Milk replacement?

[joanmhe]

Hi,
I'd like to try a vegan diet - I have been lacto-ovo, with fish since my 20's, but I dislike soy milk. What do people like? What would be good with cereal in the morning?
Joan

[Adrienne]

I like soy sometimes, but I am not a big fan of just drinking it. I like rice milk for my occasional cerel. Recently, I found this stuff called oat milk. I put it in the fridge one night, and I woke up to kids drinking it out of the carton at breakfast because they liked it so much.

[thadroe]

Originally Posted by joanmhe

Hi,
I'd like to try a vegan diet - I have been lacto-ovo, with fish since my 20's, but I dislike soy milk. What do people like? What would be good with cereal in the morning?
Joan

For cereal, you might like oat milk. It's very good and very "milky" tasting compared to soy milk.

...or, maybe branch out and just ditch the cereal...try some different things for your morning meal.

One thing I really enjoy is blending some silken tofu with a couple fresh medjool dates and cinnamon. Makes a thick, sweet, creamy sauce. Then I pour that over a big bowl of some defrosted frozen berries and sprinkle on some walnuts or pecans. Yumm!!

Thad

[thadroe]

Originally Posted by Adrienne

I like soy sometimes, but I am not a big fan of just drinking it. I like rice milk for my occasional cerel. Recently, I found this stuff called oat milk. I put it in the fridge one night, and I woke up to kids drinking it out of the carton at breakfast because they liked it so much.

Ha! You beat me to the oat milk Adrienne...we must have been typing at the same time.

[nafai]

I've been using soy milk on my cereal for a couple of years, but recently switched to rice milk -- I think it tastes better. My wife still uses soy.

[Steve Pavlina]

I dislike soymilk too. My favorite milk substitute is Rice Dream (rice milk). Rice milk is a little thinner than soy milk, so the consistency is similar to skim milk.

Our kids drink Rice Dream nearly every day and seem to enjoy it. It goes well with cereal too. I also mix it into oatmeal to make it a little creamier, and it can substitute for milk in any recipe.

There's a fortified version of Rice Dream which Erin prefers, but I don't like it as much because it's a slightly grittier, so it doesn't mix as well with my Teecino (a caffeine-free coffee substitute).

Rice Dream is shelf stable, so you only need to refrigerate it after you open it. We usually buy a case at a time, which lasts us about 2-3 weeks.

[joanmhe]

I've never heard of oat milk - sounds good. Also hadn't thought of the silken tofu - wonder how it would be with granola sprinked on?
Thanks!

[Victoria]

Well, I don't know how the tofu with granola would be...I might just have to try! When I do get a milk replacer, I get something called Eden Blend, which is half rice and half soy. For those still unsure which way to go I guess.

[Andreas]

Yeah, I can vouch for Rice Dream – believe it or not I just poured myself some. After trying out Silk Milk, I wanted to see what else was out there. Per Steve's recommendation I tried Rice Dream, and now it's my milk of choice. I go for enriched, and I'd say that the only downside of switching from any regular milk to Rice Milk is you have to make up for protein you would otherwise be getting from hormonized cow juice. Otherwise I love the fact that it it's organic and tasty.

Thanks again, Steve!

[joanmhe]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll be trying them out this week.
Joan

[tgl]

I second oat milk. I could drink that by the bucketful. I also love almond milk.

A good source of calcium is sesame seed milk. Which I make myself by soaking sesame seeds for a couple of hours, then blending with water, adding a little sweetener (dates, raisins, honey, agave), & some spices (cardamom is a favorite).

[yesyesyes]

When I was very little I remember drinking soymilk for the first time and hating it. I then drank cow milk but eventually I tried soymilk again in high school and fell in love with it. Trying to eat cereal with cowmilk tastes horrible now and seems disgusting and water-y.

I might have to try that oatmilk and almond milk.

[Keith]

If you're looking for something a bit different, have you tried almond milk? There's a few sites on the 'net on how to make it (I confess that I've not yet given it a try so if you do, let us know how it goes ).

almond milk - Google Search

[thadroe]

Trying to eat cereal with cowmilk tastes horrible now and seems disgusting and water-y.

I agree....cowsmilk makes me practically puke now.

It's amazing how our sense of taste adjusts when we change our eating habits. Just like I find I can't tolerate a lot of salt anymore.

Thad

[aelle]

From the moment my mom stopped breastfeeding me, I have always hated milk and never drank any ever again.
As a kid I just ate my cereals dry! I drank large amounts of juice or water on the side, though.
These days I eat muesli for breakfast, mixed with fresh fruits. If you pick juicy fruits such as pears or watermelon, the dryness is not a problem. I still drink a lot on the side - about 1L of tea every morning...

[Erin Pavlina]

I haven't had a bowl of cereal with milk since I went vegan. It's true, we use Rice Dream around the house, but I just have other things for breakfast or I eat dry cereal.

I mainly use Rice Dream to make smoothies & shakes, and for baking and cooking.

[Andreas]

Question:

When people say "dry cereal" do they mean just cereal in a bowl?
Why would you do this?

That sounds boring. Even if you add chopped bananas I would still crave the "cereal + milk" texture, and the milk would be Rice Dream of course.

[Hilary]

There's no harm in just getting out the liquidiser/blender (and a sieve) and experimenting. Sunflower and cashew milk? Almond and oatmeal milk? With or without dates, banana, real vanilla essence, etc, etc...

Rice milk is very sweet, which not everyone likes. Tiger White - tried it once - dull grey colour, yuck.

By the way, home made soya milk is a lot nicer than any bought stuff I ever found. Making it is a bind, though. I don't remember the exact recipe (it's in a book by Rose Elliot) but it involves a 24 hour soak with changes of water, liquidising, boiling, cooling and straining through muslin. Or something like that, only longer.

[moltar]

Soy milk is good, you just need to get used to it. I bet you, you hated cow milk when you were a kid. But after drinking it for many years you think it's good. So here is a plan how to switch to soy milk and start to like it.

Start by drinking a mix of cow's milk and soy milk in 75%/25% ratio, 75% being cow's milk. After a week or two, you won't feel a difference. Time to adjust. Start drinking 50/50. I hope I don't need to explain further

[mcovey]

Almond milk is okay. Make sure you filter it really well or it gets bits of almonds in it. It's also a little watery. I have no problems with soy or cows milk so my adventures in the world of alternative milk have been limited.

[Zach]

Cow's milk is NASTY..it gives me some pretty gross side-effects when I drink it.

However, I don't particularly care for soy milk, at least the brand I tried, which is Silk. It's just too watery and tasteless for me.

[madgeylou]

i'm an almond milk fan ... "almond breeze" is the brand i particularly like.

the chocolate variety is a must-have at PMS time.

[dsmoke]

I don't believe anyone has mentioned hazelnut milk (my favorite) and coconut milk. Coconut milk is an acquired taste, but I love it in smoothies and such. It's very good for you, too.

Hazelnut milk is available in my local health food stores.

[Andreas]

Yes, but how do you milk a Hazelnut?

[Rosi]

My mother in law makes a fantastic milk-free muesli.
It's quite time intensive but well worth it. Mash a banana with a fork add a grated apple (with skin). Add the juice of half a lemon and the flesh of an orange chopped up to let the juice out. Add freshly ground oats, a variety of chopped nuts , raisins or sultanas and a selection of seeds (linseed, sesame, pumpkin, sunflower) and of course any other fresh fruit you happen to have around. Seedless grapes or kiwi are particularly good.

There is no bought muesli in it. We have an oat mill to grind the oats freshly but you could just as easily make it with bought rolled oats.

It's really delicious and nice and moist.

[Holoscientist]

I would like to recomment goat's milk as an alternative to cow's milk, either on the way to veganism or even as part of a 'loose' vegan diet, given that goats are frequently allowed out in pasture and are not laden with antibiotics and hormones (so even non-organic milk is close to being organic). Goat's milk is much healthier and more easily digested than cow's milk to begin with; in addition it doesn't require homogenization which is partly responsible for cow's milk poor digestibility. Finally, goat's milk is also very tasty once one gets used to the strange flavour!

Consider also that soy products are not necessarily healthy: after many years of hype around soy, it is now becoming clear than soy's estrogenic effects (which may be protective in small amounts) may be problematic when it is consumed regularly. Only fermented soy products (miso, tempeh) are now considered safe for regular use.

I hope this adds to the options!