@David3, Good answer !
I like to keep things as simple as possible.
Does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts that might be helpful for me on this?
Simple answer - just replace dairy milk with fortified soy milk.
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Soy has the closest amount for protein. The fortified ones will also help you with B12, D, and calcium. Most of the fortified ones are formulated to be as nutritionally close to cow's milk as possible. . Unfortified (depending on brand) will have approximately 9 g of protein, and 40mg (4%RDA) of calcium. Fortified soy usually has about 300 mg of calcium (20%RDA), plus B12, D, and some other vitamins and minerals.
I am a big proponent of soy milk. Normally, when I go to the store I buy three half-gallons. one vanilla, one plain and one chocolate. For the past year or two sometimes the store doesn't have all three. So I buy on-line 1 quart redipacks. Usually Silk fortified plain. For when I run out of the others.
I like the plain for smoothies, cereal and mixing with protein powder. The vanilla for coffee and drinking straight. and the chocolate heated up or as a base for a chocolate, PB and/or banana smoothie.
There are some interesting alternatives to soy milk now. When I can find it I buy Silk's Chocolate flavored P
rotein Drink. I think it has about 10 g of protein. Silk also makes an
Ultra. I think it has like 20 g of protein.
There are also some dairy alternatives based on Peas that have a similar amount of protein. Ripple is widely available. Also two new products are Not Milk, and Next Milk. Next Milk is also a Silk product. Not Milk is from Not Co.
I've tried them all. Taste wise - drinking plain or with coffee, vanilla is my favorite. for cereal and smoothies it really doesn't matter what it tastes like so whatever...