What instead of milk? Here are some plant-based alternatives
Exclude alcohol from your diet? Easy! Meat? A little more difficult… But to replace milk, oh, it’s not so easy. Sometimes it takes a specific dietary plan, sometimes it takes a suspicion of intolerance, and sometimes it takes a strong personal decision and an attempt to discover new, fully vegan flavours. Today we are also tackling the subject of finding a substitute. It’s a difficult task, but after browsing through the health food shelves, it’s doable. What instead of milk? Let’s find out!
In this article you will find answers to the questions:
- What do milk substitutes taste like?
- Is it possible to order a soya drink in popular cafés, for example?
- What do you actually need to exclude from your diet?
- Is it worth giving up milk if it is not necessary?
What’s interesting is that testing our alternatives can be a lot of fun and be an idea for an unusual culinary journey, because it often turns out that most plant-based flavours – we or our family members – are not yet familiar with.
Milk – a few facts to get you started
Cow’s milk is the most popular, most common and best known for its taste. There is also a range of products based on goat’s milk. The most common reasons for not consuming this type of animal product are:
- allergy to cow’s milk proteins,
- Lactose intolerance,
- changing to a vegan diet,
- skin problems after eating dairy products (rashes, spots, etc.),
- chronic bloating and constipation,
- high cholesterol levels.
Some of the above are symptoms associated with milk being present in the diet in excess. In such cases, it is often enough to slightly restrict the intake of… well, what exactly? Because milk is not only a white liquid bought in a carton, a bag or directly “from the cow”, but also a wide range of related products:
- butter,
- white and yellow cheese and mouldy cheese,
- cream, buttermilk, kefir,
- natural and fruit yoghurts,
- sweets and other products with milk listed high in the ingredients.
This means that when you go shopping in the shop, you have to spend a little more time choosing your products, paying attention to the ‘key words’ among all those listed in the ingredients: lactose, whey, whole and skimmed milk powder, milk proteins, milk fat.
Plant-based milk – different in taste or healthier?
The easiest solution is to go to the shelf with vegan products. Fortunately, large supermarkets and even discount stores (where Poles are most likely to shop – e.g. according to this survey) increasingly have appropriate areas that contain only such items.
It is worth doing, if only for a trial. Why? The taste offered by plant milk is completely different from the traditional “3.2%”. In fact it is difficult to speak of a single model, because there are at least several products, about which more will be written in a moment.
Wondering about environmental aspects is in vogue, so researchers from Oxford decided to also look into compiling how milk consumption affects the environment around us. The benchmark was one glass of milk, all year round, every day. To provide it to humans in the form of a zoonotic (cow) product, production consumed 650 m² of land and 255 litres of water. The plant-based drink generated three times less greenhouse gas emissions, and water consumption was reduced to 54 litres of water (rice milk) and 74 litres (almond milk).
The most popular milk substitutes
When answering the question “what instead of milk?” it is good to first consider whether it is at all urgently necessary to look for a substitute. The advantage of dairy (animal) products, is their wide availability and low price. Analysing the composition, it is not uncommon to come across a valuable source of calcium, B, E, D and A vitamins and amino acids, including casein available in protein.
| Curiosity: |
| Did you know that World Plant Milk Day has been celebrated on 22 August since 2017? The initiative to promote vegan food was conceived by ProVeg International. |
Of course, if someone has an allergy or develops an intolerance – this is perfectly legitimate. In the case of vegans, the matter is also not in dispute. In other situations, however, milk often appears as an ingredient in a professionally prescribed diet, and here the need for change is not so urgent, especially as plant milk is not the cheapest.
However, there are times when you need to, and there are times when it’s simply worth trying something new. The most popular and widely known is soy milk (soy drink), which you probably already had the opportunity to try.
In search of less popular and well-known alternatives, we invite you to our review:
Almond milk
Almond milk may be the latest fashion statement, but it has been well known to the world since the Middle Ages! Almond milk (although the correct term should be “vegetable almond drink”), comes in different qualities – it all depends on the manufacturer and the almonds used, as well as the additives.
Its main advantage is its low calorie content (about 24 kcal per 100 ml) and low fat content (less than in 1.5% milk). Due to the presence of phosphorus, calcium is better absorbed and is available in fortified drinks, i.e. additionally enriched. Vitamins D, B2, B12 and E are also strong points of almond milk.
Oat milk
The calories in oat milk are also not scary, although there are noticeably more calories than in the almond variety (54 kcal per 100 ml). During the study, it was shown that replacing the consumption of about 1 litre of cow’s milk with oat milk, over a period of 4 weeks, reduced cholesterol levels by about 4%.
Oat milk is also a valuable source of fibre (as much as 2 grams per glass) and an opportunity to draw the body away from saturated fat intake. Thanks to fortification, calcium and vitamins D and A appear in it, so you can additionally note its beneficial effect on the immune system.
Buckwheat milk
This variety is very rare in the shops, but importantly, you can also prepare a batch of millet milk yourself. All you need is three cups of water, 1.5 cups of dry millet groats, a handful of soaked and peeled almonds and a spoonful of coconut shavings in addition. All this needs to be thrown into a blender, then strained – the drink is the lamb milk, and the mixture is a great base for cookies.
The calories in 100 ml are exactly the same as in oat milk. It is a great product for people with coeliac disease and those on gluten-free diets. Valuable elements also appear in the composition, including copper, silicon, iron and calcium. The taste of the milk remains neutral and the contents will be valuable especially for those with anaemia.
Rice milk
Twice the carbohydrates of cow’s milk and 47 kcal per 100 ml? That’s what rice milk is! Plus, it’s a great source of selenium and manganese, as well as vitamin B. There is no lactose, cholesterol or gluten.
Instead, there are the so-called phytosterols: oryzanol and sitosterol. What does this mean? It means that people who have problems with their cardiovascular system should especially benefit from rice milk. The only problem is that the taste is very different from the traditional taste, which is, to say the least, quite specific and not to everyone’s liking. Another difference is the consistency – emulsified, requiring shaking before drinking.
A plant-based drink in a café. Is it possible?
Finally, a little curiosity for coffee drinkers who, interested in this material, would like to change something in their diet. Of course, you need to remember that the taste of coffee with plant milk will be completely different from the classic cow’s milk used by baristas. Or worse? This is an individual thing, but nothing prevents you from trying it for yourself.
We looked at the most popular chain stores in Poland:
- Costa Coffee
British chain of coffee shops, known since 1971, in Poland offers a unique blend of coconut milk, which is light in flavour but devoid of sweetness. - McDonald’s
It’s not our Dietitians’ favourite place ;), but the popular Mac offers, among other things, a latte with soya drink. - Starbuckskult
place for vegans and hipsters, and one of the world’s most popular coffee shop chains. For years, Starbucks has offered soy, almond and coconut milk, as well as a plant-based oat drink.
These are just three places, but if you would like a full overview of the plant-based alternatives available on the market – write in the comments, we will prepare it in more detail!
In the meantime, also let us know what plant milk is your favourite. Have you tried it or do you want to try it? Do you know other options? We encourage you to do so, because it really is a very interesting experience 🙂
If you want to check the detailed nutritional information of different types of plant-based milk, use the Fitatu app. More information about Fitatu can be found at: https://www.fitatu.com