I absolutely love Cashew milk!

Okay, stop. Don’t leave immediately. Let me explain.

There was definitely a time in my life when I would never have said that. Sometimes I still can’t believe I am saying that. It always shocks people, too. Nobody understands at all. Usually people ask if I am vegan. Listen, just because I think cashew milk is one of the best food items in my life does not mean that I have to be vegan.

For years, one of my favourite foods was cereal. I loooooooved cereal. It was an awesome breakfast, and a wonderful snack. That is, until I started counting calories. Then it was an unmitigated disaster. I weighed out a serving into my bowl and was incredibly shocked at how small it was compared to what I used to eat. Most of that shock was because I didn’t know what normal portion sizes looked like. Then later on, I realized that I would just rather eat more of something else than have such a tiny amount of cereal.

But before I came to that decision, I went through a process of looking at my cereal calories and thinking that the only way I could really have a larger amount of cereal for less calories, was if I had less milk, or maybe milk with less calories. I already drank skim milk after slowly changing from 2% to 1% and then finally to skim over the past few years previously. So what could I do?

Well, I knew that plenty of people drank almond milk, and it had slightly less calories, so one day on an extreme impulse, I stood in Costco and saw that 3 cartons of sweetened almond milk were on sale for $6. It was so cheap, I didn’t even care if I hated it and suddenly was stuck with mass quantities of almond milk. It was such an impulse buy that my wife was definitely quite confused and surprised that I was suddenly putting this giant box of almond milk into the cart that I had never tasted.

Well, it put me onto a fun journey. I then decided to buy and try all kinds of things. Here they are in the order I bought them.

The first one was the massive box from Costco, and all the others were just one carton at a time from our regular grocery store. I think the order I tried them in was a really good adjustment for me. I started with sweetened, so the added sugar helped adjust me to the new taste of almonds, which frankly have never been my favourite nut anyway. Then I switched to unsweetened, and it wasn’t my favourite. It was passable, but not something I could happily drink all the time.

I went to coconut next, because that’s something I love. It was better than straight almond, but still a little strange for me. Then one day, the cashew milk came out and it was like a gift meant just for me. I love cashews. It had to be good.

Sure enough, it was.

I tried both the original and the vanilla versions. Personally, I try to buy the vanilla version, because I do like it more, but ultimately I don’t really care. I will happily buy the original as well. The only difference is vanilla extract, which I could easily add at home if I wanted to. There isn’t a cost difference between the two, so it doesn’t really matter.

I find my cashew milk smooth, creamy, delicious and refreshing. Just like most everyone else finds regular milk. I can replace regular milk with cashew milk in pretty much anything and I don’t notice the difference at all. Except for one very important thing….

Calories.

Oh my goodness, people. Cashew milk is only 25 calories per cup. Sign me up! Every recipe suddenly has much less of an impact. Smoothies can be made for 350 calories or less for an entire blender full!! This has been one of the biggest changes for me, and I don’t miss regular milk at all. I don’t like drinking my calories, but if I do decide to drink a glass of cashew milk, it doesn’t really take away anything else from my calorie budget.

I don’t hate regular milk, and I will still have small amounts here and there. I also don’t care if it’s in a recipe, so don’t think i’m against it. I just want to let people know that it’s okay to try new things. It just might surprise you what you might like! Probably the most interesting thing to me is that since I got used to drinking unsweetened cashew milk, if I have a sip of cow’s milk, it tastes incredibly sweet to me. I notice the sugar content immediately. Not saying the natural sugar is bad or anything, it’s just an interesting thing that I never used to notice.

Go ahead and compare nutritional information next time you are in the grocery store as well. It might fascinate you to know that most of the vitamins and minerals are exactly the same, including calcium. You might be missing out on an exciting new world of taste and enjoyment.

If drinking it isn’t your thing, go ahead and replace milk in some of your baked goods for a quick, easy way to lower the calories of a delicious treat. Chances are, you won’t even notice the taste difference, but it might make a world of difference over the years in the amount of calories you consume.