Shoppers go wild over Aldi Special Buy plant-based milk maker

Shoppers are going wild over this week's Aldi Special Buy: a Crofton Plant Based Milk Maker Kit.

Released for the Saturday June 25 Special Buy, the kit allows buyers to make their own vegan milk at home and bypass the ever-increasing price of supermarket plant-based milk. It includes a container, sieve, pestle, and stirring spoon. 

According to Aldi's website, it allows users to make, "healthy and natural, home-made, plant-based milk in 5 minutes."

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When the deal was posted onto a popular Facebook group, many shoppers were excited by the prospect of homemade milk. If buyers use the kit as often, at just $29.99 it could potentially save shoppers money on milk as the cost of ingredients is relatively low.

News.com reports one user commented, "Oat milk costs approx. 30c/ltr to make yourself as opposed to the $2-4/ltr to buy here in Australia."

But what the kit saves in monetary costs, it potentially incurs in physical effort.

Ordinarily, plant-based milks are made by soaking the main ingredient (cashews, almonds, soybeans) in water overnight. Then, that mixture pulverised for a few minutes in a high-powered blender and passed through several layers of fine cloth to filter out the remaining sediment. 

The equipment in the Crofton kit implies that users would grind the ingredients themselves using the included pestle, which would take a significant amount of time, strength, and stamina. Additionally, the included sieve appears to have larger holes than most cloths, so the final product would likely be grittier than store-bought vegan milk.

An online photo of the kit seems to show a cashew milk with a non-insignificant amount of sediment. 

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Another Facebook user commented, "Stuff that! I'll use my blender and milk bag. Quicker, creamier and smoother."

This begs the question: is the time and effort invested in making plant-based milk by hand worth the low monetary cost, or is it better to splash a bit of cash on a bottle of supermarket milk?