Dairy milk or oat milk - planet or protein?!

[FusionChefGeoff]

About 18 months ago I really wanted to cut our dairy consumption so switched to oat milk.

DS(10) is eating like a horse and does loads of sport so I'm trying to come up with quick, protein rich snacks to avoid the inevitable toast / crisps / choc bars.

Milkshakes / smoothies / Weetabix would be ace but with oat milk they're considerable less nutritious than with full fat cows milk and are a HUGE carb spike without much else as far as I can work out.

Adding processed protein powder seems crazy when there's a whole food that does it already...

I'm stuck in a food ethics v nutrition spiral (this is not unusual for me as I really struggle with food so am constantly conflicted)

Can anyone help me rationalise my way to the right answer for me??

Real milk for DS and milk alternative for you.

It's the kids that drink ALL the milk though so we wouldn't make any reduction in our impact if we did it that way unfortunately.

Should have said I'm also open to other ways to boost oat milk's nutritional benefits naturally - I could try peanut butter / ground almonds in a smoothie I guess?

When my kids were younger, I used to buy 36 pints of milk at a time ... fridge full of butter and cheese ... We don't eat meat, so a lot of our dinners had dairy, all that cereal ...

I used to (and still do) feel guilty about supporting a cruel dairy industry, but back then, the only alternative was soya milk which was vile. I'm not so sure that plant milks are so great either - everything that is mass produced has an impact on the environment.

It's all so difficult, especially if you don't eat meat and fish, but I tried to keep protein to main meals rather than snacks. I do remember doing something with soya beans to make them crunchy, and I think you can do the same with chick peas. Beans on toast or toast with peanut butter are probably a good protein based snacks.

Just wondering if there's any other ways to look at this or things to think about?

Just give him cow’s milk

Protein powders are usually made from whey anyway - so they are also a milk product.
How do you feel about eggs? Eggs are an excellent source of protein. The kids could have scrambled or soft or hard boiled eggs with toast, or you could make a fritatta with potatoes, onions and eggs and keep it is the fridge for after school snacks.

Give him cow’s milk.

Write to your mp about encouraging ethical dairy farming.

Local ethically produced milk?

Plenty of other protein sources,give him them instead.

Can you spend more on better milk? Organic, grass fed, local etc?

Soy milk is supposed to be more like cow milk in terms of vitamins and will have more protein than oat milk.

I’ve settled on cows after the same debate. Have you seen the ingredients in oat milk?? Ultra processed and not healthy. Also tastes shit in tea even though everyone else seems to think otherwise 😄

Regenerative dairy has a much better impact on the planet than the larger scale, you will need to pay more but the difference in terms of carbon emissions/biodiversity/net methane is staggering.

Plus supporting local business, and far fewer food miles.

Finally, massively more beneficial for health

We drink oat milk, including the kids. They get plenty of protein elsewhere.

Go for organic cows milk if any, from a single dairy if possible. The standard of care for the animals and the environment they live in is much higher.
If you stay dairy free, maybe try milled seeds/nuts. They are nutritionally very dense and can be mixed into most things.

Soya milk is high in protein.

I believe pea milk is better

There's a farm near me that has a little shop and they have a milk vending machine there, you bring your own glass bottle and fill it with milk.

Why is producing milk ‘cruel’.

I saw a Come Dine With Me with a committed vegan who was encouraging people to consider just giving up dairy. I thought it was an interesting idea - have meat or dairy but not both and you've halved (or whatever) your impact. Flipping that, would it help to think about eating a bit less meat to mentally "trade off" with the dairy? Have meat free lunches or a veggie day a week. Or if you are veggie anyway, you have already done a lot.

Also think about your impact over the years. If kids are better on dairy milk for a few more years while they are growing, laying down bone mass etc then give them that. You all have the rest of your lives to "make up for it" (if you feel you need to) by making different choices when they are no longer growing.

Thanks so much I love how varied responses can help shape my own priorities / thoughts / options.

Agree with posters that the plant milks are usually highly processed but we use milk and more and they have a fresh oat drink which is nowhere near as bad as the long life version.

Is just "organic" milk going to reduce the enviro impact?? They offer that which I'm happy to pay for but don't know what the difference is in real terms.

If your child doesn't have any nut allergies, make your own nut milk using almonds, walnuts, coconut flakes, or seed milk from pumpkin/sunflower seeds or a mixture of all of them. Delicious and very easy to make by soaking nuts/seeds overnight then with fresh water blending them up. You can add dates if you want a sweeter milk and you can strain if you don't want the pulp and freeze that for crumbles/puddings etc but I usually leave in as added protein.