Oat-so Easy!

Oat-so Easy!!

Packaging.  The evil villain in planet destruction.  So much of it, we are literally drowning in it!  For a long time, I have raged against Tetrapak packaging.  In New Zealand, we do not have the technology to recycle it (it is made up of 3 or 4 different layers heat-bonded together.  So everything goes into landfill, clogging up the earth for the next few decades.  I have tried to recycle them myself, after someone shared this idea with me.  Make them into wallets.  Trouble is, many people no longer use cash, so a wallet is a thing of the past.  Recently, I hit on the brainwave of making them into sewing kit travel packs.  Inside, I store a selection of buttons, cotton, pins, needle and safety pins (for emergency mending while on holiday).  They may make great little gifts to give away for that person heading off on a tropical holiday.....

My husband is moving away from cow's milk, preferring to use soy, oat or rice milks.  Trouble is, these all come in non-recyclable tetrapaks.  And there is only so many tetrapak wallets we can recycle (I don't know that many friends who travel)!  So I was mighty fine excited when I discovered Megan May's recipe for making oat milk.  Easy Peasy!  Reduce the load of landfill stockpiles of Tetrapakaging!!  Yay!  I have tu-tu-ed with the recipe to make it suit our palate.

Soak 1 1/2 cups oats for 3-4 hours in 6 1/2 cups water.  We use organic rolled oats.  Add 1 heaped tspn honey and a generous pinch of salt.  Optional: add a few drops vanilla essence.  Blend everything for approximately 30 seconds.

Sieve it once, then pass it a second time through a nut bag to remove all oaty residue.

The residue makes this a slow process, so one can hasten it by squeezing the bag to extract the liquid.

Voila!  Oat milk, beautiful waste free oat milk!  I have also experimented with freezing, and yes, it freezes well!

Why waste the oat residue?  Google an oaty raisin biscuit recipe and use these to dunk in your morning cuppa tea!

 At the end of the day, it is a hassle to remember to make the oat milk for a constant supply - but the process is easy and apart from the soaking, takes about 15 minutes.  I can do it blind-folded now!  And I love that we are reducing waste - AND  saving heaps of money in the process!