Dairy Free Diet

[Violet Isle]

Can anyone recommend the best dairy free milk and butter products (and other products if possible)

I've just been advised to go on a dairy free diet for a while and this morning I tried asdas organic soya milk and it was disgusting. I also tried their own dairy free spread and it doesnt taste of anything :(

Can anyone recommend better alternatives?

[Kimitatsu]

Is it completely dairy free or lactose free you need to be on?

I ask because if it is lactose free then you can get goats milk butter and milk, but if it is completely dairy free then really you are restricted to soya products.

I used alpro for a bit (but get the unsweetened variety from the chiller) which was ok, but I could never find a spread that wasnt horrible!

[newlywed]

I prefer rice milk, almond milk or cashew milk. Much nicer. Rice milk is usually available in supermarkets but almond and cashew are usually in health food shops.

Best dairy free icecream is Swedish Glace (again sometimes in large supermarkets but often in health shops). Its in a hexagonal tub so easier to spot. Chocolate one is best ;)

Sorry can't help on the spread as I usually carry on with flora/bertolli but again try a health food shop for advice. ;)

[dondo]

My wife doesn't do Dairy and has found that the Alpro light is the best soya milk.

In regards to spreads she rates Pure (the sunflower one), Vitalite and M&S

Most of the supermarkets do a "free from" range which includes dairy free items- we have found that Tesco and Sainsbury have the best selection

And echo the Swedish Glace endorsement

[Sultana]

Alpro soya cream is a good cream substitute.

I find that I can make perfectly acceptable sandwiches without using a spread at all. If you need something to make it all stick together then mayonnaise is dairy free (or should be). And try experimenting with interesting teas that can be drunk without milk - I was drinking mine without milk for years before I discovered I was lactose intolerant - my subconscious must have been telling me something.

Most chinese/far eastern food is dairy free so you could try some of those recipes.

[Smashing]

Rice milk is far nicer than soya. Also, you can just use most pure sunflower spread instead of butter.

[Justie]

don't expect them to taste the same especially in tea and coffee and different people like different brands - have a look on the vegan thread on the Green and Ethical board and there are posts on there with suggestions and they're a good lot to ask.

[lebly]

The cheapest and nicest dairy free spead is vitalite.

[Violet Isle]

Oh I didnt realise that vitalite was dairy free we have had that a couple of times and liked it. Thats a bonus because I can buy it for all the family instead of having special products just for me. I cant have bertoli as I'm actually allergic to olives as well. A friend of mine cooked me a meal back in March with olive oil and I was ill for about a week.

I'm going to give rice milk a try. What I don't like about soya milk is that it seems to have a greasy texture - hopefully rice milk will do the trick

I do drink other teas - I drink green tea and chamomile tea and sometimes lemon - but I do need some caffeine each day to keep me going andhave to mix that lot with coffee and normal tea

[Violet Isle]

I feel a little less deprived now!

Does anyone know of any cheese substitutes? It doesnt matter if its block, slices and spreadable

[melancholly]

I only found a parmazan cheese alternative, i think from sainsbury's.

I had to be dairy free for 9 months a couple of years ago and the first month was not fun - I went with rice milk first, but then after a few weeks soya didn't taste so bad (you might not believe me on that now though!).

You should be able to find sorbets instead of icecreams. On the whole I found chaging my diet to be easier, rather than going for replacements. I personally found that the alternatives just were nowhere close to what I wanted to start with (but a few months in it tastes great!). For cooking you could try all the various types of vegetable oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil etc that aren't olive oil.

[newlywed]

I'm going to give rice milk a try. What I don't like about soya milk is that it seems to have a greasy texture - hopefully rice milk will do the trick


Yeah I don't like the texture of soya milk either. Rice milk is much much more runny and thinner but is lovely on cereal. Not sure about in hot drinks though as I have my tea and coffee without any milk anyway.

The Prova-something or other soya yoghurts aren't too bad.

Didn't find any nice cheese alternative as I was allowed goats cheese - only found two decent ones of those as I like it mild. I tried one soya cheese but wasn't overly impressed. I found it easier to cook things that didn't use cheese or just missed out milk and cheese from the recipe (although you can't do that easily with pizza or lasagna :rotfl:!!).

I don't totally exclude dairy but try and cut it down as it aggravates my eczema - which is why I still use flora too. :o

[Justie]

I feel a little less deprived now!

Does anyone know of any cheese substitutes? It doesnt matter if its block, slices and spreadable
Holland & Barrett among others sell cheese made from rice milk I think - no idea what it tastes like though

[clutterbunny]

Going dairy free isnt that easy unless you can cook.
Supermarket "fresh" bread and thier other bakery items all contain milk although the normal sliced is generally fine.

You will find that your tastes change as you get used to being dairy free and things which tasted awful to start with begin to grow on you. I used to hate soya milk but now I kind of like the nutty taste it brings to things like poridge.

Rice milk is best for cooking as it has little to no taste so others dont complain. There are loads of recipies and tips about changing recipies and you will soon get the hang of it. Look for vegan deserts and you will soon feel better, or just grab the dark chocolate (good quality though or it might contain milk).

Pm me if you want any help. I will do my best.

CB

[Violet Isle]

I'm going to be so ill this evening

Just been the MIL's for FIL's birthday tea, and they had chocolate fudge cake with squirty cream and I couldnt resist :(

I have no willpower whatsoever, I'm pathetic

[melancholly]

I'm going to be so ill this evening

Just been the MIL's for FIL's birthday tea, and they had chocolate fudge cake with squirty cream and I couldnt resist :(

I have no willpower whatsoever, I'm pathetic

lol you'll get better!!
once i'd removed dairy from my diet i didn't have any more 'episodes'. then i thought 'how much would it hurt to have.....' - and the effects were immediate!! even now i can't have seconds on any diary based dessert. but not eating lots of rich food made me lose loads of weight as a bonus, so it's not all bad!!

[Violet Isle]

Well the weight loss fact is certainly spurring me on. if I drink soya milk again I will be continually sick for a start lol. How I'm going to miss hot butter toast and horlicks with honey at night :(

Never mind, this time next year I'll be an 81/2 stone stunner!

[pboae]

I hated Soya milk at first, but now I prefer it. I started with the So Good! one from the chiller, but now I will use any of them, I found rice milk a bit too sweet. I only use it on cereal, etc though, I still hate the way it goes in coffee, so I've had to learn to drink that black.

I've never found a decent cheese subsitute though. I love cheese :-(

Oh and I never would have lasted if I hadn't been able to eat dark chocolate!

[liz105]

Evenin' all,

Violet, I know what you are going through, I seem to have developed a lactose intolerance over a few years (Im 23) and its getting worse.

I treated myself to a soya cheese from Holland & Barratt t'other day, its called Cheezly (yeah I know, what a name!!) it smells a bit like laughing cow cheese but is hard and has a nice flavour. I've been having it on rice cakes.

I've also found that I really like Alpro Soya milk in tea. I've been having their yoghurts for a while now, the plain one is delish and to me tastes far far better than normal plain yoghurt.

The substitutes can be a bit pricey, so the cheese is only a treat for me, but its nice to have something at work that doesnt have me running for the loo 30 mins later! (me and my work colleagues call it 'issues at one end').

Let me know how you get on, I assume this is due to an intolerance? I havent been to the doctors about mine cos he isnt very understanding but you dont need to be a genius to work it out though!!

[Glad]

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[Violet Isle]

I made a cup of coffee with soya milk this afternoon as I was desperate for a caffeine boost. I was on the phone to a client and was just about to take a sip when I looked into my cup and nearly threw up - it looked like an white blobby piece of, well I dont know, I guess the nearest thing I can think of is soggy broccoli - urgh - needless to say it went straight down the sink but is this normal with soya milk? does rice milk do the same thing in coffee?

[Smashing]

I made a cup of coffee with soya milk this afternoon as I was desperate for a caffeine boost. I was on the phone to a client and was just about to take a sip when I looked into my cup and nearly threw up - it looked like an white blobby piece of, well I dont know, I guess the nearest thing I can think of is soggy broccoli - urgh - needless to say it went straight down the sink but is this normal with soya milk? does rice milk do the same thing in coffee?

Some brands of soya milk do curdle when added to hot drinks. Try adding the milk before the water, heating the milk before adding or allowing the coffee to cool slightly before adding the milk.
Also UHT soya milk tend to be more likely to curdle than fresh.

[Violet Isle]

Thanks I'll give it a try. I think I'm getting used to the stuff now - can you make scrambled eggs, custard etc with it?

[nappentass]

FWIW - I like SoGood Chocolate Soya milk - addictive, also use sogood soya milk with protein powder mixed in on cereal/muesli which i enjoy,
I use it in cooking if I need milk but OH won't have it in drinks, I just have coffee/tea black.
Also try the Alpro deserts (in the chiller) and provamel I've tried and will buy ( though often only if on offer)
I'm lucky because I can eat cooked dairy so ice cream is still my prefered treat.

HTH
Jill

[Elle00]

Hi my son is allergic to dairy and can't have any. I'm lactose intolerant but it doesn't stop me LOL.

My son adores the little cartons of flavoured Alpro Soya milk in strawberry or chocolate (96p for 3). Previously he had a special baby formula which of course tasted foul so I always added a spoon of crusha milkshake mix to it (the strawberry and raspberry are milk ingredient free) and he yummed it up. You're not a baby or on formula milk but same principal! Have you tried flavouring regular soya milk?

Son also likes Alpro Soya Desserts which come in vanilla, caramel or chocolate and I have to say they really do taste very nice indeed and aren't too bad at around £1.50 - £2 for a pack of four yoghurt sized desserts. You can get the above mentioned pre-chilled ones too but I've never tried those.

The hard cheese alternative that's been mentioned is called Parmazano and is stocked in most big supermarkets in the organic/free from aisle and I'm sorry to say this but I think it is just WRONG. I mean do try it if you're game but I personally could not believe how overpowering and smelly that stuff is!

If you have a health food shop locally with a chiller cabinet you can get milk free cheese slices but I have never found these I'm afriad.

In Tesco they have a fab range of cakes and biscuits etc in the free from / organic aisle and most of these are nice. I make sponge cakes for my son using soya spread and find they're just as yummy as ones made with butter.

For butter I actually quite like the Pure soya spread (the green one) but if you didn't like soya spread why not try the Pure Sunflower (yellow one)? Oh and thinking about it, you are obviously not a veggy like we are so actually you could have margerine! It's not just vitalite like someone said, read the packets because a lot of margerines are made with gelatine etc but no milk ingredients and I think Flora might be???

For chocolate you can buy dairy free bars from the free-from Tesco range but I find them expensive even though they taste quite acceptable. Better is to get used to eating dark chocolate. You can eat Fry's fondant bars or Bourneville or you can buy the big Green & Blacks or Tesco Finest dark chocolate bars as these are usually vegan (so free from dairy).

In crisps you can have most ready salted versions (Walkers, Hula Hoops etc) but you have to read the packets of most others.

For bread I have found most Stay-Fresh brands (inc Tesco and Somerfields) are milk ingredient free.

HTH