Soy Milk-no one told me

how it tasted.  No one at the store knew.  I took a chance and bought some (lite) since I hear so much about it lately.

I just had a bowl of bran flakes with soy milk, I put blue berry in it and a pkt of Stevia, natural sweeter.

It was WONDERFUL.  I can't wait to try it in cooking, or my coffee.

I was careful to measure out my cereal and will have to measure things for a long time.......I'd gotten used to big (bad) servings of everything.  This 1 C. cereal with milk was a nice serving for the 'new me.'

Yep...the vanilla flavored stuff is awesome with cereal and coffee.

Oh yes, soy milk is delightful!  What kind did you buy?  I usually get Silk Light Plain but the store I shop has been out of it recently, so I got Soysense (which I found to be cheaper anyway!) and it tastes pretty much the same.  Pour a glass over GoLean or any cereal...Mmmm it's so good!

The only kind I found I don't like is the 8th Continent Soymilk.  It doesn't taste real, and I can't figure out why.  It's just too sweet for me I think.

I'm glad you discovered the joys of soymilk!  So many people think it's chalky and disgusting, but they haven't tried Silk!  LOL.  I've drank soymilk and only soymilk for years now, ever since I was attacked with mild lactose intolerance.  It's been a blessing, I think.  Since most cheese and all icecream are now a no-no.  :)

Drink up!

I *love* soy milk!  I always get Silk Vanilla in the dark blue carton.  At 100 calories per cup, it's what I always use in my iced coffee or cereal.  I love to drink it straight, too.  Now that's something I'd never do with cow's milk.

I agree with plm about the 8th Continent.  I tried their chocolate soy milk and it was too thick and artificial tasting.  I wasn't a fan.

I don't even buy the light Silk since regular Vanilla only has 100 calories per serving.  It's thicker than the light and I don't have to use as much to get the same lightness in my iced coffee.

The only problem I've had with it is with Jell-O Instant Pudding mix.  I made the pudding with Silk and it didn't set up like with 1% milk.  It still tasted great and I drank the pudding like a smoothie, but it hadn't thickened like it should have.

-Megan-

I know soy milk is all the rage around here and have been curious about it.  What are the benefits over skim milk?  Just taste?  Or is it higher in protein, lower in calories, that kind of thing?

Just curious!

I just looked........this is 8th Continent  :0(

It was the only brand at this store.  The lite was the lowest calorie, 50 cal per 8 oz.  Also I just took a sip and you two are right........too sweet for me to drink and it taste like egg nog or something.

Next time I will wait to buy it till I'm in town and have more selection and will try a different brand.

devcowan...

Depends on the person really. Some people have it because they're lactose intolerant (like me!), others because of veganism, and maybe others because of other ethical/environmental concerns.

I like Silk a lot. I drink it with honey at work to stay warm. I don't like all brands though. For example, I HATE whatever they use at Starbucks (I think it's flavoured). There's a brand called Pacific Soy or some such that I've seen them use at some cafes, which I think tastes pretty much like milk.

debcowan:  I don't think it raises your cholesterol like real milk.  that's why I wanted to try it.

I started drinking it for lactose intolerance, but since I've learned more benefits of soymilk, and downsides of milk (though both are good for you in their own ways..I'm not dissing milk).

As for the pudding problem, I had the same issue.  I looked it up and asked for help here a while back, and the result:

Use half the amount of soymilk as the recommended amount of milk.  So, if you would use 2 cups milk, use 1 cup soymilk, etc.  The calorie count might be a little higher because you will have fewer servings per pack of Jello Pudding mix (or whatever brand you get) but it will get pudding-ish like it does with milk.  And it tastes great! 

Glad to know about Pudding.  Was thinking about trying that.

i used to like soymilk too. i went from regular milk to soymilk overnight. unfortunately it made me somewhat lactose intolerant. i drank a glass of regular milk one morning because i was out of soy and gave me the worst cramps. just a warning.

I like the 8th continent! To me it's like drinking skim milk, which I prefer anyway. Silk is good too, but the mouthfeel is more like drinking low- or full-fat milk, which I don't really like for some odd reason. Also I do not like the vanilla flavoring all that much. Too sweet!

I switched to soy milk about a year ago, to figure out if I am lactose intolerant. Yep.. I am.

 starbucks in both canada and us use silk soy milk, in canada we use the plain but ive heard in the states they use vanilla :)

^I live in Nevada and they use Silk Soy in Vanilla, the same that I buy.  I do not like when they add soy milk to my drink, though.  The last time I got an iced coffee with soy, they charged me 40 cents extra and only put in a dash.  It didn't even lighten it at all.  Another time, they didn't shake it and I ended up getting *chunks* of soy milk in my drink.  The girl even said "Don't worry about the chunks.  It's just normal soy milk separation."  Blech.  That's not what I want to hear about my drink.  I just make my iced coffee at home now or I bring my own soy milk with me.

-Megan-

unfortunately it made me somewhat lactose intolerant.

Soymilk didn't make you lactose intolerant but it gave your body a chance to rest from the intolerance it already had. When you drank milk again after a while, your body reacted in a way you noticed.

Soymilk is good stuff. I'm lucky to be able to get good unprocessed soy milk here with no added fat, sugar or flavoring.

megan:  I make my own ice coffee and it is sooo good.  I use the DeVinci, flavoring, (with Splenda) from Walmart.

I was in Burger King last week and a customer had an ice coffee and I said, "oh, that looks so good, but how many calories are in it?" and the manager said they had to figure that themselves and they figured 1,000.  Can you believe that.

I asked at McDonalds and they just old me, "you probably don't want to order it"  I tried to find it on their site, but couldn't.

It's on the McDonald's site but you have to search for it. The actual coffee has almost no calories, and each creamer is 20 calories and each sugar is 15. If you get the creamers and sugar on the side and add it yourself you can make it for under 100 calories :) I have no idea why they would think it was 1000?? Maybe the flavored ones they make? I don't think that's much either though.

Another great thing about soymilk is the shelf life is alot longer than regular milk.  You can let a carton of Silk sit in the fridge for 2 weeks and it's still good!  The first kind I tried was lite vanilla 8th Continent and I said I didn't like soymilk.  Then I tried lite vanilla Silk and it is so much better than the other!

I just doublechecked and the plain large (32oz) is 270/11 and that's with regular sugar and cream. The flavored ones are slightly less I guess because the flavoring syrup is sweet so they have to add less sugar. So that sounds like they put in around 6 sugars and 6 creams for regular. I think coffee is less than 50 calories plain for 32 iced ounces.

McDonalds actually has a brochure with the caloric value of all their foods and drinks, if the restaurant has one of those newspaper stands it should be in there. However I've never seen any soy milk in a McDonalds, only the small regular condensed milk thingies for the coffee.

I'm almost convinced folks.
So...I think I have the beginnings or whatever of a lactose intolerance.  I get pain, gas and bloating from anything dairy lately.  My problem is that I dont really like milk, it's creamy and yucky!  If I need to drink or use any milk, I prefer skim.  Is there a soy milk, vanilla or otherwise, that has the taste and/or consistency of skim milk?