Non-watery milk substitutes

[Lydia Leftcoast]

I'm experimenting with modifying my diet for various reasons and am planning to eliminate certain foods that tend to cause problems in some people. One of them is non-fermented dairy products. (The others are sugar and gluten, in case you want to know.)

I don't drink a lot of milk. Mainly I put it on cereal, which I have for breakfast once or twice a week, but I can't tolerate too much soy (soy coffee creamer upsets my stomach), and putting rice milk on my cereal? Well, I tried that, and I might as well just add water.

I used to like VitaSoy products, because they had a creamy texture,but they are no longer available in my area, and besides, as noted above, I can't take too much soy. The amount in a typical bowl of miso soup is fine, but in the era when I drank a daily soy milk-based fruit smoothie in an attempt to balance my hormones, I developed a sensitivity that went away after I gave soy up completely for a year. Now I can tolerate small amounts. Still, the types of soy milk available now seem to be on the watery side.

My local co-op has almond milk (but I don't like almond flavored things like marzipan), coconut milk (OK in iced coffee, but I'm not sure about other uses), and hemp milk (but I have no idea how that tastes or what the texture is like). Unfortunately, these three options come only in quart or half-gallon sizes, so if I don't like a flavor, I'm stuck with a large unused portion.

Any suggestions for a milk-for-cereal substitute that has a bit of body to it and doesn't have a strong flavor?

[riverbendviewgal]

1. I use 35 percent cream

It has no carbs and no sugar. You only need a little to get satisfied. I use it on fruits. I drink my coffee black.
I never drink milk.
I do eat natural unflavored yogurt.

My son is a firm believer that sugar is evil (OK if in fruits) and carbs are very bad. mix them together and you have real problems.

He went from almost 300 lbs to to 180 lbs by watching his diet...and abstaining from from most carbs (allow yourself 20 a day) and eliminating sugar.

[geckosfeet]

2. I went low carb but used half and half in my coffee and tea instead of milk.

More fat but fewer carbs. I am not at all sure how it would be in cereal. Most cereals have a lot of added sugary carbs so I switched to rolled oats oatmeal. No milk needed and no reading every micrometer of the package to figure out what's in it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. My co-op carries gluten-free cereals, so that's not a problem,

and if the milk substitute is flavorful enough, the lack of sugar doesn't bother me, either. But I'm trying to eliminate unfermented milk products to see if that makes me feel better, so while I'm a big fan of heavy cream and agree that it's wonderful on cereal, it doesn't fit the non-dairy requirement.

[ginnyinWI]

4. unsweetened almond milk

It doesn't really taste like almond--certainly not like the almond extract flavor you are thinking of. Actually has a very mild, dairy-milk flavor. Not strong like soy, which I don't like in coffee or on cereal because it overpowers. I think it would be worth a try. I have used Silk and Almond Breeze brands.

[truebluegreen]

5. Second the motion for almond milk.

I can't do soy either and don't like rice milk, esp. in coffee (a splash is OK in green tea), but I like almond milk.

Also hazelnut milk, but it does taste like hazelnuts.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. Rice milk IS good in tea, especially the "East Asian" varieties

and herbal teas (e.g. Celestial Seasonings' Sweet Coconut Thai Chai, which is made with rooibos).
I also like vanilla rice milk in iced coffee.
(Dunn Brothers, a local chain of coffee shops, sells a wonderful iced coffee extract in gallon jugs, and it's how I get my caffeine fix on hot days).

[Codeine]

13. Another vote for this one. Almond milk is amazing.

My omni family members adore it and we go through several gallons a week.

[Still Blue in PDX]

7. I gave almond milk a second chance, and I've actually come around to liking it.

I use the unsweetened almond milk and it's consistency is comparable to skim milk and, like skim milk, it takes a bit of getting used to when you're used to something with more substance. I use it on cereal and in herbal teas since I cut out caffeine. If you don't mind a bit of sugar, there's the vanilla flavor.

If it turns out you don't like it, you can use it to slow cook steel cut oatmeal overnight. And if you don't like oatmeal, well . . . sorry, I got nuthin'. It's worth a try, though.

[NRaleighLiberal]

8. I use half unsweetened Almond, half unsweetened rice or soy.

We get them all in the small boxes for 1.69 or so from Trader Joe. Love them...haven't looked back (at dairy!)

[gblady]

9. I make my own....

almond milk.....super easy to do and makes a very creamy milk.
1 cup almonds to 4 cups water....soak, blend, strain...
you can find instructions online.

[LeftyMom]

10. I'd suggest trying more than one brand to see if there's one you like.

There's only one brand of almond milk I can stand, I like one soy milk to drink and another for cooking, and apparently I'm not so picky on coconut flavored things. I liked the hemp milks that I tried but it turns out I'm allergic to hemp and uh... related products (and I live in Northern California, so that is seriously annoying and occasionally dangerous.)

Fortunately our co-op here does product tastings regularly and has a liberal return policy if I buy something I can't stand. It might be worth asking if there's anything analogous available to you.

[obamanut2012]

11. Hemp milk sucks -- seriously

I use almond milk or coconut milk in smoothies and cereals. Get unsweetened vanilla almond milk for cereal, and maybe your coffee.

It doesn't have the mouth-feel of milk, even skim, but you get used to that.

[Chan790]

12. I now prefer almond milk to dairy on my cereal.

Specifically the brand produced by the national almond-growers-collective Blue Diamond...I think it's called "Almond Breeze" or something like that. Not strongly almondy, I do prefer the sweetened vanilla flavor for cereal...but you don't want that for savory uses like mashed potatoes. (One of my favorite quippy one-liners revolves around the number of dairy-substitutes it takes the average veg*n to replace plain milk. For me, it's 5.)

I really like the coconut too as it has the most dairy-like "fatty" mouthfeel...but it does taste like coconuts and that limits uses somewhat. I use it for baking or prepared foods that call for milk where a slight coco-note isn't going to be a problem. If I'm having a glass of "milk" it's probably coconut.

I can't stand soyfoods and ricemilk I don't see the point, if I wanted a watery whitish-translucent liquid that tastes like water I'd just dissolve lime in my water.