alternatives to soy milk. . . where to buy? could i make it?

[lumpofclay]

I'm feeling a bit convicted about the girls drinking soy milk. I'd like to be able to offer them something else, at least in a rotation, in order to cut down on their soy intake. It *is* the main way they get soy (with the exception of Edamame every once in a while), but I'm buying a gallon of milk for our family of five. The girls drink about a glass a day, Jay has it on his cereal a few times a week, and I use it in cooking. I can buy refrig. 8th continent or Silk at our Wal-Mart. The girls prefer 8th continent. There's one brand (I forget) of rice milk available at our Wal-Mart. Chandler likes rice milk, but Maddux won't drink it. Too, it doesn't have nearly the protein of soy milk, so I was bummed about that. I do need to check the other grocery store in town, but we're hours away from a health food store. Oh, let me take that back, there's a tiny little "health food store" here, but they mainly cater to "low carb people" and carry a gazillion vitamins/supplements.

Is there anything else I haven't thought of? What do you drink? Is there something I could make? I know. . . we've been veg for 6+ years and I still worry about protein. My girls don't eat that much. . . they do eat very healthy, though. But they are tall and thin and active. So I worry about their nutrition. Thoughts?

[bex]

I've made almond milk when I thought dd might be reacting to dairy as a newborn. It was easy but I'm nak and can't get to my cookbook. I'll try to post the recipe in a bit if you still need it. It's in "American Vegetarian Cookbook" IIRC by Marilyn Diamond.

[bex]

OK here's the recipe:

1/2 cup shelled raw almonds (blanch them in 1 c boiling water and then peel off skins if you want but that's waaaay too much trouble for me)
1 T pure maple syrup (optional...I used a little honey instead)
2 cups water

Place almonds in blender and grind to powder. Add syrup and 1 c water. Blend for 1-2 min to form smooth cream. With blender running, add rest of water and blend for 2 min. Strain through a cheesecloth lined strainer. You may want to strain it a couple times if you don't like a little grainy-ness

It'll keep for 4-5 days in in an airtight container. I think it's really pretty yummy. If you can buy almonds in bulk somewhere, you might could make it pretty cheaply. I was right about the cookbook too. It's a really good vegan one (a little old but good).

[ShangriLewis]

We don't drink milk much. We use soy and rice and a container lasts at least a week for all of us. I don't use it to cook with either. I just use water. I love love love raw almond milk, but I'm the only one. There is Vances Dairifree, but I don't think it's protein rich. We drink a lot of smoothies, does that count :laughtears We use water in those, too. If you want to see their typical protein intake you can go to fitday.com and type in what they eat for a week and then average that out a bit. It might be a little time consuming to type in the things you eat, but it should make you feel better and you can see where any weaknesses are.

[Katherine]

Rice milk is an obvious alternative and nut milks, as mentioned above. I've also started making sesame seed milk just this week, and we ordered some Vance's dairy-free to try. There are recipes online for making milk from all different kinds of nuts, seeds, mung sprouts, rice, even some types of beans. We just found out that my ds is allergic to soy, and we already knew he was allergic to nuts, so we have mostly been drinking rice milk up to this point. Just like you, I worry about his protein and calorie intake b/c he just doesn't eat much at all.

Slightly off-topic, I guess, but just thought I'd mention this since you are concerned about soy intake. I have realized in the last week as I've started trying to eliminate soy from our diet just how much of it we were eating without even realizing it. :( :eek I had more than 30 cans of all sorts of stuff in my pantry.. vegis, vegetarian soups, vegetarian refried beans/chili, only 2 of them didn't have a soy product or derivative in it. :eek A lot of stuff that doesn't have soy in the name still has soy in it. (like vegetable oil, natural flavorings, vitamin E) I had a very hormone-like reaction to soy when we started eating vegan b/c I was suddenly ingesting so much of it--more than my body could handle. It's in sauces, soups, every kind of baked good that you buy, and of course the obvious products like soy milks/cheese/butter and meat replacements, etc. We are going to start doing all of our own baking this week b/c it's almost impossible to buy baked goods that don't contain some form of soy.

anyway... just something to think about. Soybean oil is the number one oil used in the united states, and soy products are used it practically everything--even stuff like cosmetics and ink--so I would venture to say that most people have a much higher incidence of soy exposure than they would ever imagine.

[Punkie]

I feel like I've been posting this everywhere recently, but we have a SoyaJoy "milk" maker, and its great. The almond, rice, and oat milks are all great in there. I like combining them too (ie almond/oat milk). They list some other options on their site:

Brazil Nut Milk, Cashew Nut Milk, Coconut Milk, Hazel Nut/Filbert Milk, Macadamia Milk, Millet Milk, Peanut Milk, Pecan Milk, Pine Nut Milk, Pumpkin Seed/Pepita Milk, Quinoa Milk, Rice Milk, Sesame Seed Milk, Sunflower Seed Milk, Walnut Milk, etc..

[Zoesmama]

Be careful about making your own because it will then not stand a chance against the Silk or 8th Contintent vitmains and all that. For Truman if he is on it too I would say make sure you get something higher in fat or at Flax oil to the recipe too. It will add about 4 grams of fat if you add a couple spoons.

I like almond milk and now that my dd is 2 I have plans to start doing more almond milk which she loves too.

[Katherine]

We tried Vance's DariFree this week and we really like it. We had been drinking rice milk, which I didn't love but was getting used to. (I don't like the aftertaste)

I like this MUCH better, and it's cheaper than buying Rice Milk at the Kroger. :tu

2 quarts of rice milk was $3.59

One carton of Vance's which makes 6 quarts was... $7 and some cents (can't remember exactly. I bought a case, which gave me a discount, and if we decide to start using it regularly will buy the 25-lb bag for even more of a discount. It is soy, dairy, gluten free. You can check out the nutrition info on their website. Just google Vance's DariFree

[Punkie]

Be careful about making your own because it will then not stand a chance against the Silk or 8th Contintent vitmains and all that.


...but you also don't have to worry about the carrageenan and other suspicious/unhealthy additives.

[ShangriLewis]

Palil does it taste like Rice Milk? I'm really curious what it taste like. I think I might see if I can get Fred Meyers to order some for me.

[jarofclay]

My Mom, my sister and I all own a "soya joy" milk maker that Punkie mentioned. We make all kinds of "milk" in them. You don't get the added vitamins that you get in the store bought ones, but that can EASILY be replaced with a good vitamin. The milks you make don't have nearly the amount of preservatives and other nasty things that the store bought ones HAVE to have in order to keep them good long enough to make it to your fridge.

I have started to make raw almond milk lately for the girls. I just soak almonds overnight and then put them in a blender with some water. I strain the chunks out and add a little salt. You could also add some sweetener if you are used to sweet milk. Then I use the almond chunks in baking. The girls love it!

[Katherine]

Palil does it taste like Rice Milk? I'm really curious what it taste like. I think I might see if I can get Fred Meyers to order some for me.

No, it doesn't taste like it, but it's cheaper than the rice milk I was buying at Kroger. :) It doesn't have that strong aftertaste that rice products have. In fact, it doesn't have a specific strong *taste* like milks made from seeds and other things, which is probably why I like it. :O I think of all the milk substitutes we've tried, this one would is the most pleasant-tasting and would be the easiest to adjust to for a person used to dairy. JMO. Of course, the number one factor for us is that's it's free from all the allergens we are avoiding (soy, nuts, we thought rice was going to be a problem for a while... etc.)

The other thing that's very helpful for me right now is that it is so quick and easy to make some and it's powder so it has a very long shelf life. It was kinda fun making our own milks by hand, but it was a bit time-consuming, and I'm still trying to adjust to the fact that I have to make all my own bread/baked goods/cereals/snacks in addition to meals, so the ease of use is a big factor right now :eek :O It does have some Carrageenan in it, so be aware if that's something you avoid.

It has vitamins including calcium, but no protein. I wish it did, and that's probably the biggest advantage that seed/nut milks have over it. I may eventually get a milk maker since that would make it easier for us to realistically drink protein-rich seed milk. I just hate to spend money on a machine that we can only use in a limited way (basically just for seed milk?). I guess I'm cheap. :giggle