HOME MADE non-dairy "milk" products. Safe for parrots?

I have been having some issues lately with dairy and am going to start making grain and nut milks at home (which I can then make yogurt, sour cream and cheese replacements from). I also have a soy intolerance, so I would be working with ORGANIC oats, rice and nuts.

I got to thinking, Kiwi goes bonkers over cheese and yogurt, but I know he shouldn't eat a lot of it (even though he would gorge himself on it morning noon and night if allowed). Would it be ok to feed him non-dairy "milk" products more often than real dairy? Theres nothing outright toxic or bad for him about oats, rice or nuts, but I would be running these things through a "soy milk" maker (it makes other milks besides soy milk), where they are heated and then strained. Being they contain only foods that are already a part of his regular diet, just in a different form, what's the consensus? The only other question is in vegan cheese (or the recipe I'm interested in), includes tahini and pectin. Are those safe in small quantities? Don't want to feed him "health" foods that aren't so healthy by accident:52:

All of mine love cheese, and would suck it down until it came back up if I let them. I only give them a nibble though.

Sometimes when I just have a tiny bit of shredded cheese left over from cooking, I sprinkle that in their food bowls. They go nuts for that!

My daughter likes almond milk. So do my birds, especially Maggie. Again, just a few sips.

I let Kiwi have regular dairy cheese on occasion, but it's a couple shreds or a cube cut in half or something. I KNOW thats not going to hurt him (but he may hurt me if I refuse him). I'm talking about non-dairy cheese. This is the recipe I'm interested in trying: I would be making the almond milk and would NOT use any "liquid smoke" (I don't like smoke flavor at all) or the flavored salt. Would also sub canola oil for coconut oil because I'm allergic to coconuts:

but yes...i do eat potatoes: Adventures in Vegan "Cheese" Making Part 3: Vegan Block Cheddar Cheese

Also this one:

Homemade Vegan Cheese | Vegangela

Basically, are the ingredients in these ok for him to eat?

And I'm assuming non-dairy yogurt made at home is no less bad than dairy yogurt which he eats on occasion too?

Well, with my Red Lored, I have to watch my fingers when handing her cheese. She doesn't even slow down to aim! Just open wide and CHOMP!

Birdman666 said:

Well, with my Red Lored, I have to watch my fingers when handing her cheese. She doesn't even slow down to aim! Just open wide and CHOMP!

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One of the greatest parrot "mysteries" of all time to me is WHY they universally LOVE cheese, butter and yogurt? They're parrots! I get eggs, as they did come from one, but it's not like they at any point in their natural lives drink milk from the mother bird. Birds aren't mammals. It's not like they universally all love fruit and veg (which IS what they eat in nature) either:20:

Hm, I'd be interested to know how that goes! I also have developed over more recent years, an awful intolerance to MANY foods. Dairy being one of them. I just buy dairy digestive aid like Lactaid or cheaper generic brand since I eat a lot of them lol. Ooh, is that too personal :52:? Lol. I couldn't imagine that the "fake" dairy would taste the same.

I think it would be fine for Kiwi if it was made from ingredients that are safe for him

Kiwibird said:

I let Kiwi have regular dairy cheese on occasion, but it's a couple shreds or a cube cut in half or something. I KNOW thats not going to hurt him (but he may hurt me if I refuse him). I'm talking about non-dairy cheese. This is the recipe I'm interested in trying: I would be making the almond milk and would NOT use any "liquid smoke" (I don't like smoke flavor at all) or the flavored salt. Would also sub canola oil for coconut oil because I'm allergic to coconuts:

but yes...i do eat potatoes: Adventures in Vegan "Cheese" Making Part 3: Vegan Block Cheddar Cheese

Also this one:

Homemade Vegan Cheese | Vegangela

Basically, are the ingredients in these ok for him to eat?

And I'm assuming non-dairy yogurt made at home is no less bad than dairy yogurt which he eats on occasion too?

Click to expand...

I would think this would be fine in moderation and certainly better than actual dairy. I would however ask you to look into what "canola oil" really is. It is made from rapeseed, Canadians paid the FDA bookoo bucks to call it canola instead of rapeseed oil. I would always rather someone does the research themselves after being pointed in that direction than me out right stating my opinion and what I have looked up. I am sure as a fellow vegetarian you understand why.

RavensGryf said:

Hm, I'd be interested to know how that goes! I also have developed over more recent years, an awful intolerance to MANY foods. Dairy being one of them. I just buy dairy digestive aid like Lactaid or cheaper generic brand since I eat a lot of them lol. Ooh, is that too personal :52:? Lol. I couldn't imagine that the "fake" dairy would taste the same.

I think it would be fine for Kiwi if it was made from ingredients that are safe for him

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I've been getting hives and a stuffy nose and the only thing it seems to be related to is the dairy I've been keeping a food diary and closely monitoring what I eat for a while while "eliminating" and "reintroducing" foods one at a time. I'm sure going non-dairy will taste different for a while, but theres many "alternative" foods I eat that tasted "different" (or kinda yucky) for a while. Then you get used to the flavor and forget what the other used to taste like.

I'm more concerned about the GMO potential for regular dairy alternatives (which is what I place a large amount of blame on for my medical issues and now avoid at all costs) and have you SEEN the cost of those tiny boxes of organic nut milk!. I also can't do a whole lot of soy in general or it screws with my hormones (yes, I can in fact empathize with Kiwi a little lol). I can have a little bit here and there, but I had soy as a regular part of my diet at one point and it had very significant side effects (apparently I'm very sensitive to the phytoestrogens which naturally occur in soy:31.

On a more positive note, it didn't cost much to buy a soy milk maker on ebay (Around $70 after shipping). You can make the nut and grain milks on your stovetop and use a blender, but I did really look into it, and apparently a soy milk maker does a better job overall. I also lucked out and found a yogurt maker (with the little jars) for $4.00! I think they priced it wrong or something, because it's brand new, with warrantee (nothing wrong with it at all) and the exact same one costs about $40 on amazon. I've made yogurt in my crockpot before, but it's such a large crockpot, theres no way I could eat that amount of yogurt before it all goes bad (and putting in just a little doesn't work at all). A yogurt maker with individual portion sized jars will work better since it's just me n Kiwi who eat yogurt

I'm *trying* really hard to be excited and positive about limiting dairy. With being vegetarian, having an intolerance to soy and having Crohns disease (which is severely aggravated by most processed foods and anything excessively sweet or salty), I already have a really really limited diet now. Needless to say, I'm not thrilled to see dairy go:20: but I'm also not thrilled to have big itchy red patches all over and the feeling of having a bad head cold when I eat it either:52: Don't get me wrong, I like eating healthy most of the time and am a vegetarian by choice, but I never wanted to necessarily be SO limited on what I could eat Sorry for the rant, but I have really been hoping over the past few months that I would find some random cause for the hives and NOT something like milk that I actually like...

labell said:

Kiwibird said:

I let Kiwi have regular dairy cheese on occasion, but it's a couple shreds or a cube cut in half or something. I KNOW thats not going to hurt him (but he may hurt me if I refuse him). I'm talking about non-dairy cheese. This is the recipe I'm interested in trying: I would be making the almond milk and would NOT use any "liquid smoke" (I don't like smoke flavor at all) or the flavored salt. Would also sub canola oil for coconut oil because I'm allergic to coconuts:

but yes...i do eat potatoes: Adventures in Vegan "Cheese" Making Part 3: Vegan Block Cheddar Cheese

Also this one:

Homemade Vegan Cheese | Vegangela

Basically, are the ingredients in these ok for him to eat?

And I'm assuming non-dairy yogurt made at home is no less bad than dairy yogurt which he eats on occasion too?

Click to expand...

I would think this would be fine in moderation and certainly better than actual dairy. I would however ask you to look into what "canola oil" really is. It is made from rapeseed, Canadians paid the FDA bookoo bucks to call it canola instead of rapeseed oil. I would always rather someone does the research themselves after being pointed in that direction than me out right stating my opinion and what I have looked up. I am sure as a fellow vegetarian you understand why.

Click to expand...

I know the controversy about canola oil and that it was a hybrid to start with that Monsanto took it and genetically modified it. I do use the spectrum brand of canola oil, which is organic (yes, I know there is ALSO a controversy about that label). I actually only use oil in baking recipes that call for it anyways (a bottle usually goes rancid before I use all of it). I can't do coconut oil, I don't like olive oil, and have just kind of coasted by for a very long time basically just using butter lol. Things like sesame oil and peanut oil worry me it'll taint the flavor of the food, and I don't know what else to use. I just don't make a whole lot of fatty foods and I certainly don't make fried foods. I prefer cooking and baking with butter actually and I only eat a food that requires and kind of "greasing" maybe twice a week. I'm kind of hoping I can keep the tiny bit of butter and still have the hives go away (wishful thinking?). If not, I probably will look more into other alternative oils...

I rely heavily on coconut oil to cook and olive oil (not cooked) for salad dressing and whatnot so I would be seriously bummed if coconut oil was off the table for me.

If I have to fry something for the hubby and it requires higher heat I use organic Safflower seed oil it doesn't impart a taste and it is okay to use with med or high heat. If I were you I would look at that as a possible replacement over the canola oil.

I am also a vegetarian by choice, well a pescetarian actually but not many people know what that is... "one whose diet includes fish but no other meat". I found for me it works better, there isn't a way for me to get the omega 3s unless I eat fish or take a fish oil pill so it's the one meat meal I can sit down with my husband and enjoy. He eats all meats including pork.. I know yuk!

A yogurt maker! Sounds like heaven... Until I eat it :26:. I can have very little yogurt unfortunately. Even WITH tons of dairy digestive pills I have to be very careful how much dairy I eat. It seriously makes me ill... I'll spare all details! I never used to have the problem, and used to eat a lot of dairy. I LOVE dairy darn it!! Makes me jealous when Don eats and drinks a ton of dairy products in front of me

I've never looked into nut milks. I'm not sure it would agree with my digestive system. I can eat soy products no problem, BUT soy milk gives me the same symptoms as dairy! I have to stay away from certain vegetables also, or I will literally feel like I'm going to die. I like to eat healthy too.

I can barely go to a restaurant anymore without taking tons of pills for this and that... I can't digest anything anymore. It's such a complete bummer! I haven't talked to a doctor about it yet, and I'm going to have to or else pretty soon I literally won't be able to eat anything without feeling like dying! I'm afraid they'll just tell me there's nothing that can be done about it and that's just the way it is now

However, I did discover Kale, and it DOES agree with me I will have to post on my new favorite veggie!

So I have been using the new soy milk maker, and oat milk (made with plain cooking oats) is actually pretty tasty! No, it doesn't taste like dairy milk, but it IS a tasty alternative nonetheless And while my hubby the math guy did not quite fall in love with the concept of "non-dairy" on it's nutritional merits alone, he did take a look into how much we would save by us drinking non-dairy milk. If we started drinking oat milk, it comes out at a grand total of.....96 CENTS a GALLON! I buy organic whole milk that costs $5.68 a gallon As we go through a gallon of milk a week, that would save us about $245.00 on MILK every year:11: And if I can get the right kind of cultures and use a oat-milk specific recipe (lets just say you don't use dairy cultures to make non-dairy yogurt and my first batch was a significant failure:54, I would be coming in at 32 CENTS for (7) 6OZ cups of yogurt (that I could flavor any way I like). The same size organic whole dairy yogurt costs between $1.50-$2.00 A JAR (depending on type/flavor/brand). Even on the LOW END of that cost range, we'd save about $520 on yogurt (eating one a day, my husband never eats yogurt lol) every year I never ever stopped and thought about how much less expensive these things could be! My poor husband though may be seeing more "plant based foods" he probably rather wouldn't

Oh, and Kiwi did NOT like the oat milk. I got the "what is this repulsive gunk you're trying to feed me" look. He did however like the warm hazelnut milk I made yesterday He was so intrigued and his eyes were going crazy!

Success! I made oat milk yogurt yesterday (had to use a pack of cultures and a little cornstarch to get the right consistency). I added a little organic vanilla and berries.

Kiwi LOVED the yogurt, and I feel a lot better letting him eat more of it, since it's all plant based He loved dairy yogurt too, but I'd limit him to about a teaspoon at a setting for fear of too much dairy. And after not even a week, my hives are clearing up and I can breathe better! Who knew THOSE of all things possible would be the symptoms of dairy allergy/intolorance?

As for the vegan cheese? YUCK! No good, never going to make it again! I'd rather go without cheese. I'll figure out some other alternative but I shall not be making that mistake ever again.

Labell- I purchased some safflower oil yesterday when I went grocery shopping. I will see how it compares to the canola oil. I still use very very little oil in general, but next time I do, we'll see how it tastes. Maybe I'll make some eggs over the weekend

What kind of cheese did you make? There is a world of difference in some of them. There is an Almond Baked Feta that is really good. Did you use nuts as the base?

I made "vegan block cheddar". It had cashews as a base. I did not use the optional smoke flavor, as I don't like smoked anything and I did substitute (making this before I went to the store) canola oil for coconut oil. Even Kiwi rejected it, and cashews are one of his favorite nuts!

I like little mini pizzas a whole lot:54: Really, pretty much the only thing I eat cheese on except the once in a while I make cheesy scrambled eggs. I use a sprouted english muffin, organic pizza sauce and used to use raw white cheddar. I was hoping this could be a good substitute for pizza topping or to mix in eggs, but it was NASTY

I don't think I've ever tried feta cheese before. I did like brie (is that how it's spelled? it's a soft cheese), but that always gave me massive stomach pains.