Light & Free Oat based Yogurt Review

Light & Free have a wide range of different flavoured dairy yogurts. Now they've brought out a new 0% fat yogurt which is oat based, making it suitable for those following a vegan diet.

 At the time of writing there are two flavours: Vanilla and Natural. Its description is: 'Fermented oat product with added calcium, vanilla extract, natural flavourings, live cultures and with sweeteners.' 

I'm already a big fan of oat milk, especially Oatley, so I was curious to see what an oat yogurt tasted like. And since it's a Light & Free product, it's also low in calories with just 46 calories per 100g.

I love the Light & Free yogurts, especially the Strawberry version which is always in my fridge. Besides their lovely flavour, they are creamy and low in calories. They come in single 115g pots which may not be the most environmentally friendly way of packing them, but I find it helps so much with portion control. When I buy a big pot of yogurt, more often than not I'll start eating it straight out of the pot and then next thing I know, half the pot is gone!

The Light & Free Oat based yogurts are in a big pot, well biggish, at 350g, so around 3 portion sizes. I purchased the vanilla flavour and was very hopeful of enjoying this. After peeling back the foil lid, the first glimpse wasn't too promising. It was a bit grey looking but there were at least specks of vanilla. Putting my spoon into the yogurt, I could tell instantly the texture wasn't at all yogurt like. I would describe it as gloopy. I expect that's to do with certain added ingredients such as the acacia gum and the tapioca and potato starches which would be used to thicken it.

Yes, there was a hint of vanilla and the taste wasn't bad, but I couldn't really get past the texture. I simply didn't enjoy it. If I was a vegan or was not eating dairy, I'd consider using this yogurt in a smoothie or something where it's mixed with other food, but not as a yogurt on its own. My daughter who is a vegan, agreed with me.

She informed me that there are dairy free yogurts out there that do taste like yogurt - Tesco's own brand, Free From Passion Fruit Raspberry Soya (but this has more calories and sugar). My favourite non dairy yogurt has to be Alpro's no added sugar Mango yogurt which doesn't taste like soya at all and this has 61 calories per 100g.

And if you are after an Oat yogurt that actually does taste nice with a yogurt texture, I'd recommend Oatley's yogurts. They are higher in calories - the Greek style has 146 calories per 100g and the plain has 84 calories per 100g. This is definitely a case where taste and texture is worth foregoing the extra calories, but just eat a bit less of it!

Ingredients:

Oat Base (90%) (Water, Oat Syrup), Modified Maize Starch, Starches (Tapioca, Potato), Acacia Gum, Tricalcium Citrate (Calcium), Pea Protein Isolate, Acidity Regulators (Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate), Stabiliser (Carrageenan), Bourbon Vanilla Powder, Natural Vanilla Flavouring with other Natural Flavourings, Natural Flavourings, Sweeteners (Acesulfame K, Sucralose), Dairy-Free Cultures (S. Thermophilus, L. Bulgaricus, L. Lactis)

Nutrition per 100g:

Calories: 46 Fat: less than 0.5g, Sat fat: less than 0.1g, Carbohydrate: 10g, Sugars: 1.2g, Protein: 0.6g, Salt: 0.02g, Calcium 147mg

Dietary Information:

Suitable for Vegans For allergens, including Cereals containing Gluten, see ingredients in bold. Contains Oats May Contain Soya Contains Sweeteners.

© Diets and Calories