Healthy Coffee Creamers Suggestions

2

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    I usually drink a Colombian medium roast, which I prefer black...but occasionally we do a dark French roast and I enjoy that with a little half and half.
  • LizbethHeller
    LizbethHeller Posts: 38 Member
    I like whole milk. It is just enough richer than 2% or skim that I like it a LOT better. I have a shot glass sitting out by the coffee pot and so can easily add 1 ounce at a time.
  • Safari_Gal_
    Safari_Gal_ Posts: 1,461 Member
    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.

  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,950 Member
    edited August 2021
    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.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,950 Member
    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.

    My fave is to add a little cinnamon, a little ground chocolate nibs, and a dash or two of cayenne* to the ground coffee for pour-over, but I still drink it black. It is sooo good. To me, anyway.


    *not sure if that's a term used in all English-speaking countries. If not, I'm talking about a powdered spice made from dried hot chili peppers.
  • MaltedTea
    MaltedTea Posts: 6,286 Member
    Generally, I'm a black coffee drinker.

    However, I've been experimenting with collagen powder for the past week and have read that people mix in onto their morning coffee.

    It does have a whitening effect but I didn't like the taste there for this morning I added 1/4 cup of powdered skim milk: 90 calories, 0 fat, 9 grams of protein 🙌🏿

    While I'm lactose-intolerant we'll see how my stomach reacts lol The coffee was good though and nullified the collagen taste.

    TLDR: powdered skim milk
  • penguinmama87
    penguinmama87 Posts: 1,158 Member
    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!
  • Safari_Gal_
    Safari_Gal_ Posts: 1,461 Member
    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.

    My fave is to add a little cinnamon, a little ground chocolate nibs, and a dash or two of cayenne* to the ground coffee for pour-over, but I still drink it black. It is sooo good. To me, anyway.


    *not sure if that's a term used in all English-speaking countries. If not, I'm talking about a powdered spice made from dried hot chili peppers.

    @lynn_glenmont This sounds awesome! Must try! Reminds me of Aztec hot chocolate! My fav place is Maribelle in Soho. It’s hot chocolate with chili pepper. :) will try my coffee this way!
  • staylitlove
    staylitlove Posts: 13 Member
    edited August 2021
    There aren't many low sugar/calorie dairy coffee creamers. I honestly gave up on the popular sugar free ones because they are filled with crap. And my fridge was full of hardly used non-dairy alternatives that taste horrid.
    So, I use the Natural Bliss vanilla/sweet cream in my coffee & measure out with 3 tablespoons. "NONFAT MILK, HEAVY CREAM, CANE SUGAR, NATURAL FLAVOR". Simple ingredients. I will add a dropper of stevia to make it sweeter. My lazy *kitten* cannot be bothered to do some crazy paleo home made coffee creamer. Then for some froth, I put 1/4 cup half and half in a small tupperwear with a dropper of stevia and shake it by hand for a bit until it froths & pour on top.

    Vualah! A cup of coffee that is about 185 calories, is easy to make, and is sweet as hell & creamy!
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 5,958 Member
    Personally, I'd be more worried about "spending" 400 to 500 calories on coffee creamer than I would about the "awful ingredients."

    ^^^This...
  • 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.
  • VegjoyP
    VegjoyP Posts: 2,693 Member
    edited August 2021
    Milkadamia, Nutpods, cocoa powder and cashew milk, coconut milk
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,950 Member
    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 :smile: ).

    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.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,718 Member
    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 :smile: ).

    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.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,342 Member
    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.

    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.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,950 Member
    AnnPT77 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 :smile: ).

    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.