I like flax milk. Hard to find in the larger size containers, but it tastes better than almond or soy IMO.
Right, Silk coconut milk has only 80 calories per 8 ounces-- I just checked the carton in my fridge that I bought yesterday. It tastes more like a treat than something to put on my shredded wheat, though. I poured some into an ice cube tray and am going to try making bubble tea with it. The frozen cubes will avoid diluting the bubble tea.
I like the unsweetened soy milk that I buy at an Asian grocery. This is great stuff to just drink.
Over my cereal, nothing beats real organic milk, though.
I prefer regular milk (I usually use 1%), but I also like the unsweetened vanilla flavored almond milk from Trader Joes on my cereal and in smoothies. I don’t like soy milk at all–it has a weird after taste to me
I have tried lots of different kinds and brands and now have favorites of soy and rice milk. I find it all depends on what I am having it with that determines what I prefer. Soy vanilla is best for drinking but rice is better on most cereals or in oatmeal. I have baked with both and see no difference. I do also enjoy lactose free cow’s milk yogurt. The soy yogurts were always a flavor stretch for me and did NOT make a good fruit parfait.
I buy the Silk unsweetened almond milk (30 calories a cup) and I use either that or skim milk. Periodically for a chance of pace I’ll buy rice milk or soy milk, but just for myself. I like how some of the alternative milks come in the aseptic packaging so I can toss one in my handbag as I’m out and about. I like milk in general, though.
I don’t like anything fake. If I want almonds, I’ll eat almonds not powder them into a fake milk. Soy milk would be the worst. We still drink whole milk here. All of us. None of us have a weight problem.
I grew up on a farm so I have a special fondness for real, 100% (well, technically, 4% milkfat) whole milk. I can tolerate 2% (although I find it irritating that the marketing people don’t correctly label it as 50% milkfat), but 1% is awful and skim is akin to dishwater. But at least they’re milk.
Almond “milk” and the like are residues of actual food products and my suspicion is that they started as waste waters of other products (such as almond paste) that some genius product manager decided to market. But some people love them. While my lactose intolerant FIL can drink real milk without the lactose, one of my sisters has an allergy to milk and can’t use real milk at all. She loves almond milk, though.
Dont like any alternatives and stopped all dairy products a year ago–with one exception. I put 1 T of light cream in my morning coffee (decaf).
Timely post as I was just researching this a few days ago. I found out I am pre diabetic and now look at all sugar content. Women are supposed to have no more than 25 grams of sugar a day, and men 36 grams. I am shocked, SHOCKED, at the sugar in food.
I drink lactose free skim milk, only in cereal and oatmeal. It has 12 grams of sugar in one cup…half my daily allotment! Chobani yogurt, of which I ate one a day, has 16 to 19 grams!
So, I’ve been looking for milk substitutes for my cereal. I’ve switched to Kroger carbmaster yogurt, which is very good and only 3 grams sugar.
Cheeringsection, you say rice is the best. Why is that? Is it the consistency to skim milk, or the flavor?
Unsweetened almond milk is my drug. With blueberries, flax seed, one scoop of protein powder, and 1/2 ripe avocado…all in a blender. Keep an open mind! One cup of this and you’ll thank me.
On the milk front, I’ve seen the news about full-fat items too! http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/blogs/forget-what-you-believe-about-full-fat-dairy One thing I have begun doing is eating full-fat Icelandic yogurt…which is AMAZING. http://smariorganics.com/
I use unsweetened almond milk for drinking by itself or in smoothies, etc; for cooking (mashed potatoes, sauces, etc.) and in breakfast cereal and oatmeal… The unsweetened plain will not leave an almond-y taste in cooked foods. Oh, I also use it for baking.
I have made mashed potatoes, cakes, etc. for guests and they can’t tell the difference.
Same for unsweetened plain soy milk, but I don’t like how soymlk leaves clumps at the bottom off the carton… ugh. (I do eat tofu and tempeh a lot, so don’t have a problem with soybeans, just the soymilk’s texture. Many prefer soy over almond though…)
For the non-dairy ice creams, I prefer the ones with coconut milk. But I love coconut.
I find the coconut milks, though, leave a taste of coconut and I don’t want my mashed potatoes tasting like coconut…
Fwiw, I used to LOVE cow’s milk, even as an adult. Haven’t had it in nine years, though… Don’t miss it. Not at all.
Cow’s milk is one of the easiest things to replace if you want to give it up. (Now, cheese - not so much, but I’m living proof that’s do-able as well…)
@intparent , It seems like it would take even more water to raise a bunch of dairy cows…
My D17 has trouble with regular milk, so we’ve settled on Almond. Soy milk gives digestive issues, coconut is too “opinionated” in flavor, rice is too thin and sweet. Haven’t tried cashew actually, might give it a go!
A tip: if a non-dairy milk gives you stomach troubles, check for carrageenan (seaweed derived thickener) in the ingredients list. Silk and Califia almond milks are carrageenan-free, but a LOT of brands contain it.
I don’t like any milk, including cow’s milk. I just use it in coffee and tea, and on the rare occasion when I eat cereal. I have tasted soy milk, almond milk, and rice milk. None do what cow’s milk does really well, which is to lighten and soften coffee without wrecking its taste. Rice and oat milks are good for baking, because these are cereals commonly used in breads and pastries and are fairly neutral, as far as weird ingredients go. Soy milk gives things an “off” flavor, IMO, unless they are heavily seasoned.
As everyone else says, you have to get the unsweetened version of any milk or it will be cloying.
For a while I was using Silk original “lite” almond milk. Tastes like original, but only 30 calories per cup. Then they changed the formula, made it a bit more watery, and one day it would no longer foam for my daily cafe au lait. Went back to original then. Sometimes I buy other brands, but mostly I want the brand with the most calcium (can’t take a calcium supplement for other reasons).
Almond and coconut milk have become mainstream at this point - Starbucks now offers coconut milk in addition to regular milk and most coffee shops now offer at least one of the soy, coconut or almond substitutes. Only exception I have found to this is Dunkin Donuts which still only offers cow’s milk.
I’m always surprised when people drink whole milk. To me, it seems that the train left that station years ago when people switched to 1% or skim. Why add all the calories and fat back? Is that really what the average American needs?
Yeah, well, I think lots of heavy people who don’t want to make even a minor taste sacrifice cling to stuff like that as justification.
pizzagirl, there are a lot of studies that show that fat isn’t really the culprit. If you eat fat, you feel sated. If you eat carbs, you want more of them. http://healthland.time.com/2013/07/03/skim-milk-is-healthier-than-whole-milk-right-maybe-not/
The kinds of fat make a difference, but probably as much as we used to think. Studies are mixed : http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-truth-about-fats-bad-and-good. The meta study says that for heart disease fat doesn’t seem to matter as much as we thought.
There’s very little calorie difference between whole and 2% and which is better for you is not as simple as you would think: http://www.livestrong.com/article/540991-nutritional-value-of-whole-milk-vs-2/