When my sister, Lina, was younger, she started having stomach issues. One of the first things doctors suggested was making some dietary changes. Soon our fridge was populated with a variety of dairy alternatives from the grocery store, but my sister didn’t feel much better. Being a recent science grad with some exposure to food science, I was very much into understanding food chemistry and label reading. As I read through the labels for these milk alternatives and did some research, I had some culprits in mind for her ongoing troubles.

I was having a conversation with my mom and grandma about how these alternatives are suggested to people to make them feel better, but sometimes that’s not the case because of all the extra ingredients that are added: fillers, binders, etc. My grandma’s response was: "Why are you looking for a fancy solution to the problem? Why don’t you make yourself a batch of clean, healthy junk-free oat milk, like I used to make for you?” Hello, Captain Obvious! We had grown up drinking oat milk! More often than not, there was a pitcher of oat milk in the fridge and it was a great tummy soother when we weren’t feeling great. 

After some consideration, testing, and re-consideration, Alt Mylk was born! The first iteration of our product was handmade, bottled milk made from the age-old recipe that was a part of our heritage. It was well-received by local plant mylk lovers and this made our hearts sing! Then the pandemic hit; our blenders went quiet and our nut mylk bags dried out.

Farmer’s markets were put on pause. Our budding venture wasn’t able to pivot to home delivery, as a large percentage of our customer base was in Calgary (believe us, we tried). The short shelf life of our product didn’t really allow for placement in grocery stores. We decided to press pause because we weren't ready to throw in the towel just yet.

Time and convenience are huge determining factors in our dietary practices. It’s faster and more convenient to grab something that’s ready-to-drink off the shelf versus sprouting, blending, and straining. And one of the first things we look at is the best before date; “will I use this up before x number of days!?”. Interestingly enough, most milk alternatives (even the commercial ones with all the fillers) have a disclaimer on the side to consume within 5-7 days. One of the first questions we’d get asked by customers when we were selling the OG Alt Mylk was “how long will this last”? Since we didn’t use preservatives and didn’t have access to shelf-life extending technologies we couldn’t top five days in the fridge. Surely there must be a solution to this time problem.

So, after putting our brains to work, some consideration, testing, and some re-consideration, we’ve got something to unveil. Alt Mylk instant oat mylk powder was developed so you can enjoy junk-free oat milk (as grandma would say) in an “instant”. Put away that nut mylk bag; there’s no need to strain. Just measure,blend and enjoy. Your oat milk powder can last forever (ok, maybe not forever, but definitely 12 months when stored in a cool, dry place). Since you can control how much you’re making, you don’t have to worry about waste (just make sure to consume whatever you’ve blended up in about 5 days and keep it in the fridge).