Alpro - Shh This Is Not MILK - liquid plants (@Nli10)

 As a massive fan of whole milk it took a while to get used to the plant based offerings when I switched away from Dairy.  It really helped with my respiratory issues (which wasn't why I switched but I'm so glad I did!).  In the olden days I'd drink 4 pint jugs of the blue cow stuff to myself, but now it's plant all the way.

So - when I spotted this next gen not milk I had to upgrade and give it a try!

Rich & creamy - sign me up! Plant based. Drinkable (I'm not a fan of almond for that)!

Source of good things - no bad things - lets check the fine print...

Seems OK so far.

It's Oats! No wonder it's not like almond milk.

And the oil they (inevitably) added is...

Sunflower! No palm oil for once - hooray!  Lots of odd stuff to give it a familiar texture though.

And it is guzzleable - I needed something to douse my home-made Thai curry that I made a tad too strong and it worked.

Thing is - now I've switched to the almond milk - it's all a little TOO creamy for me. So - back to the well (Sainsbury's) I have to go for the semi-skimmed version to see whether that suits my delicate tastes.

And while it looks the part in tea - being oaty it's still FAR too fragrant to make a good cup of regular black/green tea.  Makes it almost earl grey!  I think that with Earl (or Lady) this might work well, but as it stays fresh for ages I'm using the rest for Coffee style drinks instead.

So - a victory for the not milks, but a bit too thick for my newly shifted tastes.

Jord - Nordic Oat Drink made from Oat & Hemp - by @NLi10

I tend to use almond milk, but pea milk is slightly better for the planet (but far less available) so  when I see an odd white plant drink to try I tend to pick it up.

I'd not heard of Jord, but I had had Hemp stuff before and liked it.

Like all of these it's basically 86% water, and less than 1% hemp.  This is probably a good thing.

And it's pretty simple too.

And it does indeed taste like oat milk with an aftertaste of hemp.

It's nowhere near as strong as the CBD style things, and honestly past the first spoonful you forget it's even there.  And it's enjoyable.  I'm not sure whether adding 1% hemp seeds really impacts the environmental side of this (more than carting this over from Norway), but as long as it doesn't make it worse then adding a little taste is quite fun.

Mighty Pea M.LK - vegan and nut free (@NLi10)

So. You don’t want to use dairy milk, but you also want to avoid nuts - what options are there? Well - soy milk exists but tastes like the water used to recycle paper. How about you pea on your cornflakes?

I’d not seen this before, and I figured it would be worth a few cheap pea jokes so gave it a shot - and actually it’s pretty decent.

It’s white not green, and it tastes like a really mild pea soup might. I’ve not poured that on my crunchy nuts yet though.  It’s an enjoyably different flavour too, and I need to try it in more drinks before I pass judgement on that angle.

It’s got things in that are good for you

And it’s got friendly messages about how it’s good for animals, and actually uses less water than almond milk - but I’d have to do research on that.

And it’s similar enough to skimmed milk in texture and looks that the pictures of the stuff itself were not very exciting.  We don’t go to Sainsbury’s very often so I’m not sure that I’ll become a regular (almond milk is my default now), but it’s certainly made a fan out of me.

If you are looking for a dairy alternative then give peas a chance. 

Rhubarb & Custard Milk - in cereals & in tea (@COOPUKfood) by @NLi10

I buy things that aren't milk to use as milk.  I use mostly almond milk, and have tried other nut milks too.  The Co-Op helpfully has a range of flavoured milks which you could try.  And I've seen and had all of these before - except one.

This one.

 

If you are not British then maybe the concept of Rhubarb and Custard has evaded you.  Essentially it's a British pudding where you put really sour rhubarb out of the garden into a pot with some sugar, boil it up until it resembles food, and then add vanilla custard to the top.

Because these tastes are strong and distinct ones someone in the past had the idea of putting them together in the same boiled sweet - one side far too sour, the other a little too sweet and making something rather special.

Then the Co-op turned it into milk.  Naturally - when reviewing MYLK and almond milks I've put them on cereals and tea - so I did the same here...

 

As a drink in a glass it's fine - it tastes of both, but more blended than the separated sweets.  With an American style marshmallow cereal the sweetness is off the charts.  It's basically like having your sugar cereal in a bowl of slightly sour custard.  If you want your children to fly to school then this may work - otherwise, probably best for their attention span that you don't.

It's not horrible though.  Frankly I've had worse soy milk experiences than this, and I've not had to drain any off - the little drink at the end of the bowl is actually quite nice too.  I've tried it with both of the american style cereals from last weekend and plainer ones too.  They really all taste the same with this on them, it's just the sweetness that varies.

 

And now for the ultimate test - rhubarb and custard tea. 

Yup - it’s thick like custard, vanilla flavoured and has that sour spicy rhubarb taste too. And it kind of works! The overall effect is like a vanilla chai, and the thickness actually works to its benefit. I mean as of writing this I’ve still only had one cup, but I may use this to finish the carton instead of the cereal, it’s almost a better fit.

I can’t imagine anyone buying it for this purpose, but if you find yourself with a carton then go for it. 

Grenade Carb Killer High Protein Shake (Nisa) by @NLi10

Last week I went to Nisa and got some Milkshakes to supplement my lunches.

We looked at the lactose free Ufit then - but here we go for the macho option.

I'm really not sure why this brand has caught my attention so much, but I guess as one of the featured ones in Holland & Barrett I was bound to try it eventually.  All the shakers and supplements are prohibitively expensive (its pretty much the top end of H&B's male supplement range) so I was glad to find this with only an extra 49p compared to the almost identical Ufit shakes.

As you'd expect its a bottle of UHT milk with some stuff added, but it has grenades and killa on the bottle so it must be better than the standard girly shakes.

And in fairness they know their market - that vague substance Protein (that the human body has to break down before it can use) is here in abundance but none of the calories or carbs.  I mean you could just eat vegetables and get the same effect, but you can't pretend to be in a war as easily then.

In fairness though the shake is good, the minty chocolate flavour is good quality and like the UFit I'm 100% sure that joking aside this is better for you than the non science milkshakes are.  The extra niceness may actually justify the extra 49p too, but as there was only one flavour of this I'd be more likely to get a mix if it was to become a regular thing.

I didn't get a picture of the ingredients so I can't compare the fortified vitamins and minerals, but as the focal point here was protein I'll guess it's similar to the UFit ones and check if I still have the bottle at work.

£2.50 for something that is the same size as a 50p can of pop is always a hard sell, but if you find yourself in need of some 'Protein' and the shop has no actual sources of readily available amino acids (that your body will then convert into the proteins it uses) then go for it.  There are a lot worse tasting options out there.

Ufit Lactose Free Vanilla Milkshake (Nisa) by @NLi10 @UfitDrinks

I popped to Nisa for a healthy lunch, and failing to find one picked up some milkshakes.  I mean - I'd have probably got a big tub of olives or something equally marginal from Tesco, but at least there would be more choice.

There were a couple of interesting ones in the bad science section of the fridge, but today lets look at the UFit lactose free.

Essentially they stick some enzymes in the normal milkshake, but it has the added advantage of been a nice vanilla flavour too.

Look at my healthy banana! Ignore the sharing bag of crisps just for me...

Looks and tastes like a decent vanilla milkshake.

It does contain a few of the things I'd be considering supplementing in such as D3 so it's certainly not a terrible waste of time.  I'm not sure that the amounts present will turn your life around though, and certainly eating some green things would be a better idea.

Compared to other milk and water (and oil!) drinks though it's not too shabby.  Not something I'd encourage people to live off, but (as I used to use this brand after swimming) a nice treat that will make you feel a little bit better than the big bag of crisps does.

Mylk - whole - Rebel Kitchen (Ocado) by @NLi10

One of the great things about Ocado learning who you are and what you like is that it makes decent suggestions.  They know I buy almond milk, so they suggest other things that aren't milk, but also kind of are.

Here we have MYLK which is vegan/dairy free yet is a thick gloopy white thing that you use to make cereal edible and can put in drinks.

So far so good with the bran flakes.  It's a bit frothy because I shook it a little too much.  You really don't want to see the cup of tea where I didn't shake it at all.  As it's got coconut milk in there too - that also tasted bad.  Some things don't go well with tea.

It has Himalayan salt for hipsterness - you aren't fooling anyone Mylk.  Otherwise it's a great blend of flavours for non-tea applications.  I must try the next one in coffee.

And yeah - I'd actually consider using this in baking due to the texture/flavour combo - I think it'd do well.  But we know how good I am at getting around to baking so I'll just stick to adding one of these to each Ocado order and having some lovely creamy cereals without all that dairy nonsense.

PLENISH - Organic Almond M*LK (Waitrose) by @NLi10

Products and marketing are weird these days - I'm never truly sure whether brands make up these names in a way that can be misinterpreted or just don't spot the odd similarities.

Here i think it's deliberate.  We have a white almond milk, where the name is Plenish, but the H is so stylised to be almost invisible and the mind automatically jumps to another word.  So much so that the first I'd heard of this was someone sending me the picture in FaceBook chat.

The fact that they've chosen to highlight that this isn't milk by covering up the second letter there too suggests to me that it's all a (successful) ploy to get interest online.

The branding however is pretty consistent and stylish, the package is very pleasing to behold.  And as far as almond milks go it's pretty good.  It's probably more drinkable than the standard Alpro that I go for but I primarily used it on cereal.  I didn't shake it enough so the last bit wasn't as good as it maybe should have been, but that's my fault.

When I bump into this again I'll certainly be picking more up so whether deliberate or not it's got me interested in branching out from my usual non dairy milk products.

Califa Farms Unsweetened Almond (with Vanilla) (@NLi10)

I always investigate the not-milk section of the supermarket (on my rare visits) and stock up on the one true king of the almond milks (not roasted, not sweetened, just almonds) but spotted these luxury carafes of ALMOND in the fridge section.

As you may have spotted - one of these is not actually food - but the fresh stylish packaging meant they gravitated together in the packing.  I guess the goals of light airy health overlap somewhat.

These drinkable almonds are a little more luxurious than normal - in fact I was driven to treat them more like fresh dairy.  I put them straight in the fridge and have been using them alongside the more typically watery versions that I use daily.

It's got a few more calories than the ones in the round-up we did, but it's just that little bit thicker and heavier while still being 100% vegan.  Because of this it is much more drinkable and doesn't require something else to be added to it to make it usable in the same way as dairy.

The vanilla one is really quite special and I'd probably just gravitate towards that one in future.

Duchess the review cat can't quite believe that it isn't dairy either!

While it's not quite the same as the thick coconut milk for making Katsu sauce with paste it did work reasonably well (and better than my attempts with water or dairy milk) and once it was heated properly thickened up well.  As I used the vanilla variety here too the kitchen smelt heavenly - if you can use this in recipes successfully you will convert anyone!

I don't think it's a good everyday milk though - it's a bit too heavy on some of the wheat based cereals and I got rather full when having my usual double portion bowls.  I switched back to the lighter Alpro for mornings and kept this for drinks and for attempting to cook with.

It's a little too expensive to just fill the fridge with, but as a here-and-there option to add variety to the not-milk options it's pretty good.  And if you are looking to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly by dropping dairy every so often then this is probably a great way to start!

Milkshake White Chocolate (Marks and Spencer’s) By @SpectreUK

I often have a white chocolate bar for pudding washed down by a white hot chocolate drink. I've had an overload of puddings recently after Pancake Day, so I opted for this posh looking Milkshake White Chocolate drink from Marks and Spencer's. Cinabar keeps buying the odd treat from there as I can never remember whether they've stopped selling food or clothes, and she always reminds me that it's neither. Anyway, on opening the bottle I could smell a good whack of vanilla and then white chocolate mixed in with the milk. On taste this drink is clearly meant as a liquid pudding for those that prefer not to have alcohol. Stronger in vanilla than white chocolate in taste, this drink further chilled would make a superb ice cream. It's light, it's fluffy, it's creamy like a warmed up vanilla chocolate ice cream… Hang on; I think I'm starting to repeat myself backwards! To quote the adverts (if there are any); "this is not just any Milkshake White Chocolate drink, the is an M&S Milkshake White Chocolate drink." This is not for kids mind you; it's just too good for them! Mwah hah hah…!

Information on the label;
The 300ml bottle contained 303 calories, 12.3g of fat, 35.7g of sugar, and 0.3g of salt. A good source of calcium and vitamin B12, the ingredients included; whole milk, sugar, white chocolate, cocoa butter, dried whole milk, dried skimmed milk, stabiliser; carrageenan, xanthan gum, and vanilla extract.

Things that are not quite milk (@NLi10)

When trying to be a bit healthier and generally reduce the amount of fat and sugar you consume one of the easiest changes is to eliminate dairy products.  For me avoiding cheese is easy, so I'll let someone else tackle that - my problem is milk.

I love milk and as I try to have cereal every day for as many meals as is humanly possible not being able to have milk presents issues.  So here we have a few variations.

First up we have Lactose free milk (by Arlo), which is still milk and has all the fat and dietary issues that milk has, but if you are lactose intolerant or suspect you might be then this could be the answer.  It's essentially the UHT milk, but then they magically remove the lactose.

I tried this to see if it helped with the dairy reduction issues and it happened that I had to drink a lot of other people's milk that weekend so I never got a clear answer.  I can buy more though because the taste is fine (like those little single serving milk cartons) as you'd expect - it's milk!

They essentially use enzymes to pre-digest the lactose which is pretty cool, and could help someone. 

The ingredients and calories show that it's not that far off normal milk, and is not as healthy for fat and calorie reduction as the soy milk is.  I guess if you need it then it's not going to hurt. 

Next up we have a new variety of Oat Milk.  I've talked about Oatly before which I wanted to love but could merely tolerate. This is much closer to the almond or soy milk in taste, although they did add more to it so maybe you won't get the full health benefits.

People got very upset when they found out Sunny D had oil in it, yet these are sold as health drinks.  Odd.

1.2g of fat means that it's the closest of the three to a fat free dairy substitute, but it's borderline for salt levels and is 40kcal per portion which is practically the same as soy.

If you want to eat breakfast cereal and not put on weight and actually increase the nutritional value then these two are viable options, well the soy and the oats. I think I'd look for ones without the SOS (Salt Oil Sugar) combo added extra. It's those things that will help with the health kick, and frankly if you are eating a good enough cereal all three are similar enough to fresh milk that after a few days you don't really mind the differenc.