Monday, November 10, 2008

A Question for the Vegan Community

Hello vegan friends......I have a quick question for you all. Have any of you ever tried Better Than Milk powdered soy milk? We are leaving on vacation to Cancun in a few weeks. I've just checked with the resort, and they inform me that they do not have soy milk or dairy alternatives available. Last year we traveled with our own individual serve boxes of Soy Dream and Rice Dream, for cereal, coffee, etc. However, I thought this year we may take some milk powder along, as it will take up less room in the luggage, produces less waste, and is also less likely to cause an incredible mess on our clothes should something happen to the packaging.

Problem is, I've never tried the stuff, and it's a bit pricey. I can get it from our local HFS, but it costs $16, and that's a lot of money to spend on something that tastes horrible. So, I'm wondering from my friendly readers, do you think it's worth the money, or should I risk bringing along individual drink boxes??

4 comments:

Chessa said...

We have some of that stuff, but I use it strictly for baking, not drinking. Sorry I can't be more help! I could try it, but then, I don't really drink soymilk straight. It couldn't be too bad on cereal, right?

One upside is that if you do get it, you can certainly use the leftovers in baking. I think the Vegan Cupcakes book calls for soymilk powder, and any bread recipe that calls for dry/powdered milk.

I have vacation envy!!!

carrie said...

Chessa - I appreciate your response, I'm leaning toward just going for it, and hoping for the best....but then again, I don't want to be stuck with nothing for my cereal or coffee, and no milk for my kids to drink. With Stella's allergies, I already have to bring quite a bit of food along, and I was just hoping to save some space!!

Maida said...

We just recently went on a cruise to Mexico and I had the worst time finding any non-dairy milk. We stopped in at 2 Walmart's and I did find one brand of soy milk. I tried asking for rice milk and they thought I was looking for baby rice cereal. That was pretty funny!

I totally agree that you should bring your own, but I'm not sure about the powdered stuff. If it's anything like powdered cow's milk is, I wouldn't waste the money.

Here's a review of a few brands from people on the veg board that I am a member of:

"I’ve tried 2 different brands of powdered soy in an attempt to reduce the cost of drinking soy milk: Fearn Soy Powder and Ener-G Foods Soyquik. Although both produce a palatable product, neither is nearly as smooth and tasty as Silk Soymilk. The Fearn product is a little chalky, and Soyquik is quite chalky."

"I have powdered soy milk. I like it better than the refrigerated brands. But I don't use soymilk often anyway which is why the powdered works best for me. I use Silk in my tea/coffee and almond milk for my cereal."

Seems like if you're used to store bought soy milk, the powdered stuff may not go down so easy. Does your room have a fridge? If so, I would bring along a couple of quarts. Or, wait until you're in Mexico to get some.

elizabeth said...

I buy this in bulk at our coop and have used it for coffee, cereal and kid drinking in a pinch. It's not the same as Silk but I didn't find it abhorrent or anything... have fun on your trip!!