Viewing 39 posts - 1 through 39 (of 39 total)
  • Going dairy free
  • Pickers
    Full Member

    Hi folks,
    For various reasons my daughter has decided to try dairy free for a while.
    Has anyone here done this or doing this? We’ve found various alternatives to milk, cheese is proving problematic though. Any suggestions on this would be appreciated.

    jam-bo
    Full Member

    I avoid milk and cream. Cheese and chocolate is fine in modest quantities.

    I feel much better for it.

    Almond milk is good on cereal. Black coffee I prefer anyway. Goats cheese
    is nice.

    cinnamon_girl
    Full Member

    Rather than go dairy-free has she tried lactose-free?

    Pickers
    Full Member

    CG – just asked – she does mean lactose free.
    Jambo – cheers for the that, she’s tried almond, oat and a couple of others, with some success. See how we go for a bit

    RobHilton
    Free Member

    We’ve found various alternatives to milk, cheese is proving problematic though

    The alternative to cheese is no cheese – vegan “cheese” is **** rank!

    MissisRob is vegan, I’m the cook and find most subsitute products to be no substitue at all and prefer to make stuff that just doesn’t contain animal products.

    I’d suggest ham if for sandwiches, for pizza topping some Italians prefer it without cheese 🙂

    Out of interest do her reasons include animals welfare?

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    We’ve found various alternatives to milk, cheese is proving problematic though.

    Depending on what you’re reasons for going dairy free are – whether its for moral or health reasons for instance (and without knowing if your daughter is 6, 16 or 60)…. i found it much better to just cut dairy altogether than to try and find dairy substitutes.

    That of course depends on how healthy and varied your diet is as theres lots of useful stuff in milk if you’re young and growing – but I found the problem with alternatives to milk is they don’t get you out of the habit of milk/cheese in terms of what you like to prepare and eat. The problem with that is dairy subs aren’t as readily available – I found them really inconvenient and you were always aware that what you were eating/drink wasn’t really milk.

    If you cut dairy out and are a real fastidious git about it (read the labels on everything – skimmed milk powder is everywhere and there are some places where its not on the label – such as bread) then after a few weeks your palette changes and you start to like sharper flavours – strong coffees, olives, citrus (milk and cheese really dulls everything). To begin with there might be stuff you need to drop all together – I just gave up with tea for instance, I couldn’t make tea I liked for a year or so. After starting again I drink it differently – less often and a mug of tea lasts me much longer.

    After a few weeks you’ll be eating and drinking different stuff, after a month you don’t miss dairy, after a couple of months you won’t even like dairy very much anymore.

    However if you’re young and growing particularly, then you need to make sure you’re getting the dietary stuff thats missing and unless you’ve got a good varied diet then the way to do that is with stuff like soya milk. I have that in porridge, as I wasn’t really a porridge eater before so having a milk substitute in it doesn’t taste wrong.

    cinnamon_girl
    Full Member

    Pickers – lacto-free dairy products made by Arla and include skimmed, semi-skimmed and full fat milk, yoghurts, cheese (hard) and it’s not too bad. Available from major supermarkets.

    Pickers
    Full Member

    The alternative to cheese is no cheese – vegan “cheese” is **** rank!

    True!!

    Out of interest do her reasons include animals welfare?

    No, or at least not for this

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    The only non milk cheeses are vegan so you answered your own question

    scruff9252
    Full Member

    One of my ex’s gave turned vegan as a late teen/early twenties as part of a hippy phase.

    When I met her in her she was trying to wean herself away from the vegan diet as it wasn’t working for her nutritionally. Seemed to be a lot of effort and every time she had some dairy she would have, what smelt and looked like baby sick.

    She seems to have a completely normal diet now and is much healthier as a result.

    RobHilton
    Free Member

    Junkyard – lazarus
    The only non milk cheeses are vegan so you answered your own question

    Who has?

    She seems to have a completely normal diet now and is much healthier as a result.

    She was doing it worng

    Northwind
    Full Member

    Switch to dog milk.

    Pickers
    Full Member

    We’re not intending to look at being vegan or vegetarian, quite happy for chicken and veg on the same plate 😉

    Ms Pickers jnr is 21, otherwise happy and healthy. She has a couple of minor issues, we’re basically experimenting a bit and trying to drop or reduce certain things to see if we get any change.
    With this in mind I guess it’s important for it to be all or nothing to get a true answer.

    RobHilton
    Free Member

    A food diary is really handy in these cases

    steveoath
    Free Member

    I tried and it was a **** nightmare. Ymmv.

    therag
    Free Member

    My 5 year old is allergic to diary & it was a total nightmare at first, but it’s fine now we’re used to it.
    The bigger supermarkets sell a good range of diary free products now. The soya cheese is rank but it’s all he knows.
    He’s never tried chocolate, yogurts, butter and so many other foods but there’s plenty of other choice.

    squirrelking
    Free Member

    Switch to dog milk.

    Didn’t do Lister an harm.

    I went non-milk when I was at sea due to the fact UHT (and especially asian sweetened UHT) is ****ing vile. I just had juice with my flakes in the morning and got quite a taste for it. Never did take to black nescafe though, port visits and subsequent fresh days were always a happy time.

    If I was to go dairy free I would just avoid the fake stuff. 99% of the time it tastes like crap and ruins an otherwise pleasant meal. Tofu being an odd exception as it makes surprisingly good hotdogs.

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    TOP TIP:
    Kraft cheese slices make ideal patches for
    heavy cheese eaters who are trying to cut down

    tinribz
    Free Member

    Recently cut out the cheeses (pizza) didn’t miss it after a week. Like goats cheese but don’t ‘kid’ yourself it is any different to cow’s. Out of Almond, Rice and Soya have settled for Soya on cereal, switched to green tea instead of coffee. Don’t read labels but avoid the obvious stuff like mayonnaise, chocolate and desserts. That must cover 95%? Only really miss creamy soups.

    ahwiles
    Free Member

    Mayonnaise? That’s news to me (heads to fridge).

    I find meals-out the hardest part of sticking to a dairy free diet.

    sniff
    Free Member

    Some dark chocolate is dairy free. Try Aldi/Lidl or Co-op. Alpro Soya light or almond are the current favourites here.

    jam-bo
    Full Member

    . Like goats cheese but don’t ‘kid’ yourself it is any different to cow’s.

    My 3 yr old son drinks goats milk and eats goats cheese quite happily.

    Give him cows milk or cheese and it’s explosive….

    P-Jay
    Free Member

    My daughter is Dairy Free, she’s allergic to it and lacto free doesn’t work, so I’ve gone diary free for the sake of simplicity and solidarity.

    Vitalite isn’t as nice as clover on my crumpets, but I’ve got used to it. Soy milk is okay if a bit sweet, other than that I’ve dropped cheese, “fake cheese” is horrible and ice cream makes me ill.

    We’ve got to avoid the trace amounts in different foods, that’s usually just a case of reading the labels and picking the diary free one.

    garage-dweller
    Full Member

    Is this no-cow dairy or no animal’s milk?

    If it’s the latter can’t help. If it’s the former it’s a doddle (sort of).

    One thing to check for its just how much stuff that looks like it would never go near a milk product has powdered whey/milk proteins in. (speaking from wider family and friend experience here – no expert on this just experience of catering for no cow milk people).

    garage-dweller
    Full Member

    Just to add to that the cow milk difference in my relatives and friends case is something to do with a protein or something that is not in goat milk.

    Now consumes goat products with impunity.

    Sounds possibly like jambo situation above.

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    Who has?

    The OP when he agreed with you that vegan cheese was all rank

    There is one but it is gourmet and internet order only and about £20 per kg….nice for vegan cheese but not at the price. Name escapes me at the minute as well.
    There is some ok melty stuff. ie it melts but still tastes of nothing much

    He’s never tried chocolate, yogurts, butter

    Dark chocolate is fine as are say After dinner mints type ones as well

    Alpro do Soya youghurt as do Tesco and Asda-s its nice IMHO – though it is a long time since I did milk

    There is no pretend butter that I am aware of
    Can i recommend this as well…as good as any cream in a can [ high praise eh ]

    And this which many non vegans will eat through choice after trying it

    garage-dweller
    Full Member

    Swedish Glace is really good.

    Non-vegan, dairy loving omnivore opinion.

    globalti
    Free Member

    I’m sure she has but…. has your daughter seen a gastroenterologist? My cycling buddy is one and I’ve never known anybody with such a clear understanding of the reasons for food intolerances.

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    Vitalite isn’t as nice as clover on my crumpets

    ‘Pure’ is dairy free and theres 3 versions, one of which you might like more than the others. Non of them are ‘buttery’, but that is sort of a good thing

    RobHilton
    Free Member

    Alpro do Soya youghurt as do Tesco and Asda-s its nice IMHO – though it is a long time since I did milk

    I’d second that – tastes nothing like yoghurt, but is nice and works ok in some cooking. Makes much nicer mango lassi than yoghurt

    Pickers
    Full Member

    One of her friends suggested Swedish Glace as well so we’ll get some of that, thanks for putting that up.

    has your daughter seen a gastroenterologist?

    To be honest not yet, it’s only been 3 days though since she started.

    Tracker1972
    Free Member

    Just to throw an even more extreme example in 🙂 When out 3 year old was little she was quickly diagnosed as at least dairy intolerant (mum was told to cut down when breast feeding and it helped, mum cut it out and baby was “non-explosive” some dairy slipped through the net and the eruptions returned, all whilst baby Tracker was still exclusively breast fed) so she was fairy free from being weaned.
    This is when we learned why soya is used to replace dairy some of the… “stuff” in dairy is similar to the same “stuff” in dairy (sorry for the jargon) which was why she (baby) was still struggling, so we cut out soya as well, much better still! Our gut feeling started us down the right path, so don’t worry about not seeing a specialist yet but be prepared to cut more if it seems to help.
    As mentioned above, we cut months out of the time it took for a diagnosis by keeping a careful watch on ingredients and a detailed diary of food and symptoms. We could answer the questions there and then rather than trying something for another 8 weeks, keeping a diary and going back.

    She grew out of all of her intolerances eventually but about 2 years of cutting out dairy, soya, white fish, gluten and pea (yes, you can get pea protein yogurt to replace soya and she puked and otherwise vented that everywhere as well) we found that armed with a couple of websites and some imagination we could still eat a pretty “normal” diet. The cake made with mashed potato and rice flour was a particular highlight. Looked bloody awful but tasted great!

    br
    Free Member

    I feel really sorry for anyone who is actually allergic to any foods, and no sympathy whatsoever to those that ‘choose’ not eat certain foods and then struggle with ‘supplements’ and the like.

    RobHilton
    Free Member

    I feel really sorry for anyone who is actually allergic to any foods, and no sympathy whatsoever to those that ‘choose’ not eat certain foods and then struggle with ‘supplements’ and the like

    An argument here might be about those who sympathyse with the animals who are treated inhumanely and chose not to support this in the food & other industries.

    Some people* really don’t know how to feed themselves properly – I find it a bit annoying as it seems simple, but I make pretty much all of my own food, have an interest in what goes in my mouth and am happy to spend time researching good food from round the world as I like being healthy & eating well.

    Others may not have the same motivations as me, or similar encouragement whilst growing up to be adventurous & inquisitive – if anyone shows an interest I encourage them, but most people just want to tell me they’re comfotable in their little bubble and couldn’t possibly eat salad for lunch cos it takes too much effort to do things for yourself.

    *Lots, as it turns out

    bruneep
    Full Member

    My wife isn’t “allergic” to any foods but her body cannot process certain proteins and additives. aspartame being the big no no.

    Thanks for your sympathy 🙄

    Sundayjumper
    Full Member

    My wife has the Arla lactofree milk and it’s OK. If we run out of normal milk I’ll have it in tea or in cereal and it’s fine.

    My daughter seems to be some kind of dairy intolerant. She spent a few days in hospital after fully switching from breast to moo-cow milk. We cut out dairy and since then (touch wood) she’s been fine. She drinks oak milk from her bottle and absolutely LOVES it. Soy yoghurt tastes different to normal yoghurt but not bad, just different. Works fine on fruit for a pudding. Olive spread on toast. She dosn’t seem bothered about not having cheese.

    diz
    Full Member

    I developed dairy intolerance about 4 years ago, it leaves me with breathing difficulties so I avoid it all together, you will be surprised how many food products contain dairy, be it milk, cream or butter etc. Equally you will also be pleased with the amount of dairy free products now available. Most super markets have free from sections and a simple search on the net will give access to such delights as dairy free ice cream and the likes. I struggled with breakfast cereal but found oats soaked in water overnight with some sugar and then strawberries, blueberries, grated apple and sliced banana is very nice.

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    I’m nowhere near completely dairy-free, but I’ve cut out direct sources of milk (i.e. in coffee/tea or on cereal) and I feel better for it.
    I now just put apple squash on muesli in the mornings and take my hot drinks without milk/cream.

    I’ve always had problems with my sinuses and reducing my milk intake has definitely improved them. I’m much less snotty and congested for it.

    My mate recommended I try it after he noticed the same thing when he gave up dairy (as part of his treatment for MS).

    mikey74
    Free Member

    On cereal, I use Coconut milk, which is far nicer than Soya milk or the nutty variants IMO.

Viewing 39 posts - 1 through 39 (of 39 total)

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