Skip to content

The oat milk maker which costs just 20 pence per litre!

Lovers of oat milk will be able to save up to £2 per litre thanks to a container which allows people to make their own from home for just 20p.

    Deeya Halai
    Deeya Halai
    Picture credit: Reagan Yip

    The oat milk maker which costs just 20 pence per litre!

    Lovers of oat milk will be able to save up to £2 per litre thanks to a container which allows people to make their own from home for just 20p, writes journalism student Katie Bilsborough.

    ‘Oatilicious’ – designed by Nottingham Trent University product design undergraduate Deeya Halai – prevents people having to spend up to £2.20 per carton with a simple process which creates oat milk in a matter of minutes.

    After adding only oats and water, the container deals with all four steps of the making process - blending, filtering, storing, and pouring – to make it easy for people to use.

    “Everything is becoming so much more expensive due to the cost of living crisis,” said Deeya, 22, who became a vegan during the COVID-19 lockdown.

    “There’s nothing out there like this and the easier something is to do, the more chance that people are going to do it.

    “The traditional way to make oat milk uses a cloth that you have to squeeze out into a different container and it’s all quite messy. You have to use another container to keep it in too.

    “But my design allows people to do away with that lengthy process and makes it quick, convenient, and simple.”

    Oats and water can be blended in the container and a device similar to a coffee filter is used to compress the oats.

    The bottom of the container is then removed, allowing the pulp to be extracted and the remaining liquid to be chilled in the fridge.

    The container is completely reusable and easy to clean. Inside the kit is a recipe booklet with tips on how to use the leftover pulp to make things like foot masks and brownies, so there is no waste.

    A QR code links to an app which allows users to view recipes, purchase replacement parts, and buy vitamin drops to add to their milk.

    “After using it 15 times, you’ve made your money back and then you’re just making savings,” said Deeya, originally from Lostock in Bolton, who shares recipes for cheap and easy vegan meals with her cousin via their Instagram account @_plantilicious__.

    “It’s also much more hygienic and simpler to clean than with multiple beakers.

    “It feels like quite an achievement to see it all come together; there’s been so many developments, sketches, and models.”

    Deeya’s design is set to go on public exhibition for the Nottingham Trent University art and design Student Showcase which takes place between 27 May and 2 June this year.

    Taking place at the University’s City Campus, the showcase is free to the public and features creative works from students in the Nottingham School of Art & Design and the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment.

    Joseph Stewart, senior lecturer in BSc Product Design at Nottingham Trent University, said: “Deeya has showed how simple design thinking can improve people’s lives. By allowing people to make their own oat milk at home with a simple process, people could save considerable money and reduce the amount of oat milk cartons being recycled or sent to landfill.”

    • Notes for editors

      Press enquiries please contact Chris Birkle, Public Relations Manager, on telephone +44 (0)115 848 2310, or via email.

      Nottingham Trent University (NTU) received the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2021 for cultural heritage science research. It is the second time that NTU has been bestowed the honour of receiving a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its research, the first being in 2015 for leading-edge research on the safety and security of global citizens. The Research Excellence Framework (2021) classed 83% of NTU’s research activity as either world-leading or internationally excellent. 86% of NTU’s research impact was assessed to be either world-leading or internationally excellent. NTU was awarded The Times and The Sunday Times Modern University of the Year 2023 and ranked second best university in the UK in the Uni Compare Top 100 rankings (2021/2022). It was awarded Outstanding Support for Students 2020 (Times Higher Education Awards), University of the Year 2019 (Guardian University Awards, UK Social Mobility Awards), Modern University of the Year 2018 (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide) and University of the Year 2017 (Times Higher Education Awards). NTU is the 5th largest UK institution by student numbers, with approximately 40,000 students and more than 4,400 staff located across five campuses. It has an international student population of 7,000 and an NTU community representing over 160 countries. Since 2000, NTU has invested £570 million in tools, technology, buildings and facilities. NTU is in the UK’s top 10 for number of applications and ranked first for accepted offers (2021 UCAS UG acceptance data). It is also among the UK’s top five recruiters of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and was the first UK university to sign the Social Mobility Pledge. NTU is ranked 2nd most sustainable university in the world in the 2022 UI Green Metric University World Rankings (out of more than 900 participating universities).

    Published on 22 May 2023
    • Category: Press office; School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment