Catching up?
– Vegan How To: Introduction (Why this series?)
– Part 1: How To Make The Transition
Part 2: Replacing Dairy Milk
Today I’d like to talk about one of the first changes that I made in my own personal journey – switching from cow’s milk to non-dairy milk. It was also one of the easiest changes I made thanks to a huge selection of non-dairy milks on the market. I’m always amazed when I see the mammoth wall of non-dairy milk in my grocery store. It’s taking over! There’s really something for everyone from almond milk to flax milk and everything in between.
And, boy, I’ve tried a lot. Here is a list of the non-dairy milks I’ve given a go:
- Soy milk
- Almond milk
- Hemp milk
- Oat milk
- Coconut milk
- Rice milk
- Almond-coconut milk
- Quinoa Milk
- Flax milk
I’ll admit, I’m not head over heels for all of them, but I have a few favourites that keep me more than happy.
My personal favourite non-dairy milks:
1. Almond Milk (Whole Foods 365 Organic)
2. Soy Milk (Edensoy Organic) – for the protein
Soy milk was the first milk I tried back in 2008/2009 and while I didn’t fall head over heels initially, it eventually grew on my taste buds with time. (Actually, it wasn’t the first time I had soy milk; I was allergic to cow’s milk formula when I was a baby and my mom had to put me on soy milk instead). Soy milk is also the only non-dairy milk (to my knowledge) that has a similar nutritional profile to cow’s milk. My go-to brand of soy milk, Edensoy Organic, has a whopping 12 grams of protein per 1 cup serving making it the soy milk with the highest protein content. The ingredient list is also impressive: just organic soybeans and purified water! It’s great for smoothies when you don’t want to add protein powder, but still want a kick of protein. To be honest, the flavour of it unsweetened isn’t my favourite, but when I mix it into other foods I don’t notice it as much. They also have sweetened varieties of course. No matter the brand you buy, look for organic, GMO-free soy milk whenever possible.
Here is a side-by-side comparison of Edensoy soy milk vs. 2% cow’s milk:
| Nutrition Facts (per 8 fl oz serving) |
Unsweetened Soy Milk (Edensoy) | 2% Cow’s milk |
| Calories | 120 cals | 122 cals |
| Total fat | 6 grams | 5 grams |
| Saturated fat | 1 gram | 3 grams |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg | 20 mg |
| Sodium | 5 mg | 100 mg |
| Potassium | 460 mg | 366 mg |
| Total carbohydrate | 5 grams | 11.5 grams |
| Dietary fibre | 0 gram | 0 gram |
| Sugars | 2 grams | 12 grams |
| Protein | 12 grams | 8 grams |
Almond milk. I obviously have a lot of love for this non-dairy milk and it seems to be taking over the world. Almond milk is creamy, deliciously nutty, and blends well into just about anything. My brand of choice is Whole Foods 365 as it is carrageenan free. Almond milk is very low in protein, so be sure to pair it with protein rich vegan foods like hemp seed, chia seed, beans/legumes, protein powder, etc.
Note: Please see my post, Carrageenan in Our Foods for a list of dairy and non-dairy products that contain this potentially harmful ingredient.
What about calcium?
A balanced vegan diet can actually be quite high in calcium even without a lick of dairy. My favourite example – 1 ounce of chia seeds (about 2.5 tbsp) has reportedly 300 mg of calcium. Other non-dairy foods high in calcium include: collard greens (357mg calcium), fortified soymilk (368 mg), black eyed peas (211 mg), firm tofu (204mg), calcium fortified OJ (200mg), blackstrap molasses (172mg), baked beans (154mg), kale (94mg), almonds (70mg) [per serving, source] Be sure to pair calcium rich foods with vitamin C and D rich foods for the best absorption. As extra insurance, I take calcium and vitamin D supplements daily. There are also fortified non-dairy milks on the market (I think these tend to be the refrigerated kind?), so that is an option too. Be sure to read your labels!
Sweetened or unsweetened?
When I started experimenting with non-dairy milk, I always bought the lightly sweetened option. I think this really helped with my transition. Once I got used to the change, I switched to unsweetened varieties. As I’ve said many times in the past, its amazing what the taste buds can get used to with time. If you are starting out, you might want to check out the lightly sweetened varieties to help with your transition. Another option is to make the transition gradual. Having cereal? Why not try subbing half the cow’s milk with non-dairy milk? Or try using creamy almond milk or coconut milk in a cup of tea. There are plenty of ways to gradually ease into the taste.
When I’m doing any savoury cooking, I always use unflavoured and unsweetened almond milk. Keep the vanilla flavoured milk for your sweet recipes and smoothies.
Ok, now I’ll pass it over to you guys!
Have you made the switch from cow’s milk to non-dairy? Was it difficult?
If you drink non-dairy milk, which varieties do you like the best?
Do you prefer sweetened or unsweetened?
Coming up, a homemade nut milk bonanza!
It was easy to ditch cows milk once I let myself FINALLY open my eyes and ears to these facts:
• Cows are essentially raped in order to produce milk and their babies are taken from them at birth
• We don’t need cows milk at all. Period. Huge lie.
• It’s disgusting what can end up in it. If interested to find out, please watch “The Greatest Speech You’ll Ever Hear” on Youtube. And I’ll warn you, it contains extremely violent and graphic scenes from slaughterhouses.
And for the record, I just tried chocolate almond milk and almost fell on the floor from how awesome it tastes!
I’m curious, why is coconut milk not a favorite of yours? I like the creaminess of it but may not be aware of the negatives of it as I haven’t compared labels. Thanks!
Btw – the coconut milk that I use is the refrigerated, unsweetened kind. Also like the vanilla flavored unsweetened almond milk!
Hey Sarah, I know it’s strange that I don’t seem to like the flavour of coconut milk as much as others, especially because I love me some coconut! Maybe the taste just hasn’t grown on me though (ive only had it a couple times).
I think my favorite non-dairy milk is Trader Joe’s unsweetened vanilla almond milk (the one in the refrigerated section). The few times I do desire to drink a glass of milk, in my opinion this is by far the best tasting almond milk I’ve tried. I’ve tried coconutmilk beverages but they often seem either watery or have a fake coconut flavor. One thing I like about nondairy milks is that there are so many options. It seems like there is always something new to try and at different times and for different uses I prefer a variety of types. I just got some flaxmilk the other day and I’m looking forward to sampling that. I think homemade is best but it’s not vitamin and calcium fortified, which I like (even though I take supplemental calcium it’s only about 30% of my RDA). I’m looking forward to your recipes for nut milks! I might give making my own another chance. It would be interesting to see how they compare nutritionally to storebought varieties.
I love love love the Vanilla Flax milk, although it can be a bit more difficult to find. P.C. carries it and I always have to stock up when I go there. For me the milk switch has been easy, its the cheese that I’m really missing. Any posts coming up on that?
we went to soy..SILK in the red box was my favourite. Then we tried almond milk this summer. Oh my goodness! Why didn’t we try that before? I love the Silk unsweetened and the silk dark chocolate. I usually mix a half a cup of the dark choc with half a cup of the unsweetened for a chocolate fix :-) or a little of the chocolate in a banana cocao nib smoothie with peanut butter and some unsweetened almond milk…yummmo.
I currently drink Blue Diamond Almond Breeze milk, either unsweetened or vanilla. I really like the So Delicious Almond Plus because it has tons of protein, but my local grocery doesn’t carry it any more :(
I like Silk brand as well for almond milk. I’ve never drank coconut milk but do use it for cooking and baking.
Not a big fan of soy milk and have never tried rice, hemp, quinoa, etc.
Great post and my personal fave nut milk is cashew…sooo rich, creamy, and less flavor is imparted than say almond milk (in my opinion) and more focus on just the buttery creaminess!
We added a lot of non dairy products when my son was diagnosed with a dairy allergy. I like Ecomil Organic Unsweetened almond and also Kara coconut. For variety I use some hemp and occasionally Alpro organic unsweetened soya. I try to use low volumes of soya because of the oestrogen effect so mainly stick to almond and coconut. I found the transition very easy except in tea and coffee when I still use semi-skimmed cow’s milk. In everything else, such as breakfast cereal, milky desserts and smoothies, I love using different non dairy milks.
Re calcium – you do not need dairy to obtain calcium. One of the best sources of calcium is green vegetables e.g. broccoli, because the magnesium (bound to the chlorophyl) helps our bodies absorb the calcium so eat loads of broccoli which has more bio-available calcium than cow’ milk! Also, the Chinese eat virtually no dairy. They form approximately a quarter of the world’s population and have lower rates of osteoporosis than the UK with no dairy.
Thanks Angela for another great post. I have never seen almond-coconut but will look out for it :-)
I prefer almond milk…we don’t have the same variety as you guys do over there. Unsweetened all the way. I never drank a whole lot of milk prior to becoming vegan and now use a lot more for making oats and what not. Sesame seeds have largest amount of calcium in the seed world…unhulled tahini is a great addition to a vegan diet. Most people have an abundance of calcium in there diet, it’s actually magnesium and like you say Vitamin D is also were people suffer from deficiencies and can’t utilise the calcium available to their bones; they end up literally peeing calcium! Too much animal protein also creates an acidic environment which contributes to the problem, causing calcium to leach from the bones!
For me, it was super easy to switch to soy/almond milk right off the bat. I like the sweetened, original varieties of both, but lean toward almond milk to avoid overdoing the soy on a daily basis.
For ice cream, coconut milk or nut based ice cream are the best. ever.
However, cheese, is a much tougher thing to give up. Can’t wait to hear your story about that!
I’ve switched to non-dairy milk a week ago and got almond, soy, coconut and rice at home at the moment to try figure out which I like best. I usually only have milk in my coffee and for cooking. So far prefer almond milk in coffee (unsweetened, the sweetened versions are too sweet for me), but soy milk for cooking. I made fried polenta yesterday with soy milk, worked just as well as cow milk :)
The transition for me from cow’s milk to non-dairy was not too difficult because cow’s milk always hurt my stomach. My favorite types are hemp milk and almond milk.
I found making the switch to nondairy milk to be quite easy. I’ve only tried a few of the options that are available, but I’ve liked them all. I usually buy soy milk (Plain Simple Truth Organic, Non GMO) because of the high protein content, but I love almond milk too. After making the switch, even the smell of cow’s milk is repulsive to me. I don’t know how I ever drank that stuff!
I have to admit, I’m also not too big a fan of soy milk. I use it in pancakes, no problem, or in VOO, but if I put too much in a green monster….. Turns me off immediately. Almond milk I don’t try that much. Here (in the Netherlands) it’s at least twice as expensive as soy milk and I’m not that big of a fan. Never tried rice milk, I’m too scared ;) The biggest problem I’ve been facing is finding a good substite for yoghurt. I used to eat VOO with yoghurt, but I’ve been watching Forks over Knives and Vegucated (since y’all are so thrilled about it!) and now I’m sure I need to cut back and become even more of a vegan-conscious vegetarian than I already am. Banana soft serve is a great replacement, I have to admit, but I sometimes have to get up at 5:30 and I’d like something a little easier than that.
I have been a fan of soy and almond milk as a milk replacement until I learned that I cannot have carrageenan or soy and just about all my choices dwindled. I just bought refrigerated rice milk this weekend – we’ll see how that tastes. Somehow I think my morning coffee is going to be disappointed! Have you seen hazelnut milk? I’d love to try it but it has carageenan in it too.
On another note, I have a challenge for you – to remake the trader joe’s vegetable birds nest healthy! Here is a link to the photos and ingredients. They are so good but so not good for you! http://www.fooducate.com/app#page=product&id=54F73186-169F-11E0-BF92-FEFD45A4D471
PC’s unsweetened vanilla almond milk is the best! It’s also on sale right now – $4 for 2 of the self stable almond milks! (I just came from the grocery store!)
Sorry – that should read “shelf-stable”
thanks for the tip, going tonight!
Like many others, I’m not vegan, but I actually prefer regular ol’ almond milk to cow’s (in most instances). I use it in overnight oats, smoothies, creamy pasta sauces, & in your sticky toffee pudding! I’m trying to eat more whole, plant-based foods and fewer animal products, and your site is my go-to for inspiration. This new series is wonderful; I enjoy reading about your own transition and love how down-to-earth you are with your advice and recipes.
yes yes yes to the almond-coconut hybrid that I found last week! Worked swimmingly with a peanut-thai sauce :)
I LOVE the sweetened and unsweetened almond-coconut hybrid. I originally transitioned by using it in oatmeal and hot chocolate then progressively started drinking it straight. I’ve tried several kinds and I agree that many milk alternatives are an acquired taste.
Angela, do you have any thoughts about Carageenan? I see it listed in some of the milk alternatives and read that it can cause inflammation, bowel problems, etc. …
I have recently discovered Organic Valley’s Soy Creamer and it is awesome in coffee and as a little splash in butternut squash soup.
On another note, I made your Black Bean, Sweet Potato, and Red Quinoa Soup three times since you posted- and it has been a delicious hit each time- even to my omnivorous friends!!