Dairy Free Food - Help!

[sparklygem 10]

What you'll probably find is that if you live religiously dairy free when you can control it then you can get away with things like the wrong marg on a sarnie every now and then.

 

BTW, talking of marg, Vitalite is much nicer than Pure.

 

Vitalite is the one i got from netto, 77p instead of the £1 odd i paid at first for the rubbish tasting stuff from marks

 

With it only being a couple of weeks i darent eat anything that im not 100% sure that i can eat...for example im on a course at work tomorrow morning with a buffet dinner included, but cos i dont know whats in it im going to take my own dinner in case theres anything i dont know there, hope that makes sense

[Krissyc 10]

Hi - just wanted to add on the subject of buffet meals. If you're going out somewhere for it, get whoever is ringing to call the venue and inform them that you are lactose-intolerant and they should do you your own food. As for buffets generally, they tend to have things like veg and dips - anything non-creamy will be fine. Most pastry will be a problem, I'm afraid. You could also request that they make you sandwiches with no butter or marg (if you're happy to eat them that way) then there's no chance of them thinking it's ok and there being lactose in - many people forget that whey powder is still a dairy product!

 

It's worth taking a bit of time to read ingredients closely of things you want - sometimes you'll be surprised and it'll start to make shopping faster as you will know some things that are definitely ok!

 

Hope this helps a bit - I don't really have anything else to add as you've had such good advice already!

[lizzmobile 11]

Swedish Glace is ace. I make an amazing Christmas pudding ice cream with it. It's fab. In fact, I think Stagey had it last year, but can't quite rememeber for sure.

 

But pasta shouldn't have any dairy in it love. It should be wheat, egg, a bit of olive oil and salt. Make sure you check the ingreds of the native Italian brands like Del Ceccho.

[Plain Talker 11]

When I tried to follow a totally vegan diet, I found that I missed cheeses and yogurts so much.

 

Back then, the choices were very limited, provamel had just started doing soya puddings (like blancmanges, in choc or vanilla) which were reasonably edible, but the mock-cheeses were dire. Things have improved a lot, in the 14 years or so since then, and, depending on the brand of vegan cheese, they do a reasonable-ish imitation of the real thing.

(Availabale from Holland and Barrett in Barkers Pool)

 

You can get what's called "soyoghurt", soya-based yogurts which are quite nice. Plamil do soya milk, and they also do a lovely dairy-free mayonnaisse (in "plain" and Garlic flavours).

 

there are also "rice" milks and "oat" milks you could try, if you try soya and find it's not to your taste (note the unflavoured soy milk comes in two types, sweetened and unsweetened. There's also the "milk" shake varieties, too, in choc vanilla and strawberry)

 

I agree with Medusa and Lizzmobile, about swedish Glace brand ices being delicious.

[Heyesey 11]

Well if it's lactose then I'm not sure I can help, but if it's a diary intollerance or even allergy then for a start, try switching from cow to goat milk. It might not help - but it's worth a try.

 

I didn't think of that at the time, but it's very sound advice. Try some goats-milk cheese (feta?), it may make your life considerably easier than trying to be completely dairy-free.

 

Of course, you risk giving yourself a couple of days' problems if this turns out not to work. It's probably worth chancing it though.

[sTaGeWaLkEr 10]

Swedish Glace is ace. I make an amazing Christmas pudding ice cream with it. It's fab. In fact, I think Stagey had it last year, but can't quite remember for sure.

 

Mmm, I did indeed.

 

I could just eat some now. Ho hum.

[SatanInHeels 10]

....very dark choccie is usually vegan and therfore dairy free isnt it?

 

personally i would avoid soya milk wherever possible.. its pretty nasty, tho i used to cook with it when making stuff for dairy-free baby to share and it wasnt that bad..

 

....sainsburys do loads of dairy free stuff inc. ice cream which is edible.. morrisons are particularly good for dairy free choccie (of the non dark variety...) which doesnt taste like ick.. assuming that other supermarkets do stuff too..

 

get my sympathy for the dairy-free-ness... it was bad enough buying and feeding the dairy-free stuff to someone else without having to eat it myself! X

[MardyBum66 10]

I also agree with medusa and lizzmobile about Swedish Glace ice-cream being delicious. It's often even creamier than the creamiest dairy Cornish ice-cream and it's had fooled many a dairy eater when I've served it in the past. The pear flavour was my favourite.

 

I know it's always helpful and convenient to find dairy-free products in the shop, but there's a recipe for dairy-free ice-cream here, if you feel like making your own and here is the page that I found that recipe from - there are plenty of dairy-free recipes here to inspire anyone.

 

I've been both vegan and dairy-free and I always substituted soya milk for dairy milk during those times, or just didn't use milk at all. It's amazing how well, with a little imagination, you can get along without milk in your diet at all and still maintain a healthy balance. After all, milk is a foodstuff really only intended for babies! There are so many different websites with vegan recipes where you can get dairy-free inspiration and if you don't want to go vegan, you can adapt the recipes to include meat, fish and eggs if you like. Again, it just takes a little imagination and creative experimentation in the kitchen.

 

Good luck in your dairy-free ventures!

[medusa 16]

....very dark choccie is usually vegan and therfore dairy free isnt it?

 

Nope- afraid not. Many dark chocolates contain butter, which makes the chocolate glossier. It may be hidden in the list, but it's worth looking if you really do need to be sure that it's not there.

 

Thankfully most G&B, Montezuma and other decent dark choccies are aware of their products' acceptability to vegans and carry the vegan flower on every product that can use it, making the packaging much easier to check.

[Shazbat 10]

What you'll probably find is that if you live religiously dairy free when you can control it then you can get away with things like the wrong marg on a sarnie every now and then.

 

BTW, talking of marg, Vitalite is much nicer than Pure.

 

I cut out dairy by choice after I starting getting eczema on my face. Although not medically proven, it worked for me and I agree with that statement, as I've recently had some yogurt without any flare-up. I also have a tiny bit of cheese at my mum's probably once a week, and ordinary milk in my tea when I'm at someone else's house but for the most part I'm dairy free and one thing I have noticed is that I no longer have migraines! I was already using Vitalite when I noticed it was dairy-free. I've been a bit naughty with chocolate lately (but only Celebrations, not whole bars of the stuff) but also have dark chocolate occasionally. I also have bouts of irritable bowel although I think my major cause of that has been carbonated drinks so my beloved Diet Coke has gone (I could easily get thru a fridge pack of 10 in one day, so a bit addicted) and I haven't succumbed to it once - God knows what I'm going to mix my two bottles of vodka with though

[hennypenny 10]

I have found Morrisons suprisingly good at stocking free from products, they have Swedish Glace ice cream, and a good range of cakes and biscuits.

 

I am wheat and dairy free, but I can have goats cheese, buffalo mozarella and ewes cheese, all of which are on the shelves at Morrisons. My favourite is a goats cheese called delamere which is harder than most and grates well and melts nicely for toppings.

 

The nicest soya milk I have found is Waitroses sweetened, I still don't like to drink it alone, but I have found that if I blend it with banana to make a shake it is really nice with cereal

[CharleyF 10]

My eczema went away when I gave up milk - again, not medically proven, but if it works that's good enough for me!

 

Christmas stuff: Asda mince pies don't contain milk (haven't tried any yet so don't know what they're like) and quite a lot of Christmas puddings don't contain milk (Tesco classic & value, Asda classic & smartprice, Somerfield rich fruit).

 

Other stuff: supermarket own-brand soya milk is often a similar price to cow milk, but the branded ones tend to be a bit more expensive. If you try soya milk and don't like the taste you could try rice milk (look for the Rice Dream brand), I have it on cereal as it's more neutral-tasting than soya milk. For baking, I find using soya milk doesn't have any effect on the taste of the finished product anyway. I also recommend Swedish Glace ice cream.