There are only 1 or 2 brands of canned coconut milk without BPA packaging, and without questionable gums and fillers. And those 1 or 2 brands are so pricy for my budget. Especially when making your own coconut milk is just so simple and cost effective!
This recipe makes a quart and a half of coconut milk. I purchase coconut shreds from the bulk refrigerated section at our local health food store and they come in bags that equal about 7 cups – where ever you end up getting your shreds from just use a 1:1 ratio of shreds to water and you will be good to go! Also! I don’t have a high powered blender so don’t worry if you don’t have one. The only blender I have is a Magic Bullet and it works just fine for the blending part! I have to do the blending in batches but it works just as well!
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DIY Coconut Milk
Ingredients
- 7 cups unsweetened coconut shreds
shreds work better than flakes in my experience
- 7 cups water brought to a boil
- Optional splashes of vanilla or almond extract to flavor
Instructions
- Put the coconut in a large mixing bowl, and pour the boiling water over the coconut shreds.
- Cover the bowl with a towel and let it steep 2-3 hours.
- Pour the water/coconut shred mixture into a blender and blend about a minute.
- Pour the blended coconut/water mixture into a cheesecloth or tea towel over a bowl and squeeze out the milk.
- Store the milk in the fridge for a week, or in the freezer for months. Shake the coconut milk before serving –the cream will separate.
- Save the leftover coconut shreds to use in your baking (granola bars, energy bars, etc), your smoothies, your oatmeal, or dehydrate and grind into coconut flour.
Let me know how the coconut milk making goes!
This post was shared at Fat Tuesday!
is a safe brand in a BPA free can)
that the whole recipe fits in. The seasonings can just be layered in, then shaken up, and I can just scoop out what I need on taco night.
to the meat to make a thickened sauce. I particularly like to do this when I make taco meat for taco salads – the “sauce” acts as a nice dressing mixed with 
, but using a simple 
in the oven works just as well, and I did it that way for years.
is going to give you a much smoother finish and texture, however, if that is your thing!
. And while you can definitely use 
, I just love popping the 
into something like this because the flavor is fresher and more intense.
I use – it is one of the most used kitchen tools in my house! Less than 30 seconds and your mayo is nice and thick!
. Super mild smell, and not as powerful in taste as olive oil. Sometimes when you are used to store bought or restaurant dressings, olive oil based homemade dressings can be a little overwhelming.
works as well, you just have to drizzle the oil in slowly with the drip top.
for my oldest’s lunchbox this fall. I can 
and have always had very good outcomes on my jams with it. You don’t need a load of sugar to make it work, and you should be able to find it in your health food store. If you can’t, Amazon does carry it.
to squish up the berries while they cook!
?! They are my absolute favorite. I do about half of my jam in the 
so I can give them away for gifts, but the other half I put in the simple (cheap!) BPA free Ball freezer containers. You can put the lids right on and stick them in the freezer– they won’t crack like glass would with a lid on while they freeze! I usually give a few containers to my mom for the year so she can have them in her freezer when the girls spend the night at Gramma’s and might need a PB&J!
if you don’t already have one! You can wash up and have ready to go salad everyday of the week in your fridge! My routine is pick from the garden and wash up right away, into the salad spinner, and into the crisper in the fridge! It keeps much longer!
