Making nut, soy, or rice milk

Empty cartons of plant-based “non-dairy beverages” are one of the bulkiest things in my trash, so I would like to try omitting these in favor of making my own from scratch. If you have made your own soy milk, almond milk, etc., do you think the milk-making machines are worthwhile? It looks fairly straightforward to make these drinks without the machine, but that’s the internet talking, and things that sound easy are not necessarily! And it seems like the machine would be more energy efficient overall (cooking beans on the stove all day means also running air conditioning and dehumidifier in my little house). Any thoughts?

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Have you tried them in powder form? As long as it is very cold, I don’t have a problem with powdered almond milk because I use it in shakes and cooking or my coffee.

You can also freeze the powder…not sure how much you use, but most of the powdered alternative “milks” can be purchased in bulk as well with not a lot of packaging.

make your own almond milk

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I have a jar of this which is a glass jar about the size of a salsa jar, it’s good!

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Don’t know if it’s reasonable, but for the all day cooking thing it might be worth looking into some kind of portable cooking surface you could use outside the house. (I plug in the rice cooker on the back deck when it’s hot out.)

I have not done the homemade plant milk thing, but did look into it a few times & my impression was that the machines are how you get from grainy-textured to actual liquid-like beverages, so whether they’re worthwhile might depend on your tolerance for drinks with grit to them.

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Wow, great question, something I’d be interested in finding out too. I’ve been thinking of cutting the tops off then using to plant seedlings. We have free stores here in hawaii where individuals host little “stores” in front of their houses to share seeds and plant cuttings and supplies where I will drop off extras to share when I have too much. I love the idea of powdered and concentrates so I will look for those. Thanks @calluna @AIMR @PrincessP for these ideas!

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@thanate great idea too. My inlaws keep a cooktop in the garage for hot or smelly things that they cook!

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I have made loads of nut/seed milk. A high speed blender is really helpful but if you don’t have a vitamix, whatever blender you have will still work.
Soak nuts/seeds overnight to soften, blend, strain, flavour after straining. Cashew blends smooth, it’s the only one that doesn’t need straining. Some seeds are bitter, bland, slimy, etc. I didn’t love sesame, a little sunflower & pumpkin can be added to almond but not much. Flax & chia are a NO, too gelly thick.
Those fancy 10-20$ straining bags are just paint strainers, exactly the same and cost a buck or less from the paint store. Or sew your own out of plain muslin fabric.
Oat milk is easy & inexpensive.

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