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Old 06-06-2011, 10:42 AM   #1  
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Default Soy, almond, rice milk... which one?

I really want to slow my intake of dairy products. So I was wondering which non-dairy milk was better- soy, almond, rice milk. Which one is better for our bodies and has the best flavor. Especially for coffee? I recently purchased the soy milk.. and I wasnt happy because I assumed (kicks myself) it was sugar free. But there was something like 8g of processed sugar. Can someone give me the healthiest/best tasting option pleeeeasse.
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Old 06-06-2011, 10:50 AM   #2  
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I generally buy unsweetened soy or almond milk. If you have a powerful blender, you can make almond milk fairly easily although I've never done it myself and tend to buy containers out of convenience.

I don't drink coffee but I tend to like almond milk the best.
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Old 06-06-2011, 11:04 AM   #3  
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ok. im going to purchase the unsweetened almond milk. I didnt know they sweetened the soy milk. I was upset haha.
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Old 06-06-2011, 01:11 PM   #4  
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Soya milk is cheapest, has the most variants (sweetened, unsweetened, forfitied with vitamins, flavoured etc.) and also the most protein. The sweetened varieties I've found have always been sweetened with apple juice, so I'm surprised to hear that yours had processed sugar, or that it had that much. My usual brand has 2.8g sugar per 100ml. Supermarket own brands are usually the cheapest. The flavour isn't usually all that fantastic (and varies - try different brands), but most people find it fine for most purposes, and some people really love it and will drink it straight from the carton. I find that it tastes odd in hot chocolate, where I prefer rice milk, and never saw the point of drinking it plain (apart from the chocolate version, which really is loaded with sugar). It tends to curdle more easily than dairy milk. With tea, give the water a minute to cool a little before adding it. With coffee, warm the soya milk before adding the water, say by putting the soya milk in the mug and then microwaving it for one minute. (However, coffee makes my nose peel, so I can't advise you about which plant milk tastes best with it.) With soup, I wouldn't recommend soya milk if you'e going to be reheating the soup, so if I'm making portions to freeze I use something else such as coconut milk.

I haven't tried almond milk as it's way out of my budget (I'm in the UK, less choice over here) but people speak well of it in terms of flavour. I don't think it's as nutritious. Other popular options are rice milk and oat milk, and you can even get things like hemp milk. Just try them individually, and if they don't work for you in one way, you may find they taste absolutely fine in another.

Anything else we can help with? Are you trying non-dairy yoghurts or ice-cream, for instance? The Uncheese Cookbook can be quite handy for making fake cheeses; I've not tried many yet, but her fake parmesan is one of my staples, I like doing variants on the fake ricotta, and I have a batch of fake feta in the fridge which has just finished marinading. Tofu is probably the ingredient she uses the most, almonds in various forms turn up a lot (say ground), cashew butter quite often, and things like nutritional yeast and miso for flavouring. If that's any help when you're thinking about flavour!

Last edited by Esofia; 06-06-2011 at 01:13 PM.
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Old 06-06-2011, 02:00 PM   #5  
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I'm guessing your Soy milk in the UK is cheaper here than in the US or maybe our almond milk is cheaper. It depends but generally, soy, almond and rice milk are all around the same price here. Hemp milk tends to be the most expensive. Generally our non-dairy milks are sweetened with cane sugar. I prefer unsweetened myself.
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Old 06-06-2011, 02:22 PM   #6  
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I'm soy sensitive, so although I used to enjoy it I don't drink it anymore. Rice milk I found to be to "thin" - kinda like non fat milk - and not so flavorful. So my current fav is unsweetened almond milk: creamy, nice flavor but not overwhelming and only 40 cals per cup. Occasionally for a treat I get unsweetened coconut milk - So Delicious brand. More calories (50 cals per cup), but thick and creamy and wonderful in coffee or on oatmeal -YUM!
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Old 06-06-2011, 02:27 PM   #7  
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I think the cheapest soya milk I buy is 88p a litre, for the nice stuff that's kept in the fridge, but the longlife stuff can be as little as 60p. Rice Dream is £1.28 per litre at Tesco, and almond milk is never under £3. I would absolutely love to have a greater selection of affordable plant milks available to me.

I find rice milk a bit thin and watery for general use as well too. As I said, it's lovely in hot chocolate, but I wouldn't bother with it for Béchamel sauce or what have you.
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Old 06-06-2011, 02:34 PM   #8  
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Personally, I like the taste of almond milk better than soy, an dI have never tried rice milk.
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Old 06-06-2011, 02:55 PM   #9  
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Unsweetened almond milk ROCKS! The only thing I use in my coffee now.

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Old 06-06-2011, 11:41 PM   #10  
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Wow Esofia! Name brand almond milk is about $2/liter here and I can get store brand for about $1.70. I did the conversion and $1.70 is about 1 pound (forgive me, I don't know how to do the character for it)
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Old 06-08-2011, 05:50 AM   #11  
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Yep, apparently you're better off modelling yourself on the Japanese or other cultures where they use soy in reasonable quantities. A block of tofu and the odd bit of soya milk in a week is fine and indeed good for you, but many people, especially Americans, are eating huge amounts of processed foods which contain soy, so if your soy levels are already too high for that reason, adding soy milk is not a good idea.
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Old 06-08-2011, 09:11 AM   #12  
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I use unsweetened almond milk as I can't have products with soy.
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Old 06-08-2011, 07:42 PM   #13  
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I don't like neither, so I drink So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk. It's YUM.
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Old 06-09-2011, 10:07 AM   #14  
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I ♥ Almond milk. I have it everyday!

Last edited by 170starting; 06-09-2011 at 10:07 AM.
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Old 06-09-2011, 05:29 PM   #15  
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I am going to buy unsweetened almond and coconut milk and try each individually... see which one works best for me. I have never tried miso... i tried tofu before and I REAALLYYY dont like it. I dont know if i would care for fake cheese. Main reason im trying other milks is coz I consume alot of coffee and I know thats alot of saturated fat (I believe saturated fat isnt good for weight loss + I dont want to drink my calories). However, I definitely am someone who is open to trying new things... especially if it contributes to weight loss .
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