Product Review: Fairlife Nutrition Plan Chocolate Milk

I really enjoy chocolate milk. I don’t drink it too often because I prefer it fresh (vs shelf stable) but find it hard to get through the entire container before it goes bad. Growing up, I didn’t like milk but would occasionally drink chocolate milk as part of school lunch or at friends’ houses. In college, I was very focused on calcium and would leave most dinners with a large takeout cup of chocolate milk. I made it with LOTS of the thick chocolate syrup in the dining center. I’d then drink it while doing my schoolwork. At some point, I tasted premixed chocolate milk and loved it, because it was the perfect flavor of chocolate. However, because I only drank a few cups in a week, I looked for an alternative. I ended up with bottles of Yoo-hoo. These were ok when very cold or when mixed with some ice cream. However, they were not enjoyable enough to be a long term repeat buy. 

I stopped drinking chocolate milk for several years. In the meantime, I found a chocolate nutrition shake that I really liked. However , a few weeks ago I discovered that (of course) it was discontinued (not a Costco item (It’s Gone? Discontinued Products) but apparently I am a reverse indicator at all stores! ). I looked for a relatively similar alternative. Through writing other blog posts, I saw that Costco sells a few options and read some reviews. I decided to try Fairlife Nutrition Plan chocolate milk. I’m very glad I did.

This milk is shelf stable and comes in packages of 18-11.5 ounces bottles. Each bottle contains 30 grams of protein, only two grams of sugar, no lactose or artificial growth hormones, and 150 calories. 

I did not drink it at the same time as plain chocolate milk but, had I not known, I would not have guessed that it was sold unrefrigerated and contains so much protein and so little sugar. The milk itself is a light chocolate that tastes surprisingly (but not overly) sweet, given that it contains so little sugar. Despite the high protein content, it lacked the “chalky” taste that I associate with other protein drinks. Drinking it was actually an interesting (in a good way) experience in that it took a few seconds to taste the sweetness. I liked this experience because the sweetness was not overwhelming. There was a slight aftertaste but it was not overly aversive and did not last long. I drank it very cold. It tasted great with a piece of coffee cake and I am looking forward to trying it with cookies. I also often like the nutrition drinks (so now I will try this drink) with a dinner of waffles so that I get some protein to balance out the carbohydrates. I think it would be great as a base for a frappe (milkshake to non Bostonians) because although chocolate frappes are typically with milk and chocolate syrup, I prefer the ice cream (vanilla for a lighter chocolate or chocolate for a darker chocolate flavor) in chocolate milk for a very consistent flavor. 

I highly recommend these drinks.  Apparently many others enjoy them as well as Costco sets a limit of five packages (92 bottles!) per member. I’ve seen that BJs sells the vanilla version so I’d like to try those too. 

Have you tried these Fairlife drinks? Thoughts? I’m considering trying the Orgain drinks at Costco as well. Thoughts? Any other protein/nutrition drinks you’d recommend?