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!
I use Almond Breeze unsweetened for two main reasons: I don’t share groceries, so it’s nice not to have to either buy 4L of milk at a time or pay significantly more for a small carton; and Costco sells the tetra-paks :) –cheap and convenient.
Silk Almond milk tastes amazing, but I find the texture a little toooo smooth courtesy of the thickeners, and it costs a fortune.
I love So Nice unsweetened–but I also love the taste of raw tofu, ha.
I’ve been drinking non-dairy milk for 12 years, that’s when my dairy allergy to milk popped up… soooo many more and better options everywhere now! My favourite by far is almond milk, Silk is my fav brand these days, I used to do Almond Breeze, but once I tried Silk, I loved it, its much creamier and smoother. And I Just bought the almond-coconut blend at Ambrosia last week.. I’m so excited to try it :) I don’t care for coconut alone, but I bet it will taste great with almond. I do love soy in tea or coffee when available because it’s so rich.. when I’ve had friends try it, they’ve switched over, because they say its creamy like real cream as opposed to milk! Second Cup and Timothy’s offer Silk soy, which is so much better than the generic brand Starbucks uses! And I so wish Tim’s would get with the soy-milk times!!
I accidentally drank my first cow milk coffee in 2 years the other day and my assumption was that there must have been something wrong with the espresso, it’s sour and rancid when you’re used to the thick sweet aftertaste of soy. Vitasoy organic is my all time favourite, it’s like cream, so it goes further, unlike ‘light’ milks. I just can’t bring myself to pay for watery milk… ill dilute it myself if I need to, thanks! ;)
Can’t believe you don’t have cashew milk on this list, Ange! Not a fan?
I’m not vegan but I haven’t had cow’s milk with my cereal in maybe five years or so. I now use Almond Breeze. I prefer the sweetened unflavored version. The vanilla kind of ruins the cereal for me. I’ve tried Silk soy milk but that was just okay. Rice Dream tastes terrible to me.
I’m definitely an Almond Milk lover! I do enjoy Oat milk for really making some nice creamy oatmeal though. I also like the ease of making almond milk at home and the consistency is has fresh.
I’m not trying to go vegan, or even full-time veggie, but I love Vanilla Almond Milk and for smoothies, plain, unsweetened almond milk is the best!
Almond milk is my milk of choice for the past 5 years. I started off with soy (because 5 years ago that was most commonly found in all supermarkets), and transitioning first with soy seemed to be the easiest for me. But eventually I wanted less soy in my diet so I save it only for Starbucks trips :) I also LOVE LOVE LOVE hazelnut milk – it is so creamy and thick and it’s amazing. I love it just drinking it plain. I’ve also started making my own nut milk and recently made brazil nut milk – delicious.
If you live near a Trader Joes, their unsweetened vanilla almond milk will knock your socks off. Its my absolute favorite. So creamy and delicious :)
Hi Angela,
I love almonds but am wary of them. Have you seen this:
http://www.cornucopia.org/almond/Almond_Fact_Sheet.pdf
~Leigh
Hi Leigh, I heard about this recently from another blogger. You might also find this post helpful: http://foodidentitytheft.com/trying-to-avoid-almonds-that-are-gassed-heres-a-little-guide/ identifying specific brands and their method of almond treatment. It’s scary to think of the crap they can do to food and not have it on the label. Moral of the story – buy from a trusted brand who does not use chemicals for sterilization.
First of all, I just want to say thanks for this new series! I’m really excited for future topics.
I’m not vegan, but cow’s milk was the first (and the easiest) animal product to give up. I was a huge milk drinker growing up. There was always a glass of milk at every meal. When I started using alternatives I would tried a glass of it and it was pretty weird, so that would be my warning to people who want to make the switch: almond/hemp/coconut/etc milk will never taste like cow’s milk, but they do have fantastic tastes of their own and that will take some time getting used to (it’s definitely worth it!) So I started using milk alternatives in my baking and smoothies and over time I grew accustomed to the taste. I don’t think I would ever pour myself a glass of almond milk, but now cow’s milk grosses me out too. All of this means I just drink more water at mealtimes :)
My mom makes fantastic homemade almond and cashew milk, but I prefer store-bought that is fortified to help make sure I’m getting my nutrients.
Hey Angela Thanks for this post. I know you have a million comments but is there a particular brand of calcium/vitamin d supplement you recommend?
I love vanilla soy milk. I know it’s probably not the best of the varieties – but it tastes so good in cereal!
I made the switch to non-dairy just about 3 yrs ago. My baby was born with severe food allergies and eventually we found that she could ONLY have rice milk (not the greatest option) so while she nursed for nearly 2 yrs I could only drink rice milk. Finally, at almost 3 yrs old she can have almond milk…she finally outgrew her almond allergy.
It was really easy to switch to non-dairy. I feel better. It tastes better! I still haven’t switched completely over (feta and bleu cheese have this hold over me!) but I’m thrilled to be able to have almond milk back in the house…we much prefer it to rice milk.
Seriously, girlfriend was even reacting to chia seed and quinoa milk!
Happy Almond Milk camper here!
I just wanted to let you know how much I appriciate this new series. I’ve been wanting to make more of a switch to the vegan side and this is helping out a lot. Can’t wait for the next one.
My all time favorite is definitely hazelnut milk, or better yet, chocolate hazelnut milk.
Even though I’m not vegan, I still prefer to buy unsweetened almond milk rather than cow’s milk. Not only does it last longer in the fridge, but it comes in a smaller container (at a reasonable price too) which is nice when you’re the only one drinking it! Ooh and the coconut-flavoured Almond Breeze… LOVE it! I made a chickpea curry with it a while ago and it was delish!!
I used to drink almond milk, but then I realized I wasn’t getting much nutritional value from it, so I switched to soy milk. I like that it has more protein and that it’s fortified with both calcium and vitamin D. Also I find it has a creamier taste, which I love!
Apparently I wasn’t as weird as I thought for growing up hating milk as a beverage–thanks, guys and gals ;) I do like almond milk at times, but I find it has more of a “taste” that doesn’t work well in a lot of recipes. Unsweetened coconut milk is definitely my favourite for versatility in cooking (especially as a replacement in cream/milk-based soups) and baking. Knock on wood, I’ve had zero flops when milk/cream is called for. It really doesn’t taste like much at all which is fine by me since I wouldn’t drink a glass of even non-dairy milk anyway. Just be sure it’s not the canned–way too rich for the majority of recipes and every day use. That said, I always have canned coconut milk on hand for ice cream, Ange’s coconut whipped cream, curry sauces, etc.
As for brands, I don’t notice enough of a difference to make me stick to one brand, but texture-wise I find So Delicious the smoothest. Coconut Dream tetra packs are usually what I buy since it goes on sale often and I can stock up, but it sort of has these tiny floaties that don’t have a taste, but just look unappetizing. It’s also more translucent than So Delicious brand.
I also have a question, for Ange or anyone who may be able to enlighten me: What IS the difference between the shelf-stable and refrigerated versions of non-dairy milk? I buy both, depending on what’s on sale or in stock, but the ingredients are always identical (from brands that make both). Is it just the packaging that makes it shelf-stable, or is there some process? Just curious! Thanks! Another fantastic and informative post, Ange–please keep them coming!
I used to love almond milk but now that I know Soy has more protein I will have to look into that!!! Do you take Vit B12 supplements as well??
Yes I do, a couple times a week. Some of the foods I eat have b12 too.
I’m a huge fan of unsweetened almond milk. I but the Whole Foods brand. I have never been a big fan of milk so this was an easy swap for me. I am hesitent to use it in cooking because I just ever know but the few times I have thrown it into a bread or recipe and it’s worked out perfectly! Love it in lattes too! I can’t wait for Starbucks to get Almond Milk!