Do you make magical things happen with very little in the kitchen?

Do you consider yourself knowlegable about food privilege?

Are you or have you been pretty damn poor?

Do you also believe that poor folks are some of the most creative folks?

Do you like writing?

Have an extra hour or two a week?

Be a co-moderator for Poverty Diet!

The current two mods are pretty busy and haven’t been able to post regularly. If you would like to join us, taking on a large amount of the posting (can be as little as once a week), and are willing to write original content (reblogging is fine too), then send us a message! 

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Poverty looks

Find out if you live in or near a food desert.

It’s probably pretty clear that grains and legumes are pretty popular around these parts. I wont deny it. 

But what about rice milk. For those who are dairy allergic/intolerant this may be a staple on your table already, or maybe you wish you could afford it. For those who have never tried it, it is a white, creamy, slightly sweet (or less sweet if you get plain), a little thin and less opaque than cow milk, and it has a slightly nutty flavor that you either love or hate. It’s not as creamy as soy or almond milk but it is often the most tolerable. 

Rice Dream has the market on rice milk but what most people don’t know is that Monsanto owns a part of Rice Dream’s parent company. Not good at all. Plus around $3.50 a quart, it can add up quick if you use it instead of milk. 

Homemade rice milk on the other hand is very cheap and easy to make. It does require the means of a kitchen and time but if you have it and you drink rice milk already, this may be an easy way to save some money every month. Those quarts add up quick. 

There a zillion different recipes to making rice milk and this is just one, borrowed and adapted from this site. There are also many variations and additions, from oil to hazelnuts, to recipes for other nut/grain milks. 

How To Make Rice Milk – The Recipe

Ingredients and Supplies:
1 cup uncooked organic long grain brown rice
8 cups water for cooking
More water for diluting
1 teaspoon salt
Glass mason jars for storage
A Blender
Mesh strainer

Directions
Thoroughly wash the rice.
Put 8 cups of water in a big pot and bring it to a boil over high heat.
Pour in the rice.
Cover the pot and lower the heat to let the water simmer.
Cook for 3 hours.

You will end up with something that looks a bit like a soupy rice pudding. Add the salt.

In batches, fill your blender halfway with the rice mixture and halfway with water. Blend until very smooth. Strain twice through a fine mesh strainer into a mason jar. Continue on with the rest of the milk until you’re finished, filling jars and screwing the lids on good and tight.

Even with the extra water, the homemade rice milk ends up thicker than the product you might be used to if you’ve always purchased Rice Dream Rice Milk. It’s more like rice cream! You may want to dilute it further at the time of serving it. Just add a bit more water until it’s the desired consistency.

At 1.19 for a pound (two cups) of brown rice at my local store, this is far cheaper than $3.50 a quart of processed monsanto rice milk. 

Let me know what you think!