Innocent Dairy Free Almond Milk Review

Innocent, famous for their bottled smoothies have attempted to branch out in a few areas in recent years. They've done things like vegetable juices and Fruity Spring Waters, but now they've launched their own range of vegan and dairy free Nut Milks, made with just three ingredients, and no stabilisers or thickeners. This is certainly a good move, since many who buy nut milks are tired of all the weird things added in brands likes Alpro.

I picked up this 750ml bottle for £1.99 in Waitrose, I think it was an introductory offer but I'm not sure. There was also a Hazelnut variety there and I believe Innocent make a Coconut version too.



Consisting of just almonds, sea salt and spring water, I didn't think there was much I would be able to say about this and I was right - it tastes as you would expect. If you've ever made nut milk at home this is pretty much the same thing, just pressed nuts and water. It has a slight marzipan-ish taste from the almonds and is good mixed in tea or coffee, but I think it would work best in smoothies or shakes as the consistency is a little thin. This is to be expected due to the lack of thickeners so this isn't a criticism at all. I liked that it tasted natural - other nut milks inevitably taste weird in some way due to the added calcium, vitamins and stabilisers, but this tastes pretty fresh and clean.

Overall, there's not a lot to say about this Innocent Almond Milk other than it does what it's supposed to! I would buy this again over other nut milks to avoid the unwanted additives, and I'll certainly be on the lookout for the Coconut version as I do tend to prefer coconut milks in general.

Ingredients: Spring Water, Almonds (5.8%), Sea Salt

7.5 out of 10. 

Mr Kipling Unicorn Slices, Baileys Almande Dairy Free & More!

Not so much a Spotted In Shops today but a New In Shops...because I haven't yet spotted any of the products featured. I'm on the hunt for several of them however!

First up - Mr Kipling Unicorn Slices! Unicorns are infiltrating everything these days, from cakes to chocolates to...shampoo (yes really!), so it's only fitting that Mr Kipling have gotten in on the trend. These multicoloured cake slices are apparently available from Tesco although I haven't seen them in mine yet.

Baileys Dairy Free Almande Almond Drink:

Made with almond milk, this new Baileys liquer is both dairy free and gluten free, hurrah! It's one I am on the search for and hopefully Asda will be stocking it soon. Suitable for vegans.

Costa White Hot Chocolate:

This white hot chocolate came out several years ago as part of one of Costa's Christmas ranges but it's bck again, this time for the Spring season! Available in stores now.

Costa Easter Choco Crunch:

Looking somewhat like doughnuts, these new chocolate coated treats from Costa are made up of rice kirspies. Also part of the Spring Menu.

Blacksticks Blue Cheese Easter Egg:

Easter is just around the corner and it wouldn't be complete without a weird novelty egg...this "Cheester Egg" is available from Asda.

Nestle Orange Smarties Limited Edition:

As well as launching Orange Smarties Mini Eggs and an Easter Egg, Nestle have brought back Orange Smarties in both small and large tubes for the Spring period. It remains to be seen if they will come back permanently, so make the most of them while you can!

Fox's Glacier Limited Edition Tropical:

Fox's are celebrating their 100th anniversary (this seems to be the year of anniversaries!) with this tropical variety featuring pineapple, mango & passionfruit and coconut flavours. It will cost £1.40 and is in stores until September. There's also a new Spearmint variety in the Glacier Mints range.

Flower & White Chocolate Meringue Bar:

A new type of treat, these gluten free low fat bars will be available from The Spar and are available in Raspberry and Chocolate flavours. They cost £1.29.

Walkers Nonsuch Salted Caramel Toffees:

Walkers Nonsuch have introduced a salted caramel variety to their famous toffee range, which costs £1.50 for a 150g bag and is gluten free.

Jelly Belly Bean Boozled Despicable Me Jelly Beans:

This limited edition Minions variety of Bean Boozled jelly beans contains some weird "look-alike" flavours – Green Apple and Minion Fart – join existing Pencil Shavings and Ba-na-na, Barf and Peach, Booger and Juicy Pear, Canned Dog Food and Chocolate Pudding, Caramel Corn and Mouldy Cheese, Dead Fish and Strawberry Banana Smoothie, Rotten Egg and Buttered Popcorn, Spoiled Milk and Coconut, and Stinky Socks and Tutti-Fruitti flavours.

Anyone else feel slightly nauseous?

Starburst Red Berry Sugar Free Chewing Gum Sticks:

Bridging the gap bewteen chewing gum and candy are these new Starburst chewing gum sticks.

Fruittella Sugar Free Fruit Drops:

Retailing at £1 these will be available in a flip top box, in Citrus and Mixed Red Berry flavours.

Innocent Almond, Hazelnut & Oat Milks:

Innocent Drinks are launching their own plant-based milk range, in Almond, Hazelnut and Oat varieties. Curiously no coconut version! Good news for those who are dairy free.

Muller Corner Lactose Free Yogurts:

Not dairy free, but free from lactose these new Muller Corners will be good news for those who are lactose intolerant. Although personally I think it's just easier to avoid the stuff full stop.

That's all for today's post...hope you've enjoyed reading! Stay tuned for more new products in shops!

Califia Farms Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

There's many brands in the crowded dairy free "Mylk" market now, from the likes of Vita Coco, Plenish, Alpro, and Rude Health...but a new one muscling in on their territory is Califia Farms, a Californian brand made with non GMO ingredients, gluten and dairy free and now available from Sainsbury's and Waitrose in the UK.

The range was reduced to £2 a bottle recently in Sainsbury's, so I went for the Unsweetened Vanilla variety. This is sugar free, vegan, carageenan free and contains 2.3% almonds, and 50% more calcium than cows milk. Quite impressive! I don't drink milk anymore so it's nice to know I can get my calcium from an alternative source.

I do like the curved bottle design...it's very fancy and feels a bit me special than your standard dairy free milks.

The milk certainly has a lovely vanilla aroma, and pouring it into a glass it was a lot creamier than I was expecting. Taste wise it was very pleasant, the vanilla is very noticeable and makes the milk taste sweeter, despite the lack of any sugar. This is a nice milk as far as almond milk goes, certainly better than any others I've tried from the likes of Alpro. It's creamy, vanilla hinted and with a nice thick texture...pretty much all you need from a milk substitute.

It also passes the hot drinks test - it blended perfectly with a cup of chai rooibos I made. Although I still haven't tested it in coffee...I will try that next!

Overall, this is a lovely Almond Milk variation, much better than others on the market like Alpro and probably healthier too. If you see these on offer I would highly recommend giving them a try! I really want to try the Coconut version next, which I've only seen in Waitrose stores so far.

Ingredients: water, almonds 2.3%, flavourings, calcium carbonate, emulsifier sunflower lecithin, sea salt, potassium ctrate, stabilizers (locust bean gum, gellan gum). 

Nutrition (per 100ml): 17 calories, 1.3g Fat, 0.8g carbohydrates, 0.1g sugars, 0.5g protein, 190mg calcium. 

8.5 out of 10.