Packaged non-dairy products can be a good temporary solution while you are making a big transition (things like packaged rice milk and rice milk ice cream). But, you may find that you might like to start doing things yourself as much as you can, to cut down on the processed, packaged foods which are expensive and generally of poorer quality than the foods you can prepare freshly yourself.

The rice milk recipe we’ve published here is definitely a money-saver, and because you have control of the ‘production’ of it, you can be certain that what you are making is as fresh and healthy as possible for your family.

Now, as to making puddings and ice creams – my advice on this depends on whether your daughter is allergic to all nuts or just peanuts and walnuts. If she can eat almonds, I would recommend using almond milk for puddings and frozen desserts. This is my almond milk recipe:
http://www.veganreader.com/2009/09/12/almond-milk-recipe-the-creamiest-of-them-all/

I make a chocolate almond milk pudding that is absolutely delectable, following a typical cornstarch pudding recipe and simply using almond milk instead of cow’s milk. To me, almond milk has a creamier taste (more like cow’s milk), but if your daughter is allergic to all nuts, you can certainly make pudding with rice milk, as well.

Ice cream is another matter. If you look at the labels of commercial non-dairy ice creams, you will see that they have thickeners in them like guar gum and various seaweed-based texturizers. These are added to ‘fake’ the consistency of creaminess. By contrast, the homemade ice creams I have made are more like a sorbet or granita – more icy and granular than smoothly creamy. They have a very creamy taste because of the almond milk, but the consistency is different, because these milks freeze into an iciness rather than the solid creaminess you are used to in cow’s milk ice cream.

Now, if you feel like your little girl might feel deprived by not having the texture of creaminess that is present in non-dairy ice creams because of the addition of gums and other additives, it probably won’t be harmful to let her have packaged ice creams once in awhile. However, as a long-term strategy, I would suggest learning to make these things at home, even if the end results are a little bit icier than creamier, simply because this will help your daughter in the future. As an adult, she will be able to depend on herself to produce fresh food, rather than depending on processed foods, because you will have set her such a powerful and meaningful example by preparing staples and treats from scratch.

That’s my thinking on this. I will only add – I’ve been a vegan for 20 years now and enjoy a rich and varied dairy-free diet. I do not feel deprived in any way, and your little girl need not either while her mom approaches this challenge with creativity and a healthy, positive attitude. Your education is critical to your child’s health, and it’s vital that you look carefully at your daughter’s new diet to make sure she is getting all of the nutrients she needs from it. Talking with a smart nutritionist could be a big help for your family. You are on the right track, Dawn, and your daughter is lucky to have you using your time and wits to find good solutions for her!

I am wishing you the best of luck!
Mim

Thanks for asking your question here. While I wouldn’t want to start a quarrel between you and your boyfriend, I must respectfully disagree with his opinion about cow milk being healthier for people than rice milk. Here are a few reasons why:

- Cow milk is healthy for…baby cows, not humans. Just as human milk is healthy for baby humans, all mammals produce a milk for their babies that is healthy, just for them. Human beings are the only mammals on the planet that a) drink the milk of another species and b) drink mammal milk past infancy. Think about it – lions, bears, deer…none of these animals drink mammal milk once they grow past infancy, and they certainly never drink the milk of other animals. So, it’s not natural or healthy for adult humans to be drinking any kind of mammal milk…and certainly not the milk of a completely different species, right?

- The consumption of dairy products (milk, cheese, etc.) has been linked to countless human health problems including high cholesterol which leads to heart attacks and strokes, and some very serious digestive health issues. There are numerous scientific studies out there which support the natural sense of the fact that grown humans should not be drinking a mammal milk. We don’t need it, and it’s not good for us. By contrast, plant-based milks like rice milk, almond milk, oat milk, etc. are easy to digest, cholesterol free and perfectly fine for humans of all ages to drink.

-Environmentally speaking, the factory farming methods which produce dairy products in the USA have destroyed our soil and water and have polluted our air with methane and increased the effects of global warming. Dairy farming, as it is conducted in America, is totally ruinous to our environment.

-Ethically speaking, it’s important to understand that dairy cows lead wretched lives. They are forced to bear children who are then stolen from them, causing them severe anguish. Every glass of cow milk you drink means a veal calf being confined, tortured and slaughtered in infancy. This is very concerning, not just because of the suffering of the animals, but because human beings consume that suffering when they eat dairy products. The stress, pain and fear of these animals are transformed into chemicals that are then present in dairy and meat and I can’t believe that consuming this is good for human mental or spiritual health, you see.

My bet is that your boyfriend has very good intentions at heart, but probably just hasn’t had the time or opportunity to study the subject of dairy production and consumption. Most American children are taught that drinking cow’s milk is good for them. Billions of dollars in advertising have been spent over the past century marketing this idea to the public, and loving mothers have been taught that children must have cow’s milk to be healthy. This is simply untrue and unnatural, but like most Americans, your boyfriend has likely heard this belief voiced enough to take it at face value as being true.

Perhaps, as the two of you continue getting to know one another, you can take the opportunity to learn as much as you can about human and environmental health, with the goal of building a future together that is healthy for the planet and healthy for you. Wishing you good luck!
Mim

We applaud your efforts to do a month without processed foods. I am curious to know more about your approach to this! I’ve visited your blog today, but didn’t come across an article specifically about how you’re doing this, and want to invite you to come back here and link to one if you publish one.

Cutting down as much as possible on processed foods is not only smart, it is an opportunity to see how much you can do for yourself, thus increasing your confidence in your own abilities. We try to buy as few processed foods as possible. The few we do buy on a regular basis include:

Corn flour
Sunflower and Olive Oils
Vinegar
Salt
Maple Syrup
Spices

That’s about the extent of our processed food list at this point, as we don’t have the ability to process these things at home (though we could experiment with making vinegar at some point). Everything else, we buy in the most unprocessed form possible (brown rice, dried beans, bulk nuts, etc.)

I’d be really happy to hear more about your project and how it goes and thank you for taking the time to comment here!
Mim

In your case, if you only use a pint a week, why not cut the recipe down to make only a small amount at a time? It’s so easy to make, and that way, you’d be sure your rice milk was as fresh as possible on a weekly basis. If you think about it, on old-time farms, people milked cows on a daily basis, a what with milking, scalding milk pans, straining milk and separating it, this was a lot more labor-intensive that whipping up a small batch of this rice milk would be. I’m biased towards making things fresh, so long term storage for perishable items, just isn’t something I have experience with. Pickles and preserves, yes, but long-storage milk…I’m just not sure.

You are very welcome for this recipe and I hope your experimenting with it will produce just the right amount for your needs!
Mim