I made my own almond milk recently and not only is it easy, I found it tastes better! I want to show you how you can make your own better-tasting almond milk, too.
I was so intimidated before, how crazy is that. I’m really a visual learner so after I asked a friend for directions, I felt the need to look for visual aids online. Since I understand the need for “visual aids” I’m sharing this post on my blog; and, I made one long easy-to-pin (I hope?) image below and I’ll fill in some details in this post. (Affiliate links are in this post).
First, let me say I have cheap blenders. In fact, the blender I used for this homemade almond milk and pulp (which I turned into flour) cost me about $6 on sale at Walmart. It’s an Oster Blender, looks like this. I bought two since they were so cheap! This blender worked great, I was so impressed! I did only do one cup of almonds though, by the way. But wait till you see what I got out of my one cup of almonds.
Here’s a milk/fat equivalents chart someone shared online. I found this to be helpful when making my almond milk.
1 cup almonds to 4 cups water = WHOLE milk
1 cup almonds to 8 cups water = 2% milk
1 cup almonds to 12 cups water = 1%
1 cup almonds to 16 cups water = skim
Here’s the Basics of Making Almond Milk
- Soak your almonds overnight or 12 hours, make sure they have enough water covering them. Mine actually soaked longer.
- When they are done soaking, drain them and rinse them. (Note: I just used my metal net strainer that fit over a pitcher and I pushed on the pulp with a spoon. I’ve read that some other options might be cheese cloth, nylon stockings, etc.).
- Put them in your blender along with around 6 cups of fresh water and blend away for a couple minutes. I actually filmed this process on Instagram. The blender sounds annoying on video, I didn’t think it was that bad in-real-life, but if you want to see how blending your almonds and water turns into MILK, click here.
From Pulp to Flour
So, as you’ll see above you get a good bit of milk (more or less depending on how much water you use) and some pulp to put into your recipes.
- I dried mine in the oven at 200 degrees for about an hour or two. Use a low setting. I just put the wet pulp in a cake pan (no oil, no parchment paper) and spread it out. I stirred it every now and then. I read that opening the oven door can help let the moisture out. I can’t do that so well in my oven.
- After it was dry I used my old Mr. Coffee coffee bean grinder (looks similar to this) to grind into flour. I’ve used this grinder for flax and other stuff too. I’ve had it for close to 10 years. Just use whatever tool you have. I think some people use their food processor or blender.
- I’m storing mine in the fridge right now to keep it fresh. I think this can be kept in the freezer too.
Now, just compare the cost of making your own with the cost of buying it all pre-done for you! And, it doesn’t take much time or work.
One of my friends makes her own almond milk a couple times a week and she buys almonds in bulk. She gets a better price that way and she knows how to store them.
I just go to our local health food store and buy what I want from the bulk section. I don’t need much since we don’t go through much almond milk right now. I’m the only one drinking it and I use it in my Trim Healthy Mama eating plan.
By the way, I highly recommend reading the Trim Healthy Mama book. Two moms (sisters) wrote this book, just you and me. I’ve seen some of my own weight loss and body slimming results after incorporating some of the eating plan. I think it’s awesome, and I am NOT a dieter!
I don’t have the discipline for diets. A lot of people are losing a lot of weight and having other NSV (non-scale victories) thanks to Serene and Pearl’s book. The sisters have a new THM recipe book out now, too!
I think THM is “common sense eating” that a lot of us are lacking simply because we don’t understand the science behind how food reacts with our bodies and it’s easy to get sucked into dieting trends and fads. THM explains the science and gives us recipes and there is a Facebook group to help each other out. I love it! Sometimes Pearl gets on and talks here also.
You might also like:
~ How I prepare a super healthy, veggie salad once to eat from all week.
~ How to make an easy fruit toss dessert.
