DIY Milk

Can you do anything with the solid residue or is that just waste?

I'm sure somebody could think of something - I've reached peak environmental. It looks suspiciously like Ready Brek . . .

Compress, air dry and burn?

Excellent. Always good to know if we get caught out (although we generally keep a reasonable stock of oat and soya milk) and we have the unsweetened versions in any case.

Even the d-i-y version sounds better than the alternative:

Thanks, I'll give it a try. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Put it on your porridge. Oh...hang on...it IS porridge.

I've come across the 'science' explanation of milk/lactose, and how it's not good beyond childhood. That doesn't really motivate me. It's more animal welfare, packaging waste, and tightness. Pretty much in that order. I still have butter and cheese (not much), so baby steps.

So long as you've got some form of blitzer, it's very easy to do. Good luck!

It isn't ... or I'm guessing none of us would be 'adult lactose intolerant.

"You aren't lactose intolerant, you just aren't a baby cow". ;-)

And those of us that aren't lactose intolerant as adults have only become so because of continuous exposure to it (not because it was natural for us to be).

No, if you can drink it (not lactose intolerant, I'm not) then why would it?

Quite ... and when looking into all this I think that the constant exploitation of a dairy cow (artificial insemination, taking the calf away, *huge* quantities of milk and then eventual slaughter (probably a relief) at 1/5 of their natural lives) makes it worse than feed lot beef production.

The old recycled glass bottle seemed like a good idea but someone said it uses more energy sterilising a glass bottle than making a new plastic one? I'm not sure if that also takes into consideration the energy required recycle the plastic or the oil production in the first place?

;-)

Yeah, not a bad order IMHO. ;-)

Sure, 'every little helps' as they say.

Daughter is always on the lookout for different Vegan things for us all to try and she recently got us some Applewoods new smoky flavoured cheese and I'd have to say it was pretty good.

I've had it in a cheese and tomato sandwich, a cheese and pickle sandwich and melted on toast and it was good in all of them. It's not a strong cheddar (my preferred cheese) but it's still way good enough to satisfy that cheese hankering (and without the animal suffering etc).

The other one that works very well, especially as a (firm) cheesy dip is Sainbury's 'Garlic & Herb' soft cheese from their 'Free from' range:

Yup, I think that's one of the few kitchen tools we have got (other than the standard kettle, toaster (tin opener) and electric pressure cooker). ;-)

Thanks ... happy to try any interesting ideas. ;-)

Would a coffee filter work better than a sieve? The sort with a cone and a conical filter paper - we use Melitta.

It isn't for some. In populations where milk consumption has been historically low, such as Japan and China, most children will have stopped producing lactase soon after weaning and ? producing almost entire populations that may be unable to absorb the lactose in milk ? this we call ?lactose intolerance?.

In populations where milk consumption has always been high, such as in Europe, most adults continue to produce lactase for their whole lives and can digest milk quite happily with only around 5 per cent of the population being lactose intolerant.

And the extra fuel used in moving the relatively heavy bottles to the customer and back to the diary to be reused. And, unless the diary also has a glass works, sending ones at their EOL (after half a dozen or so trips I believe) off to be remade and returned for use.

Or produce the glass in the first place? This were "carbon footprint" all becomes a bit wishy washy and unreliable as a guide to the "cradle to grave" enviromental impact of a given product.

Yup, the default situation for humans.

For many thousand years ...

More like between 10 and 20%.

Cheers, T i m

Much of the recycled plastic is plastic milk bottles so they still have to be collected (after every use), sorted and reprocessed (granted that they are lighter than glass).

Agreed.

True, other than the material used is sand and I don't think we are short of that. ;-)

No, but I bet someone has got pretty close (as I think it's an interesting everyday issue that most older people (especially) have been party / witness to) to coming up with a number.

The thing is (and ignoring the impracticality of having doorstep delivery for many these days [1]), with more people having deliveries these days (Covid19) the weight of a glass bottle becomes less of an issue, they could go back to glass as they still so with most jams and pickles etc? And collection could be the same as they do with the carrier bags.

And this is all while we have the option to consume an ever dwindling reserve of oil to make the plastic bottles in the first place?

I would be interested to see the full balance sums though.

Cheers, T i m

Were humans *designed* at all?

As we've gone from "ug, ig, og" to "I wondered lonely as a cloud..." it doesn't seem to have done us much harm.

Owain

Kraft/Mondelez have been developing an alternative to Dairy Milk chocolate for 10 years. It's a palm-oil-based, non-Fairtrade-cocoa, tasteless gritty sludge, and the vegans can stick it up their arse.

Owain

Ok.

Ok, it doesn't have to be either ...

Personal opinion I'm guessing, or they wouldn't still be making / selling it?

What, so some nasty Vegans have been force feeding you with it have they? ;-(

Daughter regularly get's me this:

But then I also care just how much animal suffering (people making people suffer is another issue, re Fairtrade etc) and for me, that

Cheers, T i m

The Galaxy vegan bars are delicious, just too expensive.

Worth a thought when I try later. ;-)

Talking of coffee ... <g> ... daughter went into a local cafe earlier (takeaway) and asked for Soy milk coffee (again ... they got some in for her previously). The server mentioned how many other people were also asking for (and now able to get, thanks to our daughter) soy milk (for whatever reason) etc. ;-)

When passing an ice cream van whilst out dog walking the other day we asked if they stocked any vegan ice-creams and he said he was sorry, they didn't. We then spoke of them doing a couple of Vegan Magnums and he said he'd have a look at the wholesalers over the weekend. We happened to have the dog the next Monday and as we happened passed the ice cream van we (semi jokingly) asked for a couple of 'vegan ice creams please' and he put a couple out on the counter. ;-)

Feeling obliged to buy them after asking for them, we had the vegan offerings on the next couple of visits and on the third time it was much hotter we fancied a plain water lolly and mentioned that when buying them. 'You can have what you want' said the guy and 'I'm selling plenty of the vegan ones in any case'. ;-)

Now I wonder if in the cases above people are still buying the cows milk alternatives, or not buying anything at all so these were *extra* sales?

Cheers, T i m

I went for the latter, using a small mug as a measure.

Whatever Aldi sell here. ;-)

A bit less than that here as it looks like ours leaks. ;-(

Don't have a tea strainer but even a fineish steel sieve seemed to get blocked fairly quickly, suggesting it should have been blended longer.

Yup, having a cuppa with it now and the Mrs suggested she wouldn't have said anything had she not been aware of the experiment (but then we drink oat milk in any case so ...). ;-)

I can't say I remember as I've not been drinking cows milk for a good few years now (it used to give me a very mucusy cough, to the point where sometimes I was nearly sick). ;-(

Started off ok but I think because it wasn't blended / filtered well enough, I found a bit of sediment towards / in the bottom.

I've put ours in a freshly emptied cordial bottle so it can be kept in the fridge and shaken before use.

I will need to get a new blender (and recommendations for a super fine one anyone)?

According to the 1l carton of 'Aldi acti leaf Oat' we have here:

Water Oats (10%) Sunflower oil Chicory root fibre Calcium (calcium phosphates) Stabilisers Maltodextrin Gellan Gum Sea Salt Vitamin B12 (who'd have thought <g>) Vitamin B2 Vitamin D.

No artificial colours, flavourings or preservatives.

Nutrition:(Per 100ml) Energy: 48kcal Fat 1.5g (saturates) .2g Carbohydrate 7.7g (sugars) 3.8g Fibre .7g Protein <.5g Salt .09g

Vitamins and minerals: % / RI Vitamin D .75ug (15%) Riboflavin (B2) .21mg (15%) Vitamin B12 .38ug (15%) Calcium 120mg (15%)

Just seen on Aldi's own site:

Thank you for the inspiration to give diy oat milk a go Rob. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

If anything, I'm finding that ratio too thick

Yep, me too usually. They're on recommendation from a friend, and I have had some of the cheapies resemble dust. But they're so cheap anyway I've stuck with them. Flahavans BTW, typo

Tried that. Don't know why, but my tea towels are pretty much impermeable.

I'm much less than an authority. I use an Aldi smoothie maker. Seems well made with thick plastics, but the motor does that horrible 'burning' smell - the start up seems very violent. Had it a couple of years now so maybe it'll go the course. I paid £20-£30 from memory. The Which best buys are mostly £100+. An exception of decent capacity is the Tefal Blendforce Blender BL420840 - might be worth a look.

I mean to try my stick blender - it's a £5 Logic from Curry's, had it about 5 years, use once a week for soup. I've worn through the low speed rubber button cover, but otherwise it makes short work of whatever vegetables I have lying around.

I don't feel an urge to try any of that. Maybe a benign preservative, but I gather the mix lasts 5 days as it is. I put a teaspoon of oil in my last small batch - no difference that I can see/taste. The Aldi version I get is just oats and water:

Ah interesting, thanks, 4:1. Their own says 10% oats - that's where I got my figures from, but as I say, that's a bit too thick. And I'll try a sacrificial T shirt :-)

Top tip - but a good glug on water-based porridge with a spoon of honey. It goes into an amazing non-milky creamy sort of affair.

No worries, next the world :-)