clean up, I don’t think it’s value for money.

        • Charlotta on 02/12/2022 - 20:20

          You did write: "efforts and costs to make 500ml of almond milk"!

          Cost is not my only concern.

          Shipping water around the country and producing extra container waste are both on my radar also.

          I'm on the look out for myriad ways to do a little less stuffing up of the planet, on the basis that "It's cheap and convenient to do so". I'm into our building more "repair culture" in the community too.

          Not a concern of everyone of course - and I'm a gazillion miles from perfect. But it IS an explicit concern for this thread.

          • bobwokeup on 03/12/2022 - 10:50
            +1

            @Charlotta: Being an OzBargainer cost is always on my mind but the 2 more important factors for me now that I’m getting older is health and environment (it’s going to affect my kids so I want to change my habits). So for me I almond milk is the healthiest option (least amount of carbs) and yes it’s not the most environmental option but I’m only going to buy it in the recyclable bottles over the long life non-recyclable ones which are too popular (my opinion only).

  • bobwokeup on 02/12/2022 - 19:56
    +1

    I’ve also stopped cows milk years ago, only get the unsweetened ones and don’t like using the long life milk due to environmental reasons. Lately I’ve been buying the ones from Coles in the fridge as they are recyclable at least.

  • Adredocto on 02/12/2022 - 20:34
    +1

    Perhaps switch to oat milk if environment is a concern? Look at the stats across the alternatives when it comes to impact.
    Almond growing is not really a planet friendly industry

  • Iwantthebestprice on 02/12/2022 - 20:39
    +2

    Oat milk all the way. Once I learnt the amount of water required to make 1 litre of almond milk I could never drink it again. Absolutely disgusting they push almond milk as an alternative with the amount of water required to make one litre of almond milk.
    Amount of water for 1 litre almond milk:
    371 litres of water
    Amount of water for 1 litre oat milk:
    48 litres of water
    People that drink almond milk and claim to do it for the environmental benefits make me sick!

  • jenki on 02/12/2022 - 21:27
    +1

    Maybe try a nut/almond/hemp milk concentrate? Lots of options here: https://www.uluhye.com.au/product-category/mylk-base/?gclid=…

    I haven't tried them personally, but like the concept.

  • Sinnerator on 03/12/2022 - 09:06

    Soy in DECAF and Almond with cereal. Fight Me !

    <too tired to fight, don't drink real coffee>

  • Meho2026 on 03/12/2022 - 11:32
    +2

    I put 1 tablespoon of almond butter (any brand made from 100% almonds) with 500ml water in the nutribullet. You can add a couple of dates if you want sweetness.
    Ive made the almond butter from scratch using almonds but found it cheaper to just buy the almond butter cos I could never source cheap enough almonds.
    Im too lazy to use a filter bag. I just use it as it is.
    I cant seem to get the consistency right for oat milk using the nutribullet but the recipe is basically 4:1 water:oats. You can just use rolled oats. If you have some other kind of high speed blender its supposed to work better.

    • Charlotta on 06/12/2022 - 03:47

      First reply fully on-topic, @Meho2026. Many thanks.

      So a "tablespoon" = 15mls ???? or is it a "heaped" or "very generous" tablespoon? LOL…

      Thus, 200ml jar gives 6.7 litres and a 250ml jar would give 8.4 litres.

      At about $5.70 each jar, that means between $0,68 to $0.84 per litre.

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