I recently shared the post below on my instagram profile. It might have been a bit shocking, but I feel that it is important to share facts like these:
« 97% of the calves from the milk industry are taken from their mother within 24 hours of their birth? »
Of course there are also other figures that may be even more confrontational than this one, but that is not my intention. I mainly want to share this type of information to inform you about the facts. Facts that unfortunately part of the daily lives of animals bred and used for human consumption. And that is why my main goal is (and always will be) to show you that it is not that hard to adjust your diet. Adjustments that are not only good for the wellbeing of animals, but at the same time also help you to reduce your ecological footprint on our planet and with the bonus of a more healthy life(style).
Reducing your ecological foodprint?
Did you know that an average of 628 liters of water and 9 m² of land is needed to produce 1 liter of milk? And that the entire production process for that same liter of milk also produces around 3.2 kg CO2 emissions?
When we compare that last number with the one of ‘oat milk’ (one of the plant-based alternatives), it produces ‘only’ 0.9 kg of CO2. Also, it requires ‘only’ 48 liters of water and 0.8 m² of land to produce the same amount of ‘milk’. In the table above you will find other sources and vegetable alternatives for milk to compare.
So, only by replacing milk with a vegetable alternative, it is already possible to drastically reduce your ecological footprint on our planet at all levels. So, why not? And mainly reduce animal suffering.
So examples that are very easy to change:
| When you read in a recipe: | You are able to replace it with: |
| 100 gr of yoghurt | 100 gr of plant-based yoghurt (coconut, rice, soy, home made) |
| 50 ml of whipped cream | 50 ml of plant-based whipped cream 50 ml of whole coconut milk without sugar |
| 100 ml of milk (from cows or goats) | 100 ml of plant-based milk (soy, almond, hemp, rice, coconut) |
| 100 gr of butter | 100 gr of plant-based butter (baking/cooking) 100 gr of coconut oil |
| 100 ml of buttermilk | Mix 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, white balsamic vinegar in 100 ml of soy milk |
I created this table from my own experience and I made it myself. It mainly shows that there are almost one-to-one solutions for these basic ingredients. And it can maybe help to eat a little bit more plant-based.
To conclude this article, I would like to mention that there are also a lot of barista editions within the range of vegetable milk. They are great to try in your morning coffee. In general vegetable milk from the barista collection is slightly more creamy than the other kind, so they are much more like milk coming from animal origin. For those among us who love tea, I think cashew milk is also perfect to use. But, like most things, be moderate in consumption.
Feel free to look around at the recipes to try out the tips. You can find them here. And also feel welcome on my Instagram for other adventures and tips. Don’t hesitate to tag me as @vegandfred or use the hashtag #plantbasedminimalist if you try something.
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