• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Grandnanny's House

  • Home
  • About
  • 21 Day Fix
  • Family Fun
  • Ultimate Portion Fix
  • Healthy Recipes
  • Travel Adventures
  • Contact

Dairy and Non-dairy Products on the {Portion Fix/21 Day Fix}

February 2, 2021 by Grandnanny 17 Comments

Dairy and Non-dairy Products on the 21 Day Fix all have different container counts and are on different food lists. I cover the basics of milk and cheese in all their varieties.

Dairy and non-dairy products

Let’s start with milk

Thru the years more and more milk products are making their way into our grocery stores. Many of them healthy but some are sugar-laden and are far from healthy! We are always looking for unsweetened versions for the 21 Day Fix. When you are looking at dairy and non-dairy milk there are 2 kinds of it. One is the kind you pour over cereal or drink. The other kind is canned milk that is used in recipes and to cook with.

The reason they all have different container counts is that they are all made from different things. Cow’s milk, almond milk, and soy milk all go into a different food container category.

Canned milk

The only kind of canned milk on the 21 Day Fix food lists is canned coconut milk. It is considered a “healthy fat” or a Blue container on the 21 Day Fix.

It can be used in so many recipes both savory and sweet. Many of the recipes call for you to put the can in the fridge overnight to harden the cream part and you use it separately from the watery part. Or you can buy the can of cream only and you get almost a whole can of the hardened cream.

Different brands vary in flavor. Some brands have a strong coconut flavor and lend themselves best to sweet dishes. But other brands have no coconut taste at all and are great in savory dishes to turn them creamy.

I am going to do a short review of these 3 brands. Two of them I bought at Walmart in the Asian food section and the third at my Sprout’s Health Food store.

canned coconut milk

The blue can from Sprout’s is very creamy with zero coconut flavor. Perfect for savory dishes. Like my new White Chicken Chili recipe HERE.

The yellow can from Walmart has a hint of sweet coconut flavor. I would only use this for sweet dishes. Like this recipe for creme brulee HERE.

The red can from Walmart has a hint of coconut flavor but no sweetness. I would use this in a coconut savory dish like coconut curry. Like this recipe for a butternut squash curry HERE.

Cream

Coconut milk has a sister! Coconut cream. Basically, as I said earlier if you put a can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight and then open it. The hard part will be coconut cream. The canned coconut cream is almost all the “hard” part. The coconut milk is usually going to be 1/2 watery part but coconut cream is only going to have an inch or 2 of that water. This Sprout’s brand is the only brand I have ever tried and it doesn’t taste like coconut at all.

Dairy cream is not approved for the 21 Day Fix because it has too much fat content, as our cow’s milk can only be 1-2% fat. But the coconut cream can take the place of it in many recipes.

The only other cream replacement option I have ever used is 2 tablespoons of corn starch added to 1 cup of 2% milk. Stir it until it thickens a little bit and then add it to your recipe.

Dairy and Non-dairy Products: Refrigerated Milk

The rest of the kinds of milk on our list are the cold kind that you drink or on cereal. It can be used in some cooking too. They count differently depending on what the milk is made from. Fat grams, calories, and protein numbers all factor in too.

For example, Oat Milk is going to count as a Yellow because oats are on our Yellow List. They make oat milk by soaking oats in water and then discarding the solids.  That is how they are all made.  These are the most common products on the market but there are new ones coming out every day.

  • 1 cup-8oz cows milk 1%-2%- 1Y
  • 8oz-1 cup unsweet almond milk- 1 oil tsp
  • 1 cup-8oz unsweet organic soy milk- 1/2R
  • 8oz-1 cup unsweet coconut milk- 1 oil tsp
  • 1 cup-8oz unsweet rice milk- 1Y
  • 8oz-1 cup unsweet coconut water- 1/2Y
  • 1 cup-8oz unsweet oat milk- 1Y
  • 80z unsweet cashew milk- 1 oil tsp
  • 8oz oat milk- 1Y

There is one more milk that needs to be mentioned, chocolate milk. The pre-sweetened variety is just not going to be approved for the 21 Day Fix because of the sugar content. There is a shelf-stable version of almond milk that is approved! I make hot chocolate of it all winter long!

almond milk hot chocolate

Dairy and non-dairy products: Cheese

There are many different kinds of cheese!! And I love them all…well most of them!

A frequently asked question is “How much does a Blue of cheese weigh?” The honest answer is “NO 2 kinds of cheese weigh the same!”
I have shoved cheddar cheese as tightly as I possibly can in my Blue container (with the lid still going on) and it weighed 2.3 ounces.

Cheddar cheese for dairy and non-dairy products

Then I packed shredded Parmesan cheese into it and only got 1.7 ounces.

Parmesan cheese weighed for dairy and non-dairy products

I always suggest that you to get that container out and use it because it is never wrong!

Make a cheat sheet of cheese weights if you need to. That way you can at least weigh each of them accurately. Don’t try to give all kinds of cheese 1 single weight. You will be cheating yourself!

Cheese plated for dairy and non-dairy products

2 average slices of cheese, broken up, fit into a blue perfectly. Thinly sliced cheese has a completely different count. I just folded them square and 5 1/2 slices fit!!

thinly sliced swiss cheese

For some cheese, we are going to refer to the “numbers” of our Blue container. A fellow blogger researched every food on our lists and came up with averages and parameters for our containers. You can find this handy downloadable chart HERE.

Using those numbers we know that 2 Babybel and 2 string cheese sticks both counts as 1B.

Laughing cow wedges nutrition information tells us that 3, yes 3 wedges can be counted at 1B! I have a great Philly Cheesesteak recipe that uses them HERE.

The flavored Laughing Cow wedges work out to 3 for 1/2 Blue container. But the sodium in them will make you want to limit them to 3 and have 1/2 blue container of something else! Read about sodium numbers HERE.

Then there are non-dairy cheese products. I have to limit my dairy consumption so non-dairy cheese is a really important option for me. I count non- dairy cheese exactly like real cheese, just measure it in my Blue. Even sliced measure it in that container just 1 time and you will know how many to count as 1 Blue.

Other Dairy and Non-dairy Products

There are plenty of other products that fit these categories.

Mozzarella Pearls/Balls fit nicely in our blue! The small-sized ones are my favorite. I love to marinate them in different flavors. I got 25 of them in my blue with the lid on! Whatever size you use just push them tight in that container and snap that lid down.

mozzarella balls for dairy and non-dairy products

The recipe for marinated balls is HERE.

Goat cheese is one of them. I had never tried it before the 21 Day Fix and now it is a staple in my kitchen. The very 1st recipe I ever tried with it was a turkey burger. Recipe HERE.

I personally love the brand that Aldi’s carries, it comes in 3 varieties. Plain, which reminds me of cream cheese. Honey, which is like sweet cream cheese and yummy with fruit. And Garlic Herb, which is “ok” but I have to add some salt to it to make it better.

Bleu and Feta cheese are some of my favorites too. Because they are so strongly flavored, I can use less. I have a bleu cheese dressing recipe HERE.

I like to split my blue container up during the day. Five tablespoons equal 1 Blue. So if I want 2 tablespoons of cheese and 3 tablespoons of avocado on a taco salad I can have the best of both worlds!

Dairy products on other food lists

Some other dairy products that are included in our food lists can be found on our Protein/Red container lists. Yogurts, cottage cheese, and ricotta are all included. I cover them extensively in this post HERE.

Butter is another dairy product we can use. Unsalted butter counts as an oil teaspoon. Any brand will do!

There are some non-dairy cheese options in stores now but I am not well versed in any of them. There are brands that fit the Blue containers “numbers”.

Look for me on Pinterest!!

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any suggestions to add to Diary and Non-dairy Products on the 21 Day Fix, please feel free to drop me a comment!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: 21 Day Fix, Healthy Recipes, Portion Fix, Ultimate Portion Fix, Uncategorized

Previous Post: « White Chicken Chili {Portion Fix/21 Day Fix}
Next Post: Copycat Chick-fil-a Sauce {Portion Fix/21 Day Fix} »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jamie

    April 7, 2021 at 9:31 pm

    Is it 1 teaspoon of unsalted butter to equal 1 oil teaspoon? (I don’t now how to measure a teaspoon from a stick of butter.) Thanks!

    Reply
    • Grandnanny

      April 12, 2021 at 3:09 pm

      Yes, they are equal. I just use a knife to take butter from the stick and put it into a measuring teaspoon. Scrape across the teaspoon to level it off flat. I hope that helps you.

      Reply
  2. Brenda Dos Santos

    June 14, 2021 at 11:49 am

    What about dubliner cheese? I can’t find anything related to this cheese on UPF or in blogs.

    Reply
    • Grandnanny

      June 14, 2021 at 12:49 pm

      Its numbers are comparable to cheddar cheese, I would count it like cheddar.

      Reply
  3. Marj

    August 14, 2021 at 12:05 am

    How would we count Cashew Yogurt (brand Forager)? Would it be a red or a blue?

    Reply
    • Grandnanny

      August 14, 2021 at 8:12 am

      It would be a blue.

      Reply
  4. Samantha Klimp

    February 1, 2022 at 5:20 pm

    Your Hot Chocolate looks yummy! Could you provide an ingredient list? I just found your blog and can’t wait to try out all of your yummy recipes! What a helpful blog! 🙂

    Reply
    • Grandnanny

      February 2, 2022 at 12:59 pm

      2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup added to 1 cup of unsweetened chocolate almond milk with 1 tablespoon of coconut cream.

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Examining the Coffee Bar Section {21 Day Fix} - Grandnanny's House says:
    February 8, 2021 at 8:38 am

    […] I have a detailed post dedicated to Dairy and Non-dairy products for the 21 Day Fix HERE. […]

    Reply
  2. Eating All Of Your Containers On Plans D-E-F {21 Day Fix} - Grandnanny's House says:
    February 25, 2021 at 9:02 am

    […] Speaking of stretching out…that 1 blue container that every bracket from A-F gets. 1/3 of a cup or 5 Tablespoons when you break it down to that. I OFTEN break it down to tablespoons because I don’t do very much dairy at a time. So I might have 2 tablespoons of cheese and 3 tablespoons of avocado on a couple of tacos. Doing it that way I get the best of both worlds! (I mash my avocado and put it in my blue because I want to make sure that I get every single bit I can! ) Again here I am encouraging you to use this container to help you eat your veggies… cheese can help that (see below about our red containers). Nuts maybe not so much but if you are super full and you want to squeeze in a blue container you might want to eat 14 raw peanuts or the others,  just to keep the bulk down even more. I have more information about your Blue container in HERE. […]

    Reply
  3. Healthy Baked Potato Skins { 21 Day Fix} - Grandnanny's House says:
    March 9, 2021 at 4:40 pm

    […] Save the potato you scrape out of the skins for a side-dish later! I like to warm it up and mash it with some Laughing Cow cheese wedges and a little onion and slide it under a broiler. It gets all bubbly and brownish! YUM! I have some information about cheese varieties HERE. […]

    Reply
  4. What to buy at Aldi for the 21 Day Fix - Grandnanny's House says:
    June 29, 2021 at 10:37 am

    […] The goat cheese logs are a favorite of mine!! There I talk more about how different cheese counts for the Fix. That information is HERE. […]

    Reply
  5. Broiled Parmesan Tomatoes {Portion Fix} - Grandnanny's House says:
    July 14, 2021 at 9:28 am

    […] One tablespoon of pre-shredded Parmesan is plenty for me, again you could use more if you wanted. I often break my Blue container into 5 Tablespoons and spread it out during the day. I have more info about cheese in HERE. […]

    Reply
  6. Jalapeno Popper Sloppy Joes {Portion Fix/21 Day Fix} - Grandnanny's House says:
    October 24, 2021 at 10:21 am

    […] Advice about condiments can be found HERE. How to count different milk products can be found HERE. Keep the stove on low because the cheese is going to want to […]

    Reply
  7. Grocery Shopping Tips {Portion Fix/21 Day Fix} - Grandnanny's House says:
    October 24, 2021 at 10:58 am

    […] Dairy and Nondairy foods […]

    Reply
  8. Mashed Potato Topped Meatloaf {Portion Fix/21 Day Fix} - Grandnanny's House says:
    November 23, 2021 at 8:01 am

    […] I like shredded sharp cheddar cheese to top mine with. Any cheese that is your favorite would be fine. I might try sliced Swiss over it soon. Find out how to count cheese slices on the Portion Fix/21 Day Fix HERE.  […]

    Reply
  9. 10 can i have almond milk on 21 day fix Ideas - Món Ăn Ngon says:
    January 18, 2023 at 9:05 pm

    […] Source: https://grandnannyshouse.com/dairy-and-non-dairy-products-on-the-21-day-fix/ […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Teresa Castleberry
Hi! I’m Teresa. I love sharing how eating healthier can be fun, and why my granddarlings love being at Grandnanny’s House!

Read More


Search by Category

  • 21 Day Fix
  • Family Fun
  • Healthy Recipes
  • Portion Fix
  • Travel Adventures
  • Ultimate Portion Fix
  • Uncategorized
  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian

Search by Date

Copyright © 2019 Grandnanny's House · Privacy POlicy