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I just found out that I'm very allergic to dairy. I haven't drank milk for years, so I know all the good substitutes for that, but....
I need some good non-dairy substitutes for:
Cheese
Cream Cheese
Ice Cream
Yogurt
I bought some stuff at the store and it was nasty... so I need some help! Is it even possible to get good non-dairy replacements for this stuff?
Hi, Gizmo,
I have more or less given up. Cheese is not replaceable, at least for me. What I missed the most was my weekly homemade latte. I have discovered that I can heat a full-fat cocoanut milk (not that stuff in the dairy case, the canned stuff) and mix with espresso and it is lovely. It is not a latte but it is good. I don't mess with cheese, ice cream, or yogurt. Or sour cream. Those are items that I miss but I am better off without rather than trying to substitute.
I also dropped wheat. One of the sites I read suggested that you stay wheat free for quite a while before trying substitutes. The reason is that if you have a recent memory of wheat, the subs will not really measure up. If you wait some weeks or months before subbing, then you are happier with the subs. Perhaps that idea would apply also with dairy?
If you eat soy you may have better choices but I react to soy, also...I'll be watching this thread for solutions!
Chopped nuts and seeds make a good replacement for cheese that you would sprinkle on something.
To replace spreadable cheese, try nut butter or hummus.
To replace hard cheese - just eat something else. There is vegan "cheese" at the store but I find it unappealing.
Ice cream - there is a really good coconut milk-based ice cream that our natural food store carries . It's costly but as an occasional treat, its very good. It's also not difficult to make your own ice creams based on almond, soy, or coconut milk.
Yogurt - there is soy yogurt but I just go without when I'm off dairy.
I find it much more constructive to think of alternatives not as replacements, but as available foods. Cheese has a pretty distinctive flavor and so if you're trying to find a precise replacement, you probably won't.
My daughter is VEGAN. She likes VEGAN sour cream and cream cheese. She hasn't found any non-dairy cheeses she likes though.
You can even find some Almond yogurt. She likes the almond/rice/soy ice creams.
We all like Almond milk. You can find it in unsweetened or slightly sweetened, or very sweetened. I like the Almond Breeze chocolate milk.
just don't eat it. you don't really need these things.
when i was vegan, i never ate the substitutes either.
You can make tasty panna cotta (and undoubtedly ice cream) from almond, coconut, and (new!) almond-coconut blend "milks," now available in the dairy case. I'm particularly fond of Almond Breeze's unsweetened almond-coconut. Supposedly, you can make yogurt from them if you add sweetener to feed the bacteria that normally eat lactose.
http://veganepicurean.blogspot.com/2...rsion-one.html
Here's a nice, fairly comprehensive list of reviews of different dairy alternatives: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=24336.0
Are you allergic to all dairy, or just cow? I know people who can tolerate goat and sheep dairy, so obviously that opens up whole avenues of delicious food.
Kara
Don't know if it is all dairy or just cow dairy. I figured out that dairy was the thing causing the problem through trial and error. I haven't had any dairy for 3 weeks. Then to test it, I had a burger with cheese on it last weekend. Immediate reaction.
Also, to make this more difficutlt, my boyfriend is very allergic to nuts, so I can't do anything with almond it in.
I have to admit though I've avoided all kinds of foods at various times for various reasons, dairy products are the hardest for me to give up--which is probably a sign I should try harder.