Nestle Nesquik Low Fat Strawberry Milk Review

I snagged a bottle of this Nestle Nesquik Low Fat Strawberry Milk to check out. Looking to take a break from the plant and grain beverages for a little while, I thought I’d bring a 16-ounce bottle home.

Much in taste like a strawberry milkshake or the retro Strawberry Quik drink mix, this drink brings back mounds of memories of grade school trips to the ice cream stand that those “healthy” drinks just do not. I can’t imagine ever getting excited about getting a soy drink; not like I did when planning to order a strawberry shake.

According to the bottle, this milk contains 180 calories per 1-cup serving, roughly twice that of non fat plain white milk, which is what I typically drink at home. Vitamin A and calcium have been added to bolster the nutrition, and they’ve reduced the fat content to 2.5 grams per serving; thus the low-fat designation.

However, as with most flavored dairy milks, you’ll encounter lots of extra sugar in this milk, though at least, there’s no high fructose corn syrup within. Still, I’d avoid this beverage when watching weight, as the sugar and artificial flavors (also included) makes this drink notably addictive in my view. One serving a day might be acceptable, if you can limit yourself to that. But the alluringly sweet strawberry essence will likely rope you into drinking this too much; especially if you’re a feeble-willed sugarholic as I am. It’s like drinking the left-over cereal milk from General Mills Frankenberry in the 1970s.

Health precautions notwithstanding, this dairy strawberry milk tastes fuller, richer, and more fulfilling than any soy, rice, or almond-based drinks I’ve sampled. Plus, they don’t make much strawberry flavored soy milk. Indeed, no farm I know of, has produced a non dairy drink that tastes as good as real milk. The Nesquik low-fat strawberry milk flavor is deep and strong, and is also significantly thicker than many soy and rice drinks, resulting in an unmistakably sweet enjoyment that only a dairy-based beverage can offer.

Benefits, Advantages, Pros, and Features

It is made with real cow’s milk and is a grade A, homogenized milk product. It displays the “Real” dairy symbol.
This drink keeps for roughly three weeks from the purchase date in the refrigerator. That’s a usual shelf for cow’s milk.
Contains no high fructose corn syrup. It’s gluten and caffeine free.
At roughly $1.80 per pint bottle at my local convenience store, Nesquik brand flavored milks are a decent buy, and when kept really cold, are great thirst quenchers.
This milk has just 1.5 grams of saturated fat and only 15 milligrams of cholesterol per 8-ounce serving.
The color of this beverage is a pale pink, again, like strawberry ice cream. However, unlike the better strawberry ice creams, there are no real fruit fragments herein. This drink is too thin in consistency to hold them.
The packaging protects the product from light, which can degrade the flavor as well as neutralize some nutrition. While the plastic bottle itself is clear, the outer label is opaque, blocking all but the most trivial amounts of light from touching the entrapped liquid.
Indeed, there’s little compromising on taste, color, or texture in this Nestle milk product. No weak flavor here to gripe over, and it’s plenty sweet.
This product is available at most grocery stores and convenience stands.

Disadvantages, Cons, Problems, and Concerns

It contain 30 grams of sugar per serving. To be just however, nearly half of this sugar occurs naturally in the milk, and therefore, occurs naturally and thus, was not added. Still though, be careful not to indulge too much at one time.
This drink must always be kept refrigerated. Unlike the rice, soy, and almond products, this dairy beverage should never be allowed to warm to room temperature, even if it’s never been opened previously.
Due to the sugar content, in my view, it’s easy to consume excess calories via this product. This product’s sweet taste tests one’s resolve to consume in moderation thus.
Diabetics should monitor their blood sugar readings faithfully when consuming this milk, as it contains significant amounts of high GI sugar.
To produce a lower glycemic index product, thereby making it more healthful for diabetics, Nestle might consider using pure agave nectar or Splenda, instead of sugar, for sweetening.
The strawberry flavor herein is artificially derived, and so is the strawberry-like color.

Ingredients

Low-fat milk with vitamin A palmitate and vitamin D3 added, sugar, and less than 2% of calcium carbonate, cellulose gel, artificial flavors, carrageenan, cellulose gum, citric acid, salt, red 3.

Nutrition Facts

Serving size: 1 cup, or 240 millilitres.
Servings per container: 2.
Calories: 180. Calories from fat: 25.
Total fat: 2.5 grams, 4% DV.
Saturated fat: 1.5 grams, 8% DV.
Trans fat: 0 grams.
Cholesterol: 15 milligrams, 4% DV.
Sodium: 130 milligrams, 5% DV.
Potassium: 400 milligrams, 11% DV.
Total carbohydrate: 31 grams, 10% DV.
Dietary fiber: 0 grams, 0% DV.
Sugars: 30 grams.
Protein: 8 grams.
Vitamin A: 10% DV.
Calcium: 40% DV.
Vitamin C: 0% DV.
Vitamin D: 25% DV.
Iron: 0% DV.

Product Rating

This low-fat strawberry milk is okay. This cow’s milk is a convenient diversion from that entirely plant-based bean or grain stuff, and offers a pleasant vacation-style return to the truly wonderful tastes of yester-decade. There’s enough fat to give this product a decidedly creamy texture and taste; it slides around your tongue as you swish it in your mouth. That is, it definitely tastes like it’s high fat though it’s not. A big turn-off I found was the fact that the flavorings are completely artificial. So I’d rate this Nesquik drink at 90 out of 100.

Where To Buy Nestle Nesquik Low Fat Strawberry Milk

Look for this product in the bright yellow bottle with the blue letters near the top, the bright red colored ring around the top that seals the deep blue cap in place, the happy brown bunny on the front holding a glass of this drink, in the refrigerated dairy section, at your favorite large or small grocers and convenience stores.

References

Revision History

2015-03-02: Adjusted category and tag assignments, fixed typos, and added white space.
2012-07-12: Originally published.