Why is ‘Veganuary’ so popular?
Photo by Dang Tran on Unsplash
Veganuary — “January Veganism”— is now mainstream! Veganuary — the challenge to “try a vegan diet”— started in 2014 and now over a million people worldwide have tried it. Veganuary is certainly a great way to start the New Year, as we want to ‘re-adjust’ after all that Christmas feasting. All the major supermarkets now offer a plant-based food section but is it ‘money for old rope?’ Are you overpaying for a lot of high priced marketing or are homemade plant-based alternatives cheaper and better?
How big is the vegan market in UK?
It’s an area of food that has grown quickly – Speciality Food Magazine reports that UK sales of alt-milks were up 28.3% last year, and a third of UK households (32%) now buy dairy-free milk. Although analysis by Ipsos MORI finds that just 5% of the population is vegetarian and 3% either vegan or pescatarian, data shared by The Economist from Google, suggests that interest in a vegetarian diet has surged in recent years due to concerns about not just eating healthily but also because of environmental concerns. Today vegan products are consumed as part of a mainstream diet.
Oliver Franklin-Wallis in The Irish Times, commenting on the vegan milk market
“to converts, almond and oat milk are the next wave in a fundamental shift towards a more conscious, sustainable way of living. To critics, they’re little more than cleverly marketed nut juice with additives … a strange battle has emerged, between an industry trying to replace something it says we don’t need in the first place, and dairy, a business that for a century sold itself as the foundation of a healthy diet, while ignoring the fact that most of the world does just fine without it.”
Vegetarian food is marketed as kinder, greener, and as healthy, if not healthier alternative. However although supposed to be made from just a handful of simple, nutritious, ingredients: – how come they are so expensive if these ingredients are so cheap?
Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash
Cost of commercial oat milk compared to homemade:
Here’s a comparison of the cost of some well-known brands with their ingredients:
Brand | Ingredients | Cost |
Alpro Oat Drink 1l | Oat Base (Water, Oat (9.8%)), Chicory Root Fibre, Sunflower Oil, Calcium (Tri-Calcium Phosphate), Sea Salt, Stabiliser (Gellan Gum), Vitamins (B2, B12, D2) | £1.70 per litre (£1.70/litre) |
Innocent Oat Dairy Free 750Ml
|
Spring Water, Oats (9%), Oat Flour (1%), Plant Fibre from Citrus (0.2%), Sea Salt | £2 for 750 ml
(£2.66/litre) |
Oatly Oat Drink Semi 1 Litre
|
Water, Oats 10%, Rapeseed Oil, Acidity Regulator (Dipotassium Phosphate), Minerals (Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Iodide), Salt, Vitamins (D2, Riboflavin, B12) | £1.80 for 1l (1.80/litre) |
Tesco British Semi Skimmed Milk 2.272L (4 Pints) | Milk | £1.09 for 2l
(£0.49 per litre) |
Homemade oat milk |
|
£0.30
(30p /litre) |
EASY OAT MILK in 10 minutes:
Easy Oat Milk in a Thermomix
Equipment
- Thermomix TM6
Ingredients
- 140 g Porridge oats
- 2 medjuool dates
- 1 litre water
Instructions
- Place simmering basket onto mixing bowl lid and weigh oats into it. Rinse well under running water through simmering basket and transfer into a bowl. Cover with water and set aside to soak (approx. 20 mins in advance)
- Drain water away using simmering basket then re-rinse soaked oats to remove any starchy residue.
- Place water, dates and drained oats into mixing bowl and blend 1 min/speed 4-9, increasing speed gradually from speed 4 to speed 9. (use can use the blend function on TM6)
- Using a nut milk bag or muslin to strain mixture into a large jug (squeezing to extract all liquid). Chill in refrigerator until ready to use
Vegan Butter in a Thermomix
Equipment
- Thermomix
Ingredients
- 30 g blanched almonds
- 65 g almond milks
- 1 tbsp yeast flakes
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp cider
- 30 g olive oil
- 120 g coconut oil
Instructions
- Place almonds in mixing bowl and grind 15 sec/speed 10. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl with spatula.
- Add milk, nutritional yeast, salt and vinegar then grind 15 sec/speed 10. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl with spatula.
- Add olive oil and coconut oil then blend 1 min 30 sec/speed 5. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until hardened.
Notes
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