To switch cows milk for soy or almond milk?

[Finemjen]

Want to go dairy - free - any one know any cons of switching to soy or almond milk? What cheese alternatives are there? Think I can manage not having milk, but cheese may be harder to give up unless there’s a really good alternative out there?!

Most friends of mine who switched from dairy milk use oat milk. It makes great frothy coffee, and is fine in tea. They use the Oatly or Minor Figures barista oat milk.

Almond milk is not very green - I think it uses vast amounts of water in production. I don't know about soy milk.

IMO Alpro vegan yoghurt is really good. I often use it in dips and for things like tsatsiki.

I don't like it much. It smells funny. although I do know other who like it.

We use oat milk as I am vegan and everyone else in the house likes it so it’s easier to have one type of milk in. A lot of people we know use non dairy milks now and are reducing other dairy.

I sometimes buy Cathedral city plant based cheese and think it’s the one closest to cheddar. My kids will eat it too. A relative ate it who is very anti vegan and didn’t realise it was vegan.

I tend to go with oat milk and occasionally buy soy. I find almond and cocount have to distinctive a taste. I buy Alpro oat unsweetened for tean and one of the barista ones or oateo from the milk man for cereal and coffee.

Cathedral City is the best plant based cheese and closest to chedder I can find. Most of the others taste like feet. I found it best to give up cheese for a while so your tastebuds adjust. That said Cathedral City wasn't around when I first gave up dairy and I have given it sparingly to non vegans who have said it was fine - a sprinkle on pasta for example.

If you are concerned about calcium, some of the plant milks (as well as bread and cereals are fortified). Also look at vegan sources of calcium for other ideas. Tofu and green veggies can be great sources of calcium.

If you like yogurt, I like the Alpro ones best.

I think Plenish and Oatley long life are basically just oats and water. But yes, stay away from the rapeseed oil.

Cathedral city and Applewood smoked are decent vegan cheeses. Everything else.... avoid.

Plenish doesn’t have rapeseed oil but Oatly does. I think the rapeseed oil is what makes them creamy but the thought of drinking oils gives me the heave. The Marks and Spencer one is very good.

There are pros/cons to all options.

Whichever you choose, just make sure you look at the ingredients, many are filled with gums and other rubbish and have barely any of the actual ingredients they should do. Plenish is a good brand.

Goat's milk is not lactose free.
From Google AI:

Yes, goat's milk does contain lactose. Lactose is the primary sugar found in milk from mammals, and goat's milk is no exception. While the lactose content in goat's milk is slightly lower than in cow's milk (about 4.20% compared to almost 5% in cow's milk), it is still present. People with lactose intolerance may find goat's milk easier to digest, but it is not lactose-free.

Here's why some people with lactose intolerance can tolerate goat's milk:

Lower Lactose Content: Goat's milk has a slightly lower percentage of lactose than cow's milk.

Easier Digestion: The fat globules in goat's milk are smaller than those in cow's milk, making it potentially easier to digest for some individuals.

I was responding to the point that almond milk is ‘not good for the environment’. It’s still better than dairy milk. It’s really disingenuous to make comments like the one made by the PP. For some reason people often unquestioningly accept the status quo and will not accept anything less than perfect in an alternative - the plant based milks aren’t perfect from an environmental perspective but it’s pretty clear they are all better than dairy milk.

If you want to give up dairy, just give up dairy. You don't need a substitute. Eat and drink other things.

Sorry but that's a silly remark. Nobody needs to eat any specific food or drink any specific drink, but it's pretty natural to have foods and drinks you really enjoy, and to want to recreate them with products you're not restricted from consuming. I really like tea with milk. I drank it every day for all my adult life until I became dairy intolerant. Why shouldn't I want a substitute?

I've done it the other way round OP.

For 4 years I gave up dairy milk and moved onto soy/oat/coconut etc.

But they are UPF and full of preservatives and emulsifiers. Environmentally they are better than cows milk, but it really depends what type of milk as well as to how much better they are.

If you compare organic locally sourced cows milk (which is what we now buy) compared to e.g. soy sourced from South America then the benefits are not so clear.

It really is silly. So many people say this as if it’s a clever thing to say. I’m not vegan or vegetarian but there are some meat products I just don’t like, but I like the veggie substitute. I never eat sausages but I love the Richmond vegetarian ones and eat them with a fry up of a Sunday.

oatly organic doesn’t have oil in it. I was quite surprised how many add oil. It’s annoying as it’s totally unnecessary.
It is quite easy to make your own oat milk although I admit I usually buy it.

I don't think it has calcium either though so you need to supplement it you use that.

Almond milk is not very green - I think it uses vast amounts of water in production. I don't know about soy milk.

People often like to say that it still uses less water than dairy milk ignoring the fact that in the UK, cows getting enough water is not generally a problem whereas water is much more of a scarce resource in places where almonds grow.

I gave up milk because (overnight) it started to taste to me of how cows smell. I can’t even have it in tea any more (I put much less in tea than my morning coffee). Cheese isn’t affected by this odd phenomenon.

I use oat milk- Oatly Barista, Minor Figures, Sainsbury’s Barista, or Alpro Barista. Plenish is awful, sorry! Tastes of despair and misery.

Goat and sheep’s milk cheeses are less problematic than cows’ because the process of farming the milk is less intensive. If that’s why you’re making the switch. Some people who struggle with cows’ milk also find that sheep and goat milk is easier for them.

There are plenty of plant sources of calcium. I don’t worry about getting it from oat milk.

There's a whole Radio 4 programme about the impact on the environmental and the health benefits of various milks:

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001wynz?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Oat milk is definitely the most palatable in coffee although not as nice as cow's milk.

I would bear in mind too that plant-based milks are mainly UPFs, although apparently you can make them yourself.

DS1 had CMPA as a young child and had to be dairy free. I then realised that my tolerance to milk is low.

We still use oat milk. There's not enough demand in the household for buying cows milk too.

I can tolerate modest quantities of cheese, yoghurt and other processed dairy. It is only health reasons that would have me giving them up and seeking alternatives. My tolerance to soya is low too which significantly reduces "plant based" options.