Lactose free

[suki1964]

Need some help

I have a guest coming Boxing Day , staying two nights, drinks black coffee, and I know I can get lactose free spread

Main meals Im on top of - we eat meat and veg and I cook from scratch so that I can deal with

What's frying my brains is - its Christmas - hes (British ) a long way from home , and every where there's chocolate cream and cheese etc etc

I dont want to be going all out and buying a bunch of ingredients which will be wasted, so Im looking for ideas for

Chocolate
Dessert
Snacky foods whilst we may decide to hit the cheese and bikkies

That I can buy from - Tesco, Sainsburys , Marks, Asda and Lidl - those are the supermarkets we have here

As I say, two nights, he doesnt need milk, meals Im on top off. Its just the treaty stuff , Id hate not to have something he can tuck into

I have had to accommodate lactose-free guests before, quite a few times actually, and I've been surprised by what they eat / do not eat.

Like you I want it to be a good hostess, and I went out and bought all the different lactose free things I could think of such as lactose-free cheese and lactose-free cream for coffee and lactose-free desserts, and you know what they did? They eat the regular cheese, they ate the regular desserts with dairy in it...

And when I expressed concern and said "oh but I got you this special!!" They said, "Oh I don't really like that stuff anyway, that's okay, I'm going to eat the regular food and if I toot later, too bad."

Some lactose-free friends just make sure that they pop some sort of medication which I guess alleviates their symptoms?
Some people just eat the dairy and don't mind the consequences.
And other people were very very strict about the non-dairy, but since you don't know for certain, honestly, don't go out and spend tons of money on special foods for them.

Of course you want to be a good host and you want to make sure that your guests are comfortable but honestly, if I had a special medical condition or dietary requirement out of necessity or out of religious / spiritual beliefs, I would not expect someone to be able to cater to my every desire.
I would bring a small container of my own lactose-free milk, or a small cooler with my own special snacks, for instance. I would not expect the host to have to think of everything especially if they don't have the same condition.

Try the bigger supermarkets as they do lactose free cheese. Even our smaller ones where I live offer cheddar, halloumi and feta. I’m assuming the bigger ones offer more choice. They also do lactose free Greek yoghurt - just need lactose free clotted cream and we’re sorted

I use Tesco olive spread

Look for dark chocolate desserts or the plant based ones taste good

Lactose intolerance or an allergy? If intolerance then it’s a sliding scale of intolerance and they may be able to tolerate all but the softest cheese. You really need ask. I’m LI but can eat chocolate but couldn’t stomach cream.

This is what I do. As long as I have enough lactose free milk each day to get a good dose of lactase, it balances out the odd treat. If not, I pay the consequences a few days later as lactose aggravates my joints, but usually it’s worth it! I only suggested the options on my post as you don’t know how severe someone is

My sister is Gluten and Dairy free and this is my go to dessert at Christmas (I use decent quality dark chocolate which is normally naturally dairy free and then fill it with sweetened dairy free cream)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolate_roulade_79152

You sound lovely! I avoid cow's milk as I flare up with eczema but can cope with a little goat or sheep's milk cheese. Maybe check with your guest if there are any snacks they like. My mum v kindly buys me oat milk and vegan cheeses but I have adapted and have herbal teas without milk so it goes to waste. The vegan cheeses I have tested were so disgusting that I had to discreetly take them home and bin them. I would/do feel awful when people buy stuff in specially and then I feel obliged to eat it.

I think its an allergy - from birth

Hes my niece's boyfriend ( future husband )

He drinks black tea/coffee and when I asked niece about preferred spread for bread she says he usually goes without , I can run with that but - I also want someone in my home not to be missing out

I remember a conversation with my sister this year when she was over the moon to find lactose free croissants so they all shared the same breakfast

Ive spoken to niece , she says he will be fine with what I serve, and I know he won't go hungry , but I dont want him sat at the table whilst we are having dessert or cheese and him just sat there

This family dont often ( very rare ) eat dessert, there's Ice cream in the freezer if needed. Then I was thinking if I do make dessert - its always got a hell of a lot of dairy , and Christmas is the time that we will do dessert and snacks

See, this is the insight Im after - is there anything worth buying ?

My cooking from scratch Im ok with, I can keep everything dairy free - until I think about dessert and snacks - as well as not going to a lot of trouble

Im guessing I need to look at ready made Vegan?

Vegan magnums are lovely, as is Ben and Jerry's if you can get it! Also had some really nice chocolate cakes from Waitrose that my mum got, will look for them!

Here! My two favourites

That looks great. What is the dairy free cream equivalent you buy? Im rural NI , so other then the above supermarkets, which stock for local tastes, Im lost

Vegan magnums and Ben & Jerrys are indeed excellent!
vegetable based cakes eg carrot cake tend to use oil rather than butter
dairy free spread and milk work fine for baking or making custard
alpro do a ready made custard which is good and also some mini pots in dark chocolate which are lovely with berries.
those ready made flan cases with fruit & jelly are usually dairy free (child of the ‘80’s me!)
meringue, fruit and dairy free cream or ice cream

Vegan cheeses vary from shit to just about palatable

Tesco have dairy free mince pies - free from section
m and a have a vegan panettone this year
most supermarkets have vegan chocolate - high cocoa content is usually vegan if somewhat bitter
strawberries and meringue is a nice dessert
rhe vegan magnums are very yummy
ben and jerrys do a vegan ice cream now.

It depends how lactose intolerant you are. Dd is fine with hard cheese, butter and yogurt as lower in lactose, dh can't deal with yogurt at all but OK with cheese and butter. Cream, ice-cream and milk are the worst but they can both have small quantities with lactase tablets. At the moment they both rate the Boots own brand.

Swedish glace is the best dairy free ice cream going. Yes, it's not fabulous flavors, but it also works.

Sponge Cake - make with margarine, and put glace icing on

Biscuits - harder, but DH eats homemade lemon crinkle cookies, and chocolate fudge crinkle cookies - make sure it's an oil based recipie, not butter!!

Crisps, nuts etc - pretty much all ok.

We have a block of lactose free arla cheddar (bought in tesco) which tastes normal (unlike vegan cheeses) which we cook with - but dh gets a separate serving, and separate cooking dish if we are after a cheesy topping under the gril.
Pretty sure it's Arla who also do lactose free cream - in tiny little tetrapaks with a screw top lid.

Shop bought pastry (jus-rol short crust and puff for certain) can be vegan. I've always made mince pies, so no idea about shop bought ones, but can do home made dairy free ones easily.

He takes the risk and eats Xmas cake a couple of times - and usually gets away with it unless someone has slipped up somewhere with dairy..

If they are lactose intolerant, ask them what they can tolerate. My DD is lactose intolerant. She can eat chocolate with no issues, but can’t eat regular cheese or milk. Butter is ok in smal amounts but only if its cooked. There are different levels of what people can tolerate

My ds is lactose intolerant and follows a dairy free diet. Agree with pp re vegan Magnums - always a safe option. I generally make a cake or dessert with vegan flora/oatmilk/ vegan cream/ high cocoa content chocolate and then everyone can eat it.

@suki1964I use Elmlea plant based or Oatly in the roulade. Any plant alternative to cream that you can whip up should work. Or I have done it with a chocolate buttercream made from dairy free spread before!

Dairy-free DD over here.

1 Dairy free ice cream is surprisingly good. We don't really like the coconut stuff but Ben & Jerry's do a small but lovely selection, vegan magnums work well and the Jude's vegan vanilla stuff works well. All of the above will happily be eaten by the dairy eaters although the Jude's stuff we use for "milk shakes" etc.

2 If you are up for baking in advance, https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chocolate-chunk-cookies these chocolate chip cookies work very well using Stork instead of the butter in the recipe. If you are using a Stork block, use 110-115g of margarine and if you're using the softer stuff, use a bit less - say 100g generous. We use dark chocolate - 75% - from Lindt. They are so popular that we have not been able to host a gathering in this house for anyone under the age of 12 without these being demanded and DD's teacher has to keep hers aside at class communal parties as they go so fast [and I speak as someone who HATES dairy free biscuits etc!] They keep quite well but also the dough can be frozen and then just baked as and when. So it's worth doing a double batch.

3 Lindt dark chocolate generally good. DD also eats small amounts of random other, poor quality, chocolate that's so heavily procssed it doesn't matter, so don't be surprised if your guest happily tucks into the occassional kit kat or similar.

4 Anyone who is properly lactose free has long given up cheese as a "thing". Don't give it another thought. If you have goats/sheeps milk cheese around anyway, depending on the type of intolerance/allergy, they might have a bit but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

5 Oat milk works well as an alternative in most recipes. I even do it for yorkshire puddings and they're great, but they do need a little sprinkle of baking powder as the oat milk otherwise can make them a bit heavier (I don't bother on a normal day as the kids don't care, only if doing them for a crowd and I want to impress!).
Similarly, Green and Blacks, Costa and Starbucks all do great hot chocolates that are dairy free and can be served with oat, soy or almond milk as per the person's preference. Alternative milk can also be used to replace milk/yoghurt in smoothies.

6 If you're making the cookies, just use the Stork spreadable stuff, then he'll have something to spread on bread/toast if he wants to as you'll have leftovers.

7 DD snacks on a lot of savoury things - oat bars, popcorn, crisps etc. Dark chocolate as above. Also, of course, sweets work - haribo etc - vs chocolate or cake.

I found the cream - Marks, but it only had a short shelf life so I will pop up again before Christmas. Not seen it anywhere else , but I didnt see any cheese nor am I afraid did I find the Swedish Glace ice cream.

Marks had a diary free Christmas pud , bit no Christmas cake, but did have some nice boxes of chocolates dairy free

I did get some millionaires shortbread in Sainsburys

As I say I just want some bits so hes spoiled and getting a treat when everyone else is raiding the chocolates .

Hes British living in Oz but he and my niece are going to England for Christmas ( meet the parents ) and coming to me for just two nights . Hes being very supportive to my sisters family - BIL is seriously ill - and even though Ive never met him, I want to spoil him, let him know I appreciate him being there for them all

You have all been so helpful - thank you all so much. Im used to catering for vegetarians, and gluten intolerance and having half the family muslim am used to cooking on different BBQs , but its the first time Ive ever had to deal with a lactose intolerance/allergy - so a learning curve for sure

Thank you all xx

I'm lactose (and gluten!) intolerant. I wouldn't touch vegan cheese with a bargepole - it's absolutely revolting. I can tolerate moderate amounts of hard / aged cheese (the bacteria in the aging process eats up the lactose apparently), but if he's allergic rather than intolerant it might be different for him. There are lots of vegan desserts and ice creams you can buy. Dark chocolate often doesn't have milk in it.

I'm lactose intolerant and allergic to milk.

I don't eat dairy products, never have, and don't eat the fake stuff either. If I told hosts not to bother, because it really doesn't bother me at all, and they went out and bought all that crap I'd be mortified.

Lactose intolerant. Can’t eat cheese and the vegan stuff is horrible. Randomly can eat blue cheese. Aria lactose free cheese is lovely sane for their cream cheese. There cream also whips up like a normal cream

Vegan magnums are great. Crisps and fruit as snacks. Terrace some really nice vegan cheese cakes and the coconut collab choc mousse is great.

my fav dessert is meringue, thick vegan youghrt, honey and fruit

I have a vegan friend who I ‘feed’ regularly and lessons I’ve learned from that have helped with a friend who doesn’t eat dairy’

Buy stork or Tesco baking margarine block they are plant based. Great for cakes, sauces etc
Oat ‘milk’ is great for custard.
Oatly make good pouring and whipping ‘creams’. if whipping the cream to serve alongside something it benefits from a bit of sugar and a couple of drops of vanilla essence.
Swedish glacé vanilla ice cream is dairy free and we all like it so it doesn’t get wasted.

Dr Oetker extra dark cooking chocolate is vegan.

Armed with the above you can make and serve most desserts.

cheeses tend to be more tricky, I’d look at offering non-cheese alternatives eg pate (checking ingredients for milk)

I'm lactose intolerant (and coeliac). My fridge has Lactofree cheddar, single cream, soft cheese and milk. When I cook for us, I just use the lactose free equivalents for sauces or toppings. Waitrose does lactose free feta and halloumi. That was a great call on pate to go with the cheese course. If you look at Tesco online, you can filter for no lactose, and there are lots of "normal" items that are lactose free. I've just bought a Bendicks mint selection and some Elizabeth Shaw crisp mints for treats...both normal ranges. Good call on the vegan Magnums and Judes. I have meringues and berries on hand to add cream or ice cream. Beware crisps with meat flavours as you will need to check labels for stealth milk. Tesco Finest roast beef and horseradish are safe and far too nice, and most of the Finest crisps are milk free as are some of the crispy snacks. You can filter the Christmas snack range for lactose free.

You are a lovely host, OP, and I'm sure it will be appreciated.