Soy milk??

[mom-from-missouri]

I am buying some soy milk on Friday. Thought I would try it, it is 1/3 the price of cow milk.

I have never had it before, as far as I know. The lady who makes it says it tastes the same??

Does it?? Any comments or tips on using it?? Can you use it just like regular milk on cereal and such??

I had the option of plain or flavored and opted for the flavored.

[Broken Arrow]

Oooh, I love soymilk! Sugared only, unfortunately. But Silk, extra Vanilla? Stuff of heaven. Too bad they're expensive. Really, more expensive than regular milk in the grocery store. So, I'm not sure where you're getting your soymilk from, but fortune shines upon you.

Soymilk works just fine in cereal, but I'm not sure if I'd go so far as to use it for cooking.

No, I can't say that it tastes the same between the two. In fact, I might even be able to tell what brand of soymilk I may be drinking! They just all taste different to me.

Please let me know what you think of it!

[mom-from-missouri]

I am going to get it for 50 cents to 75 cents a quart (depending on plain or how its flavored, and if you use your own jars...)-flavored with sugar, salt and vanilla , although I could order it flavored with honey or splenda.

We have a lot of talented people at our homeschool coop who make, bake, grow, sew..... and it is one of the parents who has a machine to make it with.

Another makes the best yogurt, and sells it by the half gallon. That stuff is wonderful-much better than the stores. So, after having a good yogurt experience, I am up to trying the soy milk. The last gallon of milk (cow) I bought was $5.89 a gallon.

[kork13]

See, I've tried it a few times and every time had a different reaction.... 1st time I strongly remember about wanting to lose my lunch... next time I thought it tasted great, next time kinda apathetic toward it, and so on....

In my opinion it doesn't taste at all the same as cow milk (not even close), but I can understand how some people enjoy and even prefer it. Really, it's something you need to get used to.

But then, even regular milk can be that way--I grew up on Guam (little island in the Pacific), where for a long time we only had horrible, re-constituted stuff... Then eventually they finally started doing the whole "ultra-pasteurized", etc. thing to make real milk last longer, and I got to where I thought that was great... in hindsight, it was a little sweeter than fresh milk. So when I moved to the states for college, it took me months to accept that all stateside milk isn't actually rotten.... it's just more fresh, but I insistently believed it smelled/tasted sour. I still can't tell the difference between good and 'getting bad' milk.... I only know it's bad once it's really bad (approaching chunky.... ewww....) hahaha ah, childhood....

back on topic, another option is Rice milk. A friend gave it to me recently, and it actually was pretty good. Personally, I liked it MUCH better than soy milk. Also, for her it was about identical in cost to regular milk. As Broken Arrow mentioned, soy is normally more expensive (ounce for ounce), so the rice milk being the same was great for them. Also, shelf life for that stuff is pretty much "until the next nuclear winter".

[disneysteve]

My wife was buying it for a while but it is so much more expensive than cow's milk so she stopped.

I find it has a much stronger flavor than cow's milk. Plus, it isn't fat-free like we buy our cow's milk.

I have also had rice milk and I like that more. It is a much lighter flavor, thinner consistency and tastes more like cow's milk.

[MangoMomOf4]

We use it i n our home, 2 of our kids need it, the rest just like it and it has great health benifits. Vanialla is good,especially with certain cereals, and the chocloate is yummy! We use 7th contenent or silk brand. You are VERY lucky for the price. Here, it is more then regular milk. Sometimes I will luck out with a coupon. In pa- milk (cow's) is not allowed to ever go on sale, so like most things right now it has been costing a fortune!

[osadg]

I love soy milk and I've drunk it for years, but that's because I'm not lactose friendly:-) I'll be the first one to admit though that even I don't think soy milk tastes at all like cow milk! My husband still prefers cow milk, but he'll drink the flavored soy milks. You might have to try a few different types before you find one you like, it's not like cow milk-it doesn't all taste the same.

[PrincessPerky]

cows milk doesn't all taste the same either. (I have a picky palette)

[FrugalTexan75]

I try to limit soy consumption as much as possible in my diet due to my thyroid condition . . but having said that -- I like Silk Soy Milk, but *really* like 8th Continent soy milk.

What I actually drink most of the time though is Rice Dream - the only non-dairy "milk" with no soy additives in it.

[scoutdjackson]

Took me forever to get used to it, but now I can use soy milk w/ cereal. I still can't palate it plain.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I think it is best to approach any new food as being an entity unto itself and not even allow yourself to think that maybe it tastes like XYZ. That way you do not build up expectations that can easily be dashed....And your kids won't feel like you tried to dupe them if you say it is supposed to taste like milk, but they judge it otherwise.

Along the same lines as comparing soy drink to milk , is referring to tofu as "soy cheese," "like cheese," or even "meat substitute". Tofu is not any of those things. It is a food of long standing use and history and not just invented to allow someone to begrudgingly avoid meat or dairy products. Does soy drink have such a history? I don't even know.

Hope you find it versatile and tasty. If you like it sweetened and flavored, I have no doubt you'll experiment with stirring in your own sweetener and flavors.

[GREENBACK]

I drink 8th continent soy milk(vanilla alone, plain for cereal). I drink it because of lactose intolerance. I think it tastes like milk but it's been a very long time since I've drank milk. One big advantage is it doesn't spoil in a couple days like cow milk can.

[simpleyme]

I once saw a recipe for making your own rice milk once it was cheap and easy but I was not adventurous enough to try it

My mom made us drink soy milk for a bit when we were growing up, my uncle was selling it ,we hated it but it was okay if you put vanilla in it,we used it just as you would regular milk , wishing that it was milk

[simpleyme]

D I Y Rice Milk Recipe : Recipezaar

[zakity]

I have tried it. The only milk I can tolerate is low fat rice milk and it has to be one of two companies (Fred Meyer brand or Pacific). I really tried to like soy milk, but I just didn't.

[sandyandry]

Soy milk is nutritionally close to cow's milk. It naturally has about the same amount of protein (though not the same amino acid profile) as cow's milk. Natural soy milk contains little digestible calcium as it is bound to the bean's pulp, which is insoluble in a human. To counter this, many manufacturers enrich their products with calcium carbonate available to human digestion. Unlike cow's milk it has little saturated fat and no cholesterol, which is a benefit.

Soy milk is promoted as a healthy alternative to cow's milk for reasons including:

• Source of lecithin and vitamin E
• It is safe for people with lactose intolerance or milk allergy
• Contains far less saturated fat than cow's milk
• Contains organic chemicals that may possibly be beneficial to health.

[Hot dog]

I really like silk but will sometimes drink 8th continent. Like the very vanilla and the chocolate and they make great smoothies. The lite version is also good. I like it because it lasts much longer than cow milk which spoils if not drunk soon after opening

[JBinKC]

I agree it tastes more like full fat homogenized milk. If you have a source of soybeans and a soymilk maker you can make your own for a very low cost per gallon.