Recommendations for dairy free picky food ideas for Christmas grazing board

[Preg1989]

What dairy free “picky foods” do you recommend?

I’m newly dairy free and already thinking about Christmas!

We are having, what I would call, an unconventional Christmas dinner this year. I am sick of spending hours cooking what ends up being, a fairly standard meal. (More down to my skill than anything else.) I love a grazing board so this the theme I’m going for. Lots of little picky bits I’ll cook throughout the day as well as fresh fruit and vegetables for dips etc. I’m not hosting so no pressure there.

I’ll miss out on anything with milk, butter, cheese - which is fine! But I’d still like to make it a bit more special than usual grazing board fare. Has anyone tried anything recently that would fit the bill of basically fancy finger food. I’m up for any kind of cuisine and a little prep is fine too.

Thank you!

Make a dip from a jar of good quality butter beans and a jar of artichokes, both drained and blended with a hand-blender. Season as you go with lemon, chilli, onions, garlic, whatever you like. It's really delicious and so creamy while being dairy-free. Another good one is cooked beetroot, walnuts, fresh coriander, garlic, lots of salt (called phkali in Georgia).
If you can have eggs, Kuku Sabzi (Persian baked omelette made with herbs) works really well cooled and cut into squares. There are loads of recipes.
I also like really good smoked trout on rye bread with lemon and pepper

Most ready made puff pastry is dairy free, so you can do pesto twists and things like that. I've seen people doing them in a Xmas tree shape.
Smoked tofu, marinated eggs, sausages rolls.

Lots of the French Xmas sea food is dairy free - oysters, smoked salmon, lobster, big prawns etc. That could be a nice centrepiece if you all like seafood?

Thank you for the suggestions!

Not a huge seafood fan, we had lobster last year and as bad as it sounds, I get the ick (for want of a better expression) about some of the textures and one little taste of a texture I’m not quite sure of and that’s it, I’m done! Bit too pricey to risk.

Smoked salmon is a good idea though - thank you!

Could you choose suitable things from the M and S Christmas items on Ocado?

I can see some things which might appeal to you in the Party Food section, for instance.

https://www.ocado.com/categories/events-inspiration/christmas/m-s-christmas/cb0e4c88-a91d-440b-a369-70a7c38356de

Thank you, I was planning to have a look at the M&S catalogue when it came out.

When I filter to milk free, there’s no results - maybe I’m not selecting the right thing! What filter did you choose?

Can you eat goat or sheep cheeses or no dairy at all? I assume not vegan because you eat seafood. Do you eat meat?

These are very versatile. Replace the milk with oat milk or whatever alternative you use and no cheese. I've done tuna/sweet corn, ham or bacon, tomato or semi dried tomato, basil, salami and almost anything really. https://www.amummytoo.co.uk/filo-pastry-mini-quiches-great-for-kids-to-make-and-eat/
These without the feta https://www.olivetomato.com/greek-salad-skewers/
Curried or deviled eggs https://susanjoyfultable.com/recipes/salads-vegetables/curried-eggs/

I didn't look with filters; there were items like the prawn cones and so on which I thought were unlikely to contain dairy. You will be able to check when the catalogue comes out.

I think that it's scheduled to be available next week.

https://www.ocado.com/categories/events-inspiration/christmas/m-s-christmas/party-food/62f4391f-b469-4749-b6c9-bd85cb36679f

Pesto has cheese in though

Onion bhaji.

Can you have goat, sheep or buffalo cheese?

Spring rolls/wraps with rice paper.

A lot of Mexican can be dairy free. A make your own taco station would work.

M&S has the worst dairy free selection. They have more options for pets than dairy free. Pesto can be dairy free, Phillipo Berio, and various supermarkets do their own vegan pesto. You can also make your own. Sainsburys have some Christmas snacks in their free from aisle. Tesco have the biggest selection/availability of free from. There's a few garlic breads, crosta mollica for one, that uses oil instead of butter.
I think mostly you're better to make your own version of whatever you fancy with simple, good quality ingredients.
This is our second Christmas dairy free, since child diagnosed, and I really don't know what to plan this year.