If you’re starting to cook or bake without using dairy products, it can be overwhelming to trawl through the myriad of plant-based alternatives on offer. When it comes to milk, most supermarkets now stock numerous brands of soy, almond, oat, coconut, and rice milks. If, like us, you chose to replace dairy products for environmental reasons, how can you be sure that these alternatives are better? If you feel like you’ve been caught in the headlights – inundated with choice and don’t know which option has the least environmental impact – you’re not alone.

When it comes to carbon emissions, land area and water use associated with different milk types, this chart from a recent BBC News article is really helpful. Carbon emissions from dairy milk are well over twice that of any plant-based milk, largely because cows produce so much methane. Cattle also require a far greater land area, and more water compared to even the most thirsty cereal crops.

We have used a lot of almond milk in the past, but in the last year we’ve switched to oat milk – oats are grown much more locally to us, and they don’t require the huge quantities of water that almonds do.

A problem that has been nagging at us with any milk is the packaging. The waxy tetra-packs that lots of plant-based milks come in are particularly difficult to recycle. We looked into making our own oat milk to avoid this issue, then had a brain wave. Most milks are about 98% water so most recipes that require milk would probably be just as good using water instead. It’s free and there’s no packaging at all. Take our morning oats for example, you could soak the oats overnight in 98% water, or 100% water. You really won’t notice the difference, especially with a lovely spoonful of crunchy peanut butter and a mashed banana. It will warm you to your toes!

It doesn’t work for everything. A lasagne with a white sauce made from water doesn’t sound much fun, we’d definitely go for oat milk there! But we think about the packaging in all our ingredients a little more now, and we have been challenging ourselves to a plastic-free basket lately when we’re shopping. Maybe we need to find a new hobby…. but maybe as consumers we can all help drive out needless plastics and slow the surge of waste that is finding it’s way to our oceans.

Recycling is great, but it’s sadly not enough. The Royal Statistical Society‘s ‘statistic of the year’ in 2018 was that 90.5% of all plastic ever made has not been recycled. Little wonder that there are 150 million tonnes of plastic in the oceans. Challenge yourself to a plastic-free shop and share your ideas and tips with us – we’d love to hear them!