[saileeney]

Has anyone found that their kids prefer one brand of soy milk over an other? Maybe vanilla flavor insted of plain?

My girls are 9, 6, and 2 and they are very used to cows milk. I would love for them to completly switch over to soy but I'm having a hard time getting them to drink it.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[beefaroni]

If I wasn't worried about calories and sugar, I would drink Silk Vanilla soy milk (original or light) 24 hours a day!! It is SOOOOOOOOOOO goooooooood!!! Actually I've liked every vanilla soy milk I've had.

Would you consider rice milk? I drink unsweetened rice milk and it is still very very sweet tasting - quite delish!

I like unsweetened Rice Dream - I alternate between that and unsweetened Silk soy milk.

 

[Amy SF]

I'm not a big fan of soymilk, either, even vanilla. It just tastes a little too beany IMO.

BUT I discovered that I prefer vanilla rice milk, not just for my cereal, but for drinking straight. I think it tastes more like cow's millk than soymilk does. (It seems to have a creamier texture than soymilk). And the weird thing is, I HATE the taste of cow's milk with a passion.

If you can find vanilla rice milk, you ought to give that a try and see if your kids will like it. Rice Dream vanilla rice millk is fortified, so you don't have to worry about that. If they like it, you may have found a replacement for both soymilk and cow's milk.

 

[dirtysole]

my suggestions for kids would be Silk, particularly Vanilla. or the Whole Foods generic 365 vanilla is great too.

that being said, if they are drinking dairy now, why not just cut their milk 50/50 with soy and then decrease the ratio until they are on soy? you dont even really have to tell them...

i dont think its any worse than trying to hide pureed broccoli in spaghetti sauce (something i have also done to picky eaters)... lol

 

[codemonkey]

My kids actually love soy milk. I wasn't planning on making them drink it but they both switched on their own because they found they liked it much better than cow's milk. I actually had to throw a whole gallon of milk away because no one would drink it (I've since stopped buying it.) Anyway, if they don't like soymilk, try a different kind of milk. A lot of people like rice milk and also almond milk tastes awesome. It doesn't taste like cow's milk but it tastes really good.

Another thing you could try is to switch them to 1% or fat-free milk for a while and once they get used to that, switch to soy.

 

[IamJen]

I dig rice milk too. Almond milk is also quite yummy.

 

[kpickell]

You gotta start with the Chocolate!

Chocolate Silk or 8th Continent.

Or try the Strawberry Silk. Regular and Vanilla aren't as good imo. But once they've been away from Cow's Milk and have been drinking soy milk or rice milk for a while, then reintroduce vanilla or regular and they might like it. I found regular soy milk to be very disgusting at first, but recently drank a glass of enhanced silk when I had an upset stomach and found I really liked it, and now occassionally drink a glass just because I like the taste now. But Chocolate Silk I liked right from the start.

 

[jeezycreezy]

Don't cry over jilted soy milk. Just keep trying different brands and kinds of vegetable milks until your family is so sick of it they'd happily drink milk made from a rutabaga if you would only just stop.

Cheers!

TJ

PS. It's Almond Breeze chocolate milk that raises my plank.

 

[compassionate1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeezycreezy

PS. It's Almond Breeze chocolate milk that raises my plank.

 

[saileeney]

Thanks guys! I think I will definatly try rice milk next. My 6 year old loves choc. soy milk so that's a start.

They drink skim milk right now so I think think it's the thickness of the soy that turns them off.

I guess once I stop buying cow milk they can either drink the soy or rice milk or drink water or fruit juice insted.

Thanks again!

 

[meatless]

I used to drink four cups of cow's milk a day. The only kind of plant milk I can even bring myself to sip is almond breeze. I use Rice Dream on my cereal, but I tried drinking it once and regretted it.

 

[Keelin]

^ Yeah, almond milk is *really* good. If that doesn't hook them, I'd try rice or other grain (multigrain, oat, etc. milks). Chocolate if necessary to get them hooked, then wean them to vanilla/plain. Once they've gotten away from cow's milk and forgotten it a bit, you might even be able to convince them to give soymilk another try.

 

[Jessi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeezycreezy

Don't cry over jilted soy milk. Just keep trying different brands and kinds of vegetable milks until your family is so sick of it they'd happily drink milk made from a rutabaga if you would only just stop.

Cheers!

TJ

PS. It's Almond Breeze chocolate milk that raises my plank.

OH MY!!!

lol- My kids, 8 and 1, drink chocolate silk- My 8-year old doesn't know the difference, and my 1 year old has never had cow's milk....We use vanilla rice dream milk in our cereal- and oatmeal. Regular soy milk is awesome for pancakes and in dairy-free mac n cheese if you can find it...To make sure they're getting all the calcium they need, we have a glass of oj + calcium for breakfast each day, and I'll be searching my local stores for that Almond Breeze stuff!!

 

[CountryDreamer]

It will just take time for them to get used to it...unless you luck out and find a kind they like better then cows milk. I went vegan right away instead of slowly easing off the dairy products, and it did take me awhile to finally be okay with the taste of soymilk, but now I love it. It took about 2 weeks of having it on my cereal every morning until I started getting used to it.

 

[delicious]

mix 20% soymilk with 80% cow's milk the first week, then 30/70, 40/60...and so on.

 

[Tesseract]

If they like skim milk right now, they may do best with rice milk or a light soy milk; it will probably have the closest mouth feel.

 

[Ravenfire]

I also don't like soy milk, the after-taste gets me. I use rice milk most of the time but every now and then I treat myself to some chocolate almond milk :yum:!!

 

[Moechalatte]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saileeney

Has anyone found that their kids prefer one brand of soy milk over an other? Maybe vanilla flavor insted of plain?

My girls are 9, 6, and 2 and they are very used to cows milk. I would love for them to completly switch over to soy but I'm having a hard time getting them to drink it.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

It's so strange to me when I hear of younger kids not liking soy milk - I thought most kids loved sweet things!

I have noticed with my younger siblings though, that it's not that they don't like soy milk - it's that it's something new and 'weird' to them. My brothers in particular refused to try soy milk when I started drinking it at around age 16 (they were ages 7 to 14).

Now the whole family will drink soy milk if I offer it to them, but it did take getting used to. I even had to get used to the new taste - it's just not what you expect to get when you think you're drinking "milk."

The only possible solution I have (what worked for us) is having them drink it with things like cereal and desserts and first - I had to get used to it on cereal first, then with oreos, things like that, and it took me months to get used to regular soy milk from the vanilla even.

It's not an especially healthy way to go I guess, but I really think once they get used to having it mixed with things, like cereal and oatmeal, they'll aquire a taste for it and eventually enjoy drinking it alone.

Good luck to you.

 

[Moechalatte]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jessi

........Regular soy milk is awesome for pancakes and in dairy-free mac n cheese if you can find it...

Is soy milk not too sweet for things like (dairy-free) mac n cheese?

When I first started drinking soy milk I put it on everything - I quickly realized how awful the sweet taste is for certain things (mashed potatoes have never tasted so awful!

)

I just figured it wouldn't work well with pastas either. That's great news for me if I've been wrong all along!

 

[dirtysole]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moechalatte

Is soy milk not too sweet for things like (dairy-free) mac n cheese?

When I first started drinking soy milk I put it on everything - I quickly realized how awful the sweet taste is for certain things (mashed potatoes have never tasted so awful!

)

I just figured it wouldn't work well with pastas either. That's great news for me if I've been wrong all along!

try buying "unsweetened" soymilk for these things and your results will be much more similar to the "original recipe". you are right, conventional, sweetened soymilk is too sweet for most cooking imo.