Healthy Coffee Creamers Suggestions

lynn_glenmont

springlering62 wrote: »

Interesting how linked to childhood milk is.

Our area in the mid 60’s was fortunate to have a unicorn dairy, one of only two in the country whose milk was so pure it didn’t have to be pasteurized. And they had home delivery. In glass bottles with foil tops, no less.

Is that a brand name, or just a joke?

Their whole milk was fantastic, their chocolate milk a rare treat, and their egg nog between thanksgiving and Christmas was so rich and thick it was like melted ice cream. That was an adult treat and I only got an ounce or two a year.

I knew when money was super tight when we temporarily discontinued home delivery, because that milk was numero uno on the budget. We were encouraged to drink all the milk we could and happy to oblige.

“The” school field trip every year was a tour of the dairy, followed by an opportunity to milk Rosebud (squirting the teacher was obligatory) and a hayride with cartons of that coveted chocolate milk at the end. We looked forward to it every year.

The beautiful property is a subdivision now, but the long gone dairy has a thriving fan club online.

I still have their milk box on my front porch. I can instantly recognize the few people who grew actually up here when they do a double take when they see it.

I think a picture of a milk box is probably almost as good as the second image below as a test for "if you know what this is, you're old"

When I googled "image milk box," almost all of the images were of "milk box" in the sense of "missing children's pictures on milk boxes," so even Google is too young to know.














Oh, if you don't know what the second image is, here's a hint: you used it when your favorite artist dropped a new song, before iTunes was a thing.

wunderkindking

And thanks to this thread and nostalgia for my grandpa I now want cornbread and buttermilk.

springlering62

wunderkindking wrote: »

And thanks to this thread and nostalgia for my grandpa I now want cornbread and buttermilk.

Or buttermilk cornbread?

azalea4175

i like to use fat free half and half, and a little liquid stevia (about 5 drops for 20oz cup). If I want flavoring, I can use extract or skinny syrups. It makes the coffee really creamy and yummy!!

penguinmama87

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

penguinmama87 wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

SuzySunshine99 wrote: »

KNoceros wrote: »

I may be weird, or it may be a UK thing, but I’ve only ever used milk. Semi skimmed (2%), about 50ml. Adds 25cal per mug.

I only use milk as well. I'm in the U.S., and it is not as common here. A co-worker who is from Ireland was shocked to see me putting milk in my coffee. he says everyone else thinks he's weird for doing it.

I'm in the U.S. I've been drinking my coffee black for maybe 10 to 15 years (it wasn't a cold turkey thing, so it's hard to put my finger on exactly when I completely made the switch), but back in the day, at home we mostly used milk in our coffee. Sometimes we'd buy half and half for a holiday or company meal to serve with after-dinner coffee, and on the odd occasion there might be cream leftover from some recipe and we'd use it in our coffee.

Even snooty coffee shops usually put out some type of milk out alongside the half and half and sweeteners and napkins and what-not (well, they did before covid), so it can't be that much of an outlier behavior to put milk in one's coffee.

Edited to make the last sentence a little clearer.

This is purely anecdotal, so it might just be a matter of who I know, but I wonder if the preference for half and half in coffee over milk has to do with most people buying lowfat milk. We drink whole milk now, but growing up it was 1% or skim and lowfat milk was pushed heavily by just about everybody. I don't think I ever visited a home that served whole milk - and I was a weird kid who always read food labels so it is the kind of thing I would have noticed, heh. Obviously some people here are content with lowfat milk or with other milk substitutes for a variety of reasons, but my suspicion is that half and half might be preferred generally because people who add it want a bit of richness that really isn't provided by lowfat milk. My husband strongly prefers half and half, which is why we buy it, and I use it so it gets used before it goes bad - I will even sub it for milk in recipes sometimes - but whole milk would definitely satisfy me in a way that lower fat milk would not.

As an aside, a few years ago I attended a cooking demonstration by a chef who had spent a lot of time in the UK, and he spent a fair bit of it explaining the differences in dairy products there and here in the US. I had always just assumed milk is milk and the differences in products, fat content, etc. would be standard worldwide at least as far as cow's milk went, but that was apparently a very wrong assumption!

You might be onto something. I'm guessing I'm a little bit older than you, and when I was a kid most everybody just drank whole milk. In fact, I don't remember reduced and low fat milks even being sold in the grocery stores when I was really little (in the 1960s) -- just whole milk and skim (fat free) milk. Then there started to be some nutritional/health push for lower fat and fat free milk, and reduced fat and low-fat milk showed up in the stores, I guess as a gateway "drug" to skim milk. Then my father had a heart attack and all of a sudden we had reduced fat milk in our fridge, and whole wheat bread in the bread drawer, and margarine that made "heart-healthy" claims. I think we generally used generic/store-brand margarine before that for cost-cutting reasons, although butter would show up on special occasions, like half and half (see above ).

Anyway, when I was a kid, my recollection of being at friends' homes when their folks were having coffee is that they just poured the whole milk in. I'm not entirely sure those recollections are worth a whole lot -- the pool isn't very large, and I doubt I was really paying attention. It was just something happening in the background, and it's quite possible I just mapped my recollections of my own parents' behavior onto those other memories.

I can't speak to general habits, but IIRC my family bought skim milk in the 1960s. Dad used the whole milk in his coffee, I think drank it, too. My mother drank the skim, my dad wouldn't (said it was for feeding livestock) . . . until he changed his mind, can't recall why. When we were buying both (skim for mom, whole for dad), I can't recall which they gave me - I think skim, but maybe whole when I was really young. I don't remember the in-between milks existing either, then.

In my neck of the woods, back in that time, a lot of people were farmers, still used actual cream in coffee. Others used whole milk in coffee (if they didn't take it black) because most people had some in the fridgefuture, and my recollection was of half & half becoming available there and being kind of fancy for putting in coffee, like you'd buy it if company was coming. (Sort of like the flavored creamers were at first, when they came out later, and before people started mainlining the creamers by IV or something.) That half & half being fancy thing may've just been because I grew up blue collar working class, rural. Lots of things that were normal elsewhere were sort of fancy there/then.

Yeah, I probably should have said I was talking about a partly urban (early childhood), partly suburban (later childhood) life. My mother grew up on farms mostly, and her dad had the same view that skim milk and buttermilk and clabber were for feeding the animals. I think my grandmother had broader tastes in dairy and would occasionally consume the buttermilk and clabber, but that's all based on listening to my mom reminisce, because by the time I knew them they were "retired" in town and only kept chickens and a "kitchen garden" and a few fruit trees that, in addition to giving them fresh produce during the growing season, enabled my grandmother to stock the cellar with enough veggies and fruits to see them through the winter.

This is basically what I aspire to, haha. I like that I don't *have to* depend on my own preservation skills, but I think they're worth having and I value a "slow food" type lifestyle.

We actually do get milk (in glass bottles!) and eggs delivered weekly from a local farm. It's a little bit more expensive than the grocery store but IMO it's well worth it. The taste is out of this world and my kids are so spoiled - when we bought grocery store milk on vacation my older kids complained about the taste (they were right, it wasn't as good, but also an opportunity to teach them to be grateful!)

I keep trying to convince my husband on our own chickens but he isn't there yet.

I grew up in the 80s and 90s so yes, that was when lowfat milk was all the rage. I vividly remember the "got milk?" ad campaign.

ritzvin

ITSpartan wrote: »

Hey Everyone. About a month in but updating my food diary. I am currently using about 400 to 500 calories on sugar free coffee creamers that apparently have awful ingredients. Any recommendations? Thank you!

I usually add protein-added lactose-reduced 2% milk and a bit of splenda.

ritzvin

AnnPT77 wrote: »

..
I don't like almond milk, oat milk, or rice milk . . . they don't mostly taste awful, but they have inadequate nutrition for their calories, for my personal goals. Stevia, to me, has a weird off taste, though I know that's not true for all other people. ...

Ditto. I tried almond milk for a bit, but felt the same about the calories in it not providing anything useful, and switched to higher calorie (but not too high) 2% milk. Stevia tastes off to me too, but splenda tastes pretty close to sugar for me.

suzij27

I’m cracking up reading everyone’s responses.

Obviously coffee is a very personal thing with strong opinions. I don’t mind spending 100-150 calories per day on my organic Vanilla Soy milk (the Simple Truth brand from Kroger in their refrigerator section). It makes me happy and has 7 grams of protein per cup. I’ve made it work in my food plan.

We can make suggestions but it is clear that what is too sweet to some is not sweet enough to others. 😋

coryhart4389

Your post got me thinking about how much Coffee Mate I use with my morning coffee and large afternoon iced coffee, so I looked for options and found unsweetened flax milk with protein. I used it this morning with cocoa powder and equal in my coffee and loved it!!! Tomorrow I might add a little vanilla. Thanks……making my iced coffee now.

kshama2001

Safari_Gal_ wrote: »

ITSpartan wrote: »

Hey Everyone. About a month in but updating my food diary. I am currently using about 400 to 500 calories on sugar free coffee creamers that apparently have awful ingredients. Any recommendations? Thank you!

I typically drink coffee black.. but when I want a little cream.. I use vanilla beans and unsweetened flax milk.. and I add a little cinnamon.

I've just recently started adding cinnamon, thanks to a character from Kim Harrison's The Hollows series.

kshama2001

shayhopephotography1 wrote: »

Dairy is so bad for you! It builds up mucus and makes you feel terrible! My sister gets acne and a rash on her face when she eats it. Use Almond Milk! (Oat Milk and Rice Milk work too) and fill up a bottle halfway. (The size of a Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar- Large) then add 2 Tablespoons stevia and some vanilla. Fill the rest up with Almond Milk and shake. Store in fridge and use as coffee/tea creamer. Keeps for 5-7 days in the fridge.

I'm all for ethical veganism, but find scare tactics like this annoying.

My Northern European genes also handle dairy just fine. I am fussy about sourcing, and get milk from a local dairy, and buy other products from companies who share my values.

goal06082021

kshama2001 wrote: »

Safari_Gal_ wrote: »

ITSpartan wrote: »

Hey Everyone. About a month in but updating my food diary. I am currently using about 400 to 500 calories on sugar free coffee creamers that apparently have awful ingredients. Any recommendations? Thank you!

I typically drink coffee black.. but when I want a little cream.. I use vanilla beans and unsweetened flax milk.. and I add a little cinnamon.

I've just recently started adding cinnamon, thanks to a character from Kim Harrison's The Hollows series.

Pumpkin/apple pie spice mix also goes well in coffee (cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg). Put it in with the beans however you make it - the spices don't dissolve in water but you can steep them and get that flavor. Great in the fall and a nice way to add a twist to cold-brewed coffee if you make that at home (it's not hard, I got a big mesh bag meant for making cottage cheese and basically steep the coffee like tea overnight in a big pitcher).

sarah7591

I use Premier Protein Cafe Latte - I use it as I would a creamer. Minimal calories and has some protein!

nooshi713

I just use a little soy milk and real sugar but only have one cup a day at most so that 30 cal of sugar doesn’t hurt my diet much.

How many cups of coffee do you drink daily?

Speakeasy76

shayhopephotography1 wrote: »

Dairy is so bad for you! It builds up mucus and makes you feel terrible! My sister gets acne and a rash on her face when she eats it. Use Almond Milk! (Oat Milk and Rice Milk work too) and fill up a bottle halfway. (The size of a Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar- Large) then add 2 Tablespoons stevia and some vanilla. Fill the rest up with Almond Milk and shake. Store in fridge and use as coffee/tea creamer. Keeps for 5-7 days in the fridge.

Your sister's experience is HER experience and is purely anecdotal. Yes, a lot of people can be intolerant or sensitive (and allergic) to dairy, especially as we get older and it's heard to break down the lactose. However, it's not "bad" for everyone. Even then, some people (like myself) can tolerate some forms of dairy better than others (like Greek yogurt vs. milk or certain cheeses).

If you are concerned about dairy and/or other weird ingredients, Calafia farms makes almond milk creamers that are ok and way less calories (15 calories/T). I personally am trying to cut down my sugar intake, but still use a half packed of Stevia with my coffee.

I also have cold brew in the afternoons, and have been making them into my "treat" by making things like Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew. Although it's quite high in calories for me, I cut it down by using the almond milk and even coconut milk in place of half and half (which I think is the same, but I'm sensitive to milk). Here are some recipes:

https://fitfoodiefinds.com/pumpkin-cream-cold-brew/
https://fitfoodiefinds.com/?s=vanilla+cold+foam