Kitchen Notes: Cost to Make One Quart Almond Milk

People buy commercially available alternative milks because they believe it is healthier and as a convenience food. Here's the cost breakdown for the previous almond milk post:

• One 16 oz bottle of vanilla extract (from Costco, $6/bottle) = 96 teaspoons = $0.06/tsp
• 1 lb almond meal (from Trader Joe's, $6/lb) = 4.72 cups = $1.27/cup
• 2 Medjool dates (from Trader Joe's, $4.49/lb) = 1.25 oz = $0.35
• Assume cost of water is negligible

1 c almond meal = $1.27
1 tsp vanilla extract = $0.06
2 Medjool dates = $0.35

Total base cost: $1.33 per quart, unsweetened -or- $1.68 per quart, sweetened

About the same price as Trader Joe's private label unsweetened almond milk but without the fillers and vegetable-based thickeners.