Oat milk is becoming increasingly popular, as it’s more local than rice or coconut milk and has less controversy than soy. It’s a great way for farmers to transfarm (let animals live out lives in peace while helpers train them up to grow a highly profitable local crop, in a billion-dollar market (oat milks make the best cappuccinos and hot chocolates for baristas, as they are super-thick and creamy).
Never use oat milk instead of formula, this is for adults to make smoothies and coffee! Avoid caffeine for pregnancy/nursing.
organic oat milk in glass bottles (from Devon)
ReRooted organic oat milk is not just made with organic ingredients (oats are more local than almonds from California!) but it’s sold in glass bottles which can be left outside your door to wash and use again (just like an old-fashioned milk float!) Naturally creamy in texture (oat milk is great for coffee and hot chocolate), this can be ordered online from the company or many other outlets nationwide. It’s also perfect for porridge!
Never use oat milk instead of baby formula. If using oat milk to make coffee or hot chocolate, avoid caffeine for pregnancy/nursing and affected medical conditions.
Unlike most oat milk brands, this one is made with only a few select ingredients including organic oats and sunflower oil, and a little Cornish sea salt. This means it’s less watered down, and tastes nothing like bland oat milks sold by the big commercial brands. The Oat Barista version is ideal for people who love lattes and cappuccinos, and is of course ideal for coffee shops, restaurants and hotels.
If you don’t have a private doorstep, order a modern milk hut that stores 9 bottles of milk or plant milk (and stops local critters from sampling your morning pastries!) You can also use this box to house freshly-delivered bread (keep cool with a half-filled frozen metal water bottle).
This company (which guarantees no animal ingredients, UHT or Tetrapak) and uses clean energy for everything from bottle-washing to delivery, has an interesting history. The co-founder is a former Manchester United footballer who ‘went green’ and used his salary to set up England’s first zero waste shop in Totnes (Devon). Today Richard (left) says he would never have believed that at age 27, he would have given up his previous life to become a shopkeeper!
Locally-grown oats are increasingly becoming a ‘new business of choice’ for former livestock farmers to transfarm over to more profitable ways to earn a living, as the world eats less meat (farmers are supplied with crops and training, and remaining livestock are left to live out their lives in peace, grazing the land).
As oat milk (unlike dairy milk) contains fibre, it’s also very filling (similar to when you eat porridge) and as oats absorb water better than nuts, oat milk tends to have a rich creamy texture, which is why it’s so popular for adding to cappuccinos and hot chocolates.
You can also get oat milk made in Lancashire delivered to your door (sold in Waitrose which also now offers oat milk coffee machines).
Three Robins (Scotland) is a business started by a young mother, in response to lactose-intolerance in her family. The range includes barista-style oat milk and chocolate flavours, plus ‘little smoothies’ blending oat milk and fruits/vegetables (check if your local council recycles). It’s fortified with nutrients, therefore cannot be labelled organic.
Homemade oat milk (Ela Vegan) is a simple recipe to make your own. All you need are oats, vanilla, salt and dates. Or try this recipe for oat milk chocolate ice cream (Addicted to Dates), which only needs a few ingredients.
Overherd oat milk powder
Overherd reduces the 90% water found in most brands of oat milk, leaving you just a package of powder to mix at home yourself. This means an easy-to-recycle pack that uses 91% less weight (fewer lorries on the roads) and no food waste (just make what you need, when you need it). You can also add this powder to drinks, as an instant coffee creamer. Or use in baked recipes. It’s packed with calcium and chicory root gives prebiotic fibre for good digestion. Natural beta glucans in oats are good for your heart. You can also buy a glass bottle to shake up your own drinks.
MIGHTY Oat Mlk Powder is made with oats, coconut oil and salt. Each pack makes 4 litres, ideal for travel. Just add 2 heaped tablespoons to 250ml of water and shake.
silicone reusable milk bottle tops
Moopops reusable milk bottle tops are a great way to keep it fresh (also for juice) which helps reduce food waste, and encourages people to choose glass bottles over plastic. They also stop little birds and critters pecking through aluminium tops early morning, before you’ve collected milk from your doorstep! Available in packs and different sizes and colours, they are made from food-grade silicone with air-tight leakproof lids and also dishwasher/fridge safe. The same company also sells larger pot tops, which you can use to keep yoghurt and other food goods fresh, without plastic clingfilm. They fit around 95% of pot brands (check before purchase).
Glass milk bottles are used 20 to 50 times before they get recycled, compared to just once for a plastic bottle. Foil tops also don’t keep milk fresh, once opened. The average milk bottle also contains a third recycled glass, so it at least contributes to a circular economy. Yet just 3% of liquids sold in the UK are delivered in glass to doorsteps.
tins of oat condensed milk & whipping cream
Nature’s Charm is a lovely little company, founded in Thailand. It mostly makes coconut milks and creams (guaranteeing that no monkeys are used to harvest the coconuts). It also offers a nice range of evaporated and condensed oat milks, ideal to pour on your tinned mandarins!
Cats lapping bowls of cream? In fact, cats are lactose-intolerant and should not be fed milk or cream of any kind.
oat milk chocolate bars (with no palm oil)
You can find these in good shops or order in bulk online (use a letterbox guard if you live with pets, in case they try to get there before you do).
Ethicoco Oat Milk Chocolate Bar is a nice treat made with oats and barley malt, rather than soy or milk. Created by an experienced chocolatier, this is sweetened with cane sugar and vanilla.
Luisa’s Choc-oat-late (Nottinghamshire) is a plant-based alternative to milk chocolate, with a buttery caramel taste. Handcrafted from bean-to-bar, it’s made in a little chocolate makery in Nottingham, and sold in biodegradable packaging.
Other good brands are Ombar and Happi.
farmers transfarming to oat milk
Compassion in World Farming (a fantastic charity that has created huge change) was actually set up by a concerned dairy farmer. It says that intensive dairy farms (which produce nearly all milk used in commercial foods) spend most times indoors and suffer stress from over-milking and early separation from their calves (males are sometimes shot after birth due to not being of financial value, or exported for veal, housed in tiny crates until slaughter). If you drink milk or eat dairy products, they recommend to buy free-range.
Toats Mylk (Hampshire) is a fresh new organic oat drink created by organic farmers, available wholesale or online to buy in crates. Made with organic rapeseed oil and seaweed, it’s sold in glass bottles or ‘a bag in a box with a tap’, it’s also available in a chocolate version.
Bradley Nook Farm in the Midlands is one of several that are ‘transfarming’ livestock farms over to oat milk producing ones, This one is run by a man born into a farming family, where his father milked around 60 cows at one time, in Victorian cow sheds. He grew disillusioned with having to douse cattle with insecticides although it was a more free-range than most. After taking up meditation, he became an organic and then a vegan eater. When loading up animals for slaughter was too much to bear, he built a solar panel to sell clean energy over animals and soon had given his herd over to a local animal sanctuary, keeping a few to graze fields and support production of organic manure.
inspiration from abroad: oat milk butter
Miyoko’s Creamery (US) has produced the world’s first oat milk butter. Made with organic ingredients, it’s available as a plain salted butter or flavoured with garlic parm or cinnamon sugar.
Also in the US, food brand Credo makes oat-milk spray cheeze and oat milk queso for Mexican dishes.
