Boo review: Overheard
Overherd was making some serious noise across social media and we needed to know more. So we did some digging and discovered Overherd have veganised a food relic: powdered mylk! First off though, can we just say that we dig the name and the play on "herd!" It's very clever indeed!
We forgive you if at first the idea of powdered milk might give you war-era vibes, it did us too! During WW1 and 2, food was thin on the ground and milk and treats such as custard found themselves reimagined into powder form for longevity. Powder milk offered people tea and hope in a time of extreme unpredictability. If you think about it, we live in an age of extremes today too: food decadence, food waste, food scarcity, food insecurity and the material waste from packaging all of these foods. When considering these points, powdered oat mylk in 2024 seems suddenly utterly appropriate.
Did you know that every time you buy a litre of plant mylk, you are basically buying 90% water? We didn't! A mad thought when you think about it, and all the effort and energy involved in first producing and then recycling millions of tetra pak! The reality is we could have been blending our own at home. Well, que: Overherd.
On paper, Overherd sounds ace, and tick all the boxes, well, nearly all the boxes. The packaging is Plastic 4- something we talk about further on. Needless to say though, we'd prefer if the packaging was a material that's more eco friendly, such as tin, equally light and infinitely recyclable. If you are reading this, Overherd, it's something to think about.
We set up an 8- week subscription to receive not just a £2 discount, but also one of their milk bottles and a 20 gram scoop made from wheat. The custom made oat mylk bottle come with the measurements demarcated clearly -marking the portions. The bottle itself makes up to 600mls of mylk at a time, as opposed to 1 litre we are used to buying. The reason for a 600ml bottle over 1 litre is likely because 1.make a fresh batch as and when you need and avoid waste, 2, the ingredients don't contain preservatives, and hence would spoil sooner- by making less to beging with we mitigate the chance of contributing to food waste.
So what exactly is in Overherd and how does Overherd compare to a typical shop bought Oat Mylk:
Overherd: 68% oats, MCT powder derived from coconut, chicory root fibre (which is used a s a natural sweetner) calcium carbonate and Vit b12. 5 ingredients
Compared the a standard Tetra Pak Oat mylk: (here we are comparing to Co-op's Gro)
GRO Oat Mylk: Water, Oats 12%, rapeseed oil, calcium carbonate, broad bean protein, salt, acidity regulator (potassium carbonate) stabiliser (gellan gum)potassium iodide, vit b12, vit D, 11 ingredients
Co-op's, GRO Oat Mylk contains gellan gum which explains why their mylk has a 5-day life span. For those interested in avoiding unnecessary ingredients and packaging, Overherd would be the better alternative in this instance.
Preparation and taste:
Overherd provide a 20 grams scoop. The recommendation is to add 20 grams of Overherd powder per 200ml's of water. However, we actually added a heaped scoop, roughly 30 grams, as we felt 20 grams of mylk powder resulted in a watery mylk consistency we weren't used to. Obviously, the more powder you add the creamier the mylk becomes. I experimented by doubling the mixture to 40 grams of powder per 200ml- to make a full cream consistency especially for my son - who didn't enjoying the first batch. This was a great success and the consistency and creaminess also tasted great in coffee.
How does Overherd compare on cost to a store bought 1-litre Oat Mylk:
£12.99 for 8 litres (or subscription on offer for £10.99) or £1.37 per litre
Compared to:
£1.50 of 1 litre £12 Co-op's GRO Oat Milk.
What we LOVE about Overherd:
1. prevents food waste
2. avoid needless packaging- we avoided 8 tetra paks by buying one Overherd packet!
3.healthier choice of mylk with less ingredients
4. rapeseed oil free. Don't get us wrong, we haven't joined the anti seed oil brigade, however, we do think that there is a strong seed oil prevalence, rapeseed in particular, in many foods today including plant mylks. Finding a staple that offers an alternative is great news! MCT oil is also more beneficial to ones health, than rapeseed oil.
5. Convenience! A subscription means you won't run out! The options are pretty flexible. You can choose from every 2-12 weeks. And you'll save £2.You can also pause it when you are on holiday or if you haven't finished your current batch.
What we didn't:
1. The packaging is sadly plastic- LDPE 4. A number of local authorities won't collect LDPE 4, meaning you'll need to take it to a soft plastics drop off location such as those that can be found in Co-op. Click the link here find your local soft plastics drop off point.
2. The shipping price of £3 increases the overall purchase to £1.74 per litre. A little more than own brand oat mylks (but still less than brands such as Alpro)
If we've persuaded you to give Overherd a try, click this link to visit their website!