There. I said it. I don’t like soy milk. I prefer cow milk. Is that bad? Is there a reason I’m supposed to forgo cow milk and go for soy/rice/almond milk instead? Is there some magical vitamin or benefit that the cow milk isn’t giving me? Is it better for the environment? Am I ruining the world by not switching over?
All I hear are people debating the brands of soy milk, the virtues of cooking with unsweetened versions, switching to rice milk for their cereal. Like it’s a badge of achievement akin to giving up plastic cups or going vegetarian. Why? When did regular milk become the bad guy? I don’t even drink whole milk. I’ve downsized to 2%!
I bought soy milk creamer at Trader Joe’s and it was not good. I mean, it might be good if you like soy milk, but it gave my coffee a funny flavor. And that was after I added more sugar. It made my coffee funky. So funky that I gave up and made a fresh cup with milk. Just milk. Soy milk creamer made me sad.
I know I can take it back for a refund, but it’s kind of not worth it to find the time to drive back up there. And it’s not like they really need to know my opinion of their creamer. There could very well be people who enjoy the taste of soy milk and will be happy to see it in creamer form. I mean, it’s not like the creamer is an abomination like tofu cheese. Now, that stuff is just wrong.
However, I did find a new product that is pretty good. It’s not perfect, because for $3.29 I could easily make a batch of biscuits, but it was fun to try. Six (small) buttermilk biscuits in the freezer case, ready for baking. The box says to bake the frozen biscuits at 400°F for 8 to 10 minutes – sounds easy and awesome, doesn’t it? Fresh biscuits in 10 minutes, no defrosting required! Well, that is certainly not the case.
First, my biscuits, while cut into 6 blocks, emerged from the tray as one block. I managed to separate them into pairs of biscuit-blocks, but that was as far as I got. So I plunked the biscuit-pairs on the baking sheet and off they went into the waiting oven. At 10 minutes, the tops of the biscuits were golden brown and lovely. The middles of the biscuits were pale, gooey, and definitely raw. It took another 12 minutes before I was sure the raw dough had been converted.
How’d they taste? Warm, soft, tender, and flaky. They were good biscuits. Even better with butter and cranberry-apple butter (also from TJ’s). But, because of the doubled baking time, we had eaten the other parts of our breakfast already.
Would I buy them again? I don’t know. It’s very convenient to have biscuits waiting in the freezer for me. But I think if I found a good recipe, I could make them myself and then put pre-cut biscuits in the freezer like I do with cookie dough. Honestly, biscuits aren’t that hard to make. It’s not like having ready-to-bake croissants or sticky buns in the freezer. Those suckers are time consuming. I guess my verdict on the biscuits is “undecided”. I have nothing against the end product, but it’s hard for me to justify buying them again.
Three Dog Kitchen 
There is nothing wrong with drinking milk, although I always make sure to get the one without bgh added, and sometimes even go for organic. I’d really like to try a bit harder to make sure my milk comes from happy cows too.
Some soy production is probably bad too, although your carbon footprint would be smaller with soy, I guess.
I agree with Jenny. If you’re going to drink milk, drink Organic only. It’s worth the extra money.
1. It’s better for you, as the cows won’t have ingested pesticides, herbicides and other harmful chemicals.
2. It’s better for the cows, especially if they come from free-range farms where they’re allowed to be cows, and not simply products to spend their entire lives in tiny pens.
3. It’s better for the family farms who are trying to do things right way, as opposed to the multi-conglomerate factory farms, which have not only put the small farmer out of business, but are torturing animals and poisoning the American consumer with toxins and chemicals to produce more faster.
4. It tastes better. Milk that comes from stressed and sick cows forced into cramped conditions and who never get to enjoy natural sunlight, fresh air, etc., is going to not only be bad for you, but taste poor. Conversely, milk from happy, healthy cows is delicious.