It’s been a little while since I talked about how our meat free initiative is going.
Both Jacob and I have had meat since we started. Whoops!
Not together (at least not at first), and not for the same reasons.
Jacob got a beef burger at Burgerville last Friday. He was hungry and didn’t know what to eat. Plus it sounded good to him.
I started adding fish back in. I felt like I needed a little more, and salmon + tuna just sounded right.
Then last night at house church we were tempted by, what we were told was ‘the best pizza’. Even a non-pepperoni pizza fan like myself really, really liked it. We enjoyed going off our no meat eating plan for a night, now we’ll continue on it. No guilt here… Just a little heart burn + stomach ache, but totally worth it right?
Moving on…
A little while back I said I’d get to a non-dairy milk taste test. And now that I picked up a few more varieties I figured now was the time.
Usually I stick with my plain soymilk. I like the flavor. I can buy it in bulk at Costco and it isn’t as expensive as some of the other non-dairy milks.
I go with the plain variety because it’s not sweetened as much as the vanilla milks. It still has a slight sweetness to it, but not overpowering sweetness.
PRO: Soymilk works perfectly in my coffee and tea, giving it a slight creaminess too. Another great thing? You’re getting protein in here, which you would get with cow’s milk too.
CON: There’s always this talk about soy being good or soy being bad. I try to limit my soy servings to 1-2 a day, which for me, works.
Rice milk always sounded nasty to me. Never something I wanted to try. But I did. Just for you guys. My thoughts were on track. I really didn’t like this stuff. It just seemed so watered down.
PRO: It’s a cheaper non-dairy milk.
CON: It soooo did not work in my coffee and tea. It was very watered down and while drinking it I thought, what’s the point? Low in protein.
Mmmmm coconut milk. If you don’t think you like coconut milk because you’ve had it from the can, give this a try. It’s slightly sweet (which coconut already is), and ultra creamy.
PRO: I love that I can use this as a drinking milk, but then also substitute it in for recipes that call for coconut milk (the canned variety). It’s a bit more watery than the canned variety, but for me it’s worked.
CON: It’s not my favorite in coffee and tea. The flavors just don’t mesh, and it’s kind of expensive. Also, low in protein.
Almond milk was a good all around milk alternative… kind of.
PROS: Nice nutty flavor and it was creamy too. Price range right in the middle… higher than soymilk but cheaper than coconut milk.
CONS: It was lacking in the protein department.
One thing I didn’t really mention is the nutrition stats. There are variations between all of them… soymilk having more protein, coconut milk having more fat… but they all have one thing in common – vitamins and minerals added in. Each milk has varying amounts of nutrients, but almond, rice and soymilk contain more calcium than coconut milk. Another note – coconut milk and soymilk offer a lot more vitamin B12 than almond milk and rice milk.
Now, these can vary depending on the brands you pick up. That info is just based on these that I tried out.
All in all here’s how I’d go about picking my non-dairy milk…
#1 soymilk
#2 tie between coconut milk and almond milk
#3 rice milk… but I really wouldn’t want to pick #3
Do you have a favorite non-dairy milk? What order would you put these 4 in?
Heather
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Rice milk definitely waters things down. Being allergic to soy & almonds, that leaves me with coconut! I usually only buy it when it’s on sale, just to have something different.
I’m soooo happy when I find coconut milk on sale or I have a coupon.
I like to make my own nut milk. That way you know exactly whats in it, you can make it whatever consistency you desire, and you can add in an flavor enhancers depending on what you are using it for.
That’s something I have yet to try.. Do you have recipes for it?
I like a unsweetened almond milk. I’ve tried rice milk but found it to be sort of grainy.
Yeah rice milk doesn’t seem to be a favorite around here…
My favorite non-dairy milk is Silk Unsweetened Almond milk! I love it! But I do love an occasional glass of chocolate soy milk!
Mmmmm chocolate soymilk is such a treat!
I am an Almond Milk fan, I am not worried about my protein intake (are you sure you need to be?) – I don’t like the “ric-ey” flavor of the Soy milk. I rarely just drink milk, unless I’ve spiked it with chocolate as a recover drink. 🙂
I usually try to include a bit of protein in each meal/snack, so having a bit in my milk helps when in just having cereal or a smoothie. Adding chocolate into any drink is always a good idea 🙂
I just did a post similar to this one today!
My favorite non-dairy milk is soy milk, then almond milk, then rice milk, and I’ve actually never tried coconut milk!
You should give coconut a go!
my favorite is vanilla,unsweetened almond milk definitely.
LOVE this post! As you know, I have to go sans dairy right now! I have always been an almond milk fan, but now its even more important to me! It may lack in protein, but it definitely kicks it up in the calcium category! I also like unsweetened soy
This was a lot of help! I’ve been wanting to try a non-lactose milk alternative to see if it will ease my stomach aches. I’m thinkin’ I’ll definitely go with the soy now 🙂
Yay glad I could help 🙂
Soymilk makes my mouth kind of itchy so I’m a big Almond Milk fan. Have you ever tried oat milk? THats really good.
Though my favorite is farm fresh milk. That’s the only time I buy true “moo juice”
I’ve seen oat milk…. but never tried it before. Is it a must try?
I drank it in Australia because it was ALOT cheaper than almond. It has that same nuttiness similar to the almond
I drink soy milk specifically because of the nutritional stats. I have osteoporosis so the calcium content is great for me! Also the added protein helps with muscle repair with the amount of workouts I do 🙂
Rice milk… I think the only thing it may be good for is Horchata (the mexican cinnamon rice milk drink) I haven’t seen the coconut milk around here, but I can’t wait to give it a try. Rice milk has been my only option so far (for allergy reasons) So I’ll be scouring the shelves for Coconut milk! Thanks for the post, it was fun!