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Make oat milk yourself – this is how it works: This plant-based milk is for everyone who is looking for an alternative to cow’s milk or nut milk. You can make your own oat milk with just three ingredients. This is full of valuable nutrients and provides you with many vitamins. Try it out – we’ll show you how quickly and easily you can make your own oat milk.

Healthy Flakes

Oatmeal is extremely healthy because it has a high-quality nutrient composition and complex carbohydrates keep you full for a long time. They contain a lot of dietary fiber, which ensures good digestion, as well as unsaturated fatty acids.

They are also said to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Blood sugar levels don’t rise as much after eating oatmeal, which helps prevent cravings. A good reason to make your own oat milk.

The small flakes also contain a lot of minerals, trace elements, and vitamins as well as iron, zinc, folic acid, vitamin E, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, copper, sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus.

Not only a hit in porridge

If you want to integrate the delicious flakes into your diet, you don’t necessarily have to eat porridge all the time. You can also make your own oat milk! This is not only a good milk alternative but also another plant-based milk that can add some variety to the diet.

Whether due to lactose intolerance or because no animal products are to be consumed, oat milk can be used as an alternative to cow’s milk along with almond milk and the like. But be careful: oats contain gluten, so they are not suitable for people with gluten intolerance.

If you make the oat milk yourself, vary the amount of water as you like, depending on how thick or creamy you like the milk.

Homemade oat milk also scores with few ingredients – and you can sweeten and season as you like. The finished oat milk will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about three days. Alternatively, you can boil the milk again and fill it hot into airtight bottles – this way the oat milk will last longer.

Make your own oat milk

The ingredients for 1 liter:

  • 100 g tender oat flakes
  • 1 liter of water (or to taste)
  • pinch of salt

Preparing the oat milk:

  • Put the rolled oats and salt in a bowl, cover with 1l of cold water and stir briefly. Let the oat flakes swell for about 5 minutes and then puree them with a hand blender or in a blender.
  • Place the puree in a nut milk bag (or linen cloth), drain the liquid into a container, and squeeze the mixture well so all the liquid comes out.
  • Finished! Now you can sweeten or spice it up as you like, for example with dates, cinnamon, or vanilla.

The selection of milk alternatives – including oat milk in particular – on the supermarket shelves is growing all the time. But what can the milk substitute actually do and how healthy and environmentally friendly is it?

Who is oat milk for?

Since the oat drink consists mainly of oat flakes and water, it is well tolerated by many people. In contrast to cow’s milk, oat milk is lactose-free and therefore a good alternative for people with lactose intolerance.

However, the grain-based drink contains gluten and therefore cannot be drunk by people with celiac disease. Anyone who does not want to use cow’s milk in favor of animal welfare and the climate is well served with the oat drink.

Plant-based milk alternatives, including oat milk, are still significantly more expensive than cow’s milk, although the ingredients used are relatively cheap. As always, supply and demand regulate the market here: the more sales are achieved with plant-based milk alternatives, the lower the production costs and the more producers* enter the business, which is accompanied by increasing competitive pressure and falling prices. If you make oat milk yourself, it is definitely cheaper.

Oat milk is so healthy

Oat milk is naturally sweet due to the starch in the processed grain. However, they are available in both unsweetened and sweetened versions. In terms of health, it is certainly worth making sure that you grab a pack with no added sugar on the shelf.

Oatmeal, the basis for the oat drink, is very healthy. They contain many vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants. Oats can also lower cholesterol levels. However, if you want to take full advantage of the health benefits, you should enjoy oatmeal unprocessed or make oat milk directly yourself, as many of these substances are lost during processing. Plant drinks also contain less saturated and more unsaturated fatty acids than cow’s milk. In general, oat milk has only little fat at one percent compared to cow’s milk. Nevertheless, there are some calories in the plant-based alternative: 100 milliliters have about 42 kilocalories.

Normally, oat drink contains hardly any calcium, which is why you can make sure to use oat milk that is fortified with calcium. Otherwise, calcium can also be absorbed through many other foods. Unlike cow’s milk, oat milk is not a source of protein. However, the necessary protein for a balanced diet can also be obtained from other sources, such as legumes, vegetables or nuts.

Make your own oat milk

If you value healthy nutrition and want to benefit from all the healthy ingredients that are otherwise partially destroyed in industrial production, you can quickly make the milk alternative yourself with just a few ingredients. As a result, it contains less sugar and tastes less sweet, as this is only produced during fermentation in industrial production. It’s also a cost-effective and environmentally friendly option. You need:
100g fine oat flakes
1l water
1 pinch of salt
optional: some sugar/dates to sweeten
First the water is boiled. The oatmeal is added to the boiling water and swells there for about an hour. Now add the salt and sweetener if desired. The mass is now pureed with the mixer, but it should not be too warm. Finally, the pulp is pressed through a cotton cloth or a fine sieve and the milk is collected in a bowl. Stored in a sealable bottle in the fridge, it will keep for up to 3 days.
Tip: Don’t throw away the leftovers! You can enjoy this in muesli.

How eco-friendly is oat milk?

One of the reasons why people are increasingly switching to plant-based alternatives is the negative environmental impact of milk production. Factory farming and industrial agriculture damage the environment and climate. Some of the climate-damaging emissions are already produced in the cow’s digestive system, but feed production also makes a large contribution. Rain forests are cleared again and again for the soy that is used as feed. Only a very small part of it is used for soy milk or tofu, since the soy mostly comes from Europe.

Since oat cultivation is widespread in Europe, the question of rainforest deforestation does not arise. Not only in comparison to cow’s milk, but also in comparison to other plant-based milk alternatives, the oat drink has the best environmental balance. According to a study by the BBC, it takes around 10 liters of water to produce a glass of oat milk. According to the Water Footprint organization, however, it takes around 200 liters to produce a glass of cow’s milk. About 74 liters are needed for a glass of almond milk.

When buying oat milk, in order to save energy, you should make sure that the oats come from European production, ideally from organic farming. There is now also oat powder*, which can simply be mixed with water and thus saves the many milk packaging.

Alternatives to oat milk

Those who like variety can now choose between a number of plant-based alternatives. Besides oat milk, soy and almond milk are the best-known alternatives. Soy milk is most similar to cow’s milk in its main nutrients. With the same protein content, however, it sometimes contains fewer calories, less sugar and less fat than cow’s milk. Almond milk tastes sweet and is just as good for any food. When it comes to the environmental balance, however, almond milk should be consumed with caution.

Rice milk is a good choice for people with many allergies and intolerances. It is suitable for people with lactose intolerance, celiac disease and soy or nut allergies. It is also much more neutral in taste than other varieties. Hazelnut drink and coconut drink also bring a tasty change.
By the way: If you pay particular attention to proteins, a hemp or lupine drink* could be right for you.

Conclusion

Anyone who avoids animal products and pays attention to a healthy diet will not go wrong with oat milk.

It can be enjoyed pure and also used perfectly for cooking and baking. Because it tastes sweet by nature, additional sugar can be saved.

Another reason that speaks for oat drink is the good environmental balance. The ingredients don’t have to hide either. In order to fully benefit from the nutrients in oats, however, it is worth making the oat drink yourself.

Vegan, lactose-free, more nutritious than soy and rice milk: at first glance, “oat milk” seems to be the best milk substitute. But how healthy is an oat drink really?

The times when oats were only for horses and only landed on our plates as porridge or oat flakes in muesli are long gone. The nutrient-rich power grain is becoming more and more popular, as it contains significantly more minerals and fats than wheat or rye, for example.

Thanks to the high-fat grains, oats can also be processed into a tasty milk alternative for people with lactose intolerance, milk protein intolerance or vegan diets. The nutritious oat milk scores with a number of advantages over soy or rice milk and has become increasingly established in recent years.

“Oat milk” – what is that anyway?

Strictly speaking, according to EU legislation, the term “oat milk” should not be used at all, as the term “milk” is reserved for animal milk from cows, sheep, goats or horses. The milk substitute is therefore commercially available under fancy names, as an oat drink or oat drink. In this article we use the term as it is used by the normal consumer.

Oat milk is basically just made from oatmeal and water. The flakes are soaked in water and mashed. After a short fermentation phase, the oatmeal is filtered – the resulting liquid is the oat milk. During industrial processing, additives such as calcium or stabilizers are then added and the product is preserved by ultra-high heating.

What are the nutritional values ​​of oat milk?

Oats are a real power grain that contains many essential amino acids, minerals such as potassium or magnesium and fiber. However, many of these substances are lost during processing. Oat milk therefore no longer has a particularly high nutrient content, but it does impress with the beta-glucans, a special type of sugar that helps regulate digestion.

How healthy is the oat drink?

Oat milk contains no lactose, no milk protein and no components of soy, but a relatively large amount of fiber, which makes you comparatively full. For anyone who suffers from an intolerance or even allergy to one of these substances, oat milk is a good milk substitute that is not unhealthy. In addition, the grain milk is free of cholesterol and thus helps to lower the cholesterol level.

However, the grain milk made from oats contains gluten – the oat drink is therefore not suitable for celiac disease patients or people who want or need to eat gluten-free. Pure oat milk without additives is usually well tolerated by babies and toddlers and can even help to regulate digestion.

Since the oat drink does not contain any calcium, however, it makes no sense to exclusively feed it, especially for growing children. In addition, industrially produced oat milk often contains a lot of sugar, emulsifiers and other additives that quickly make the milk substitute unhealthy.

Recipe: Homemade oat drink

If you want to be sure that the oat milk does not contain any unnecessary additives, you can make it yourself quickly and easily. You only need:
80 g organic oat flakes (fine)
1 liter of water
and 1 pinch of salt
And this is how easy it is:
Boil water, let the flakes swell in it, then puree.
The oatmeal is then filtered through cotton cloth, allowing the oat milk to drip into a bowl, leaving the solids in the cloth.
Wring out the cotton cloth well so that no liquid is lost.
The finished oat milk can be stored in sealed containers in the refrigerator for about three days.

Oat drinks: milk substitute with calories

At only around two percent, oat milk contains significantly less fat than whole cow’s milk. But the milk substitute made from cereals is still a real source of energy: The starch contained in the grains is also retained in the oat drink, which – depending on the product – accounts for 40 to 60 kilocalories per 100 milliliters.

The heating and fermentation process also breaks down the slowly digestible starch of the oats into easily digestible sugars, making the grain milk a real calorie trap. For comparison: 100 ml of cola contains 42 kcal – so oat milk is just as unsuitable as a thirst quencher as the sweet soft drink. However, whole milk has even more calories: around 65 kcal per 100 ml.