The “Homemade” word is fascinating for many and scary for the rest. Especially if you have sufficient house help or stay in a joint family, homemade food has a different appeal but if you are managing a nuclear family, homemade food is associated with extra work, an additional investment of time and energy. No, don’t panic. The homemade health drink recipe that we are going to share is simple, easy, does not require many kinds of stuff, and is not so time-consuming.
But why do you need a homemade health drink recipe?
Do you buy commercial health drinks to fix the daily dose of nutrition for your child? Are you sure that the health drink will make your child “taller- stronger-sharper”? Most of these health drinks are loaded with sugar which eventually makes your child addicted to it. Surprised? 100 g of Commercial health drinks contain somewhere between 9 to 73 gm of sugar. Have you ever checked the back of the health drink label? Do have a look.
The ingredient list will tell you the truth. Being a prime ingredient, for most of the popular health drinks, sugar comes within the first 3 places in the ingredient list. If you read the list carefully, you will find a maximum of one or two known food names and the rest are unpronounceable chemicals and preservatives.
When you are aware of the power of natural food and know the harm caused by sugar, why would you waste your money on such products? Thinking of the advertisement, claims? Well, they are for the sake of advertisements only. It has been found that the “research” the companies claim has multiple limitations of biases, insufficient sample size, etc.
So leave no doubt but start learning the recipe now.
All you need to make an instant homemade health drink are-
| Ingredients | Other stuffs required |
| Wheat 200 g | Bowl |
| Milk powder – 100 gm | Water |
| Cashew Nut – 50 gm | Muslin Cloth (Preferably a bag) |
| Cardamom Powder | Pan |
| Spatula | |
| Grinder | |
| Strainer | |
| Glass Jar |
How to make this instant health drink?
Step 1: Take 200 gm of wheat in a bowl and soak for 7-8 hrs
Step 2: Strain the water and transfer the wheat to a muslin cloth bag
Step 3: Hang the bag in any corner of your kitchen where the bag will not get direct sunlight
Step 4: Sprinkle water on the cloth bag 4-5 times in between
Step 5: Keep the bag like this for about 2 days and continue sprinkling water a few times a day until it starts germinating. You will get to see white sprouts are coming out of the bag.
Step 6: Transfer the germinated wheat to a plate and allow to dry
Step 7: Roast the germinated wheat on low flame for about 20 minutes till the nice malt aroma starts releasing
Step 8: Allow the roasted wheat to get a little cool but remember not to make it completely cold
Step 9: Put it in a grinder and make a powder
Step 10: Strain the powder and repeat the process as needed to get a smooth free flow powdery texture
Step 11: Roast Cashew nut and grind to make a powder
Step 12: Mix the wheat powder, milk powder, ground cashew nut, and cardamom powder together with a spatula
Step 13: Store the mixture in a clean airtight glass jar
How much time to invest in this recipe?
Probably one of the major inhibition for making a homemade version of a health drink would be your reluctance to invest time and energy in the kitchen. This recipe would take 2-3 days to prepare whereas you need to give 50 minutes in total to make this health drink from scratch. Initial soaking and germination will take no time at all but later roasting the germinated wheat and grinding will take all the time you need to invest for this recipe.
How to use this health drink powder?
Add 2 scoops of this health drink powder in a warm glass of milk and serve. You can add a spoon of sugar as per the choice. Otherwise, the milk powder itself contains a good amount of sugar which should be enough for most of the growing kids. For young kids (1-3 yrs) this health drink powder can be given in semi-solid consistency like porridge too.
Commercial Health Drink vs. Homemade Health Drink
| Parameters | Commercial Health drink | Homemade health drink |
| Price -100 g | 32 -158/- | 59/- |
| Cost of per serving (30 g) | 9.6 – 47.25/- | 17.7/- |
| Nutritive Value per 100 g | ||
| Energy (Kcal) | 377 – 462 | 594.4 |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 45 -87 | 76.62 |
| Sugar (g) | 9 – 72.66 | 0 |
| Protein (g) | 7 – 25.9 | 24 |
| Fat (g) | 2- 17 | 21 |
| Calcium (mg) | 100 -800 | 422.8 |
| Phosphorus (mg) | 175- 780 | 624.8 |
| Iron (mg) | 3.5 -47.8 | 5.64 |
| Vitamin B1 (mg) | 0.45 -2.8 | 0.60 |
| Vitamin B2 (mg) | 0.12 – 3 | 0.71 |
| Vitamin B3 (mg) | 0 – 30 | 4.96 |
| Folic acid (ug) | 0 – 603 | 29.28 |
Also, read –
Recipe of instant breakfast cereal
Recipe of Mukhwas for controlling sweet craving
What about a wheat allergy?
If you or any of your family members are sensitive to gluten, replace wheat with finger millet (ragi) and follow the exact recipe.
Is health drink enough for a child’s daily nutrition?
No, never. No matter how healthy a drink recipe you are following. Health drinks can never be a replacement for any wholesome meal. So you need to work on developing good eating habits for your child. Wholesome, homemade hot breakfast, lunch, and dinner are a must. Health drinks can be served during evening snacks or maybe before going to school.
Why do you need to germinate the grain?
The power of this recipe lies in its germination process. Germination has multiple advantages and health benefits.
1. During sprouting dormant enzymes in the food get activated
2. Complex carbohydrates, proteins are converted into simpler forms thus becoming easily digestible and reducing the chance of flatulence or gas in the body.
3. Nutrients in food are become readily available to the body, for example- essential minerals like calcium, inc, iron is released from its bound state. Vitamin B2, B3, folic acid, biotin content are increased. Vitamin C gets synthesized during sprouting.
4. Germination reduces the anti-nutritional factors like trypsin inhibitors, phytic acid content, etc.
9 Reasons ….why should you try health drink recipe at home?
1. Highly nutritious – The mixture of roasted germinated wheat, whole milk powder, cashew nut, and cardamom provide balanced nutrition
2. Rich in protein, fiber, good fat, and micronutrients
3. Instant food – save your time
4. Quality – Since homemade, you know what exactly you are eating
5. No processed sugar or hidden sugar – You can adjust the amount of sugar/jaggery and most importantly you are aware how much of sugar/jaggery you are using.
6. No preservatives/ chemicals–Commercial health drinks are added with chemicals and preservatives. But while making at home, you don’t need to add any.
7. Flavors – Make different flavors of health drinks -cocoa/ cardamom – as per your choice.
8. Value for money – You are buying good quality of ingredients and you know what exactly you are buying. So each of your money is worth investing.
9. IT’S TASTY
Try the health drink recipe this weekend.
