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Original poster

So how hard is it to go dairy free?

223 replies

pointydog · 14/04/2009 15:10

I am contemplating bringing in a milk free diet in a week or so's time.

I realise I'll need to look for alternatives for milk, butter and cheese. Are they easy to find? Are they tasty?

Am I about to have the worst couple of months of my life?

OP posts:
Original poster
pointydog · 17/04/2009 23:32

oh WOW. dd2 loves tesco jam doughnuts

OP posts:
Original poster
pointydog · 17/04/2009 23:33

I really, really don;t want to be doing this for more than 6 weeks, kenny

OP posts:
psychomum5 · 17/04/2009 23:37

try it for 3yrs.......you get to be an expert!!!

in fact, going on the children being allergic, I am now in my 13th yr

problem is the foods keep changing. For EG, in the summer, I can eat pate as it is milk free.............come xmas tho, for some strange reason, all pate that I like and normally can eat, suddenly contains milk.

and this has happened now for 2yrs, so not just an ingredient change..........tis like a seasonal factory-gone-insane change!

kennythekangaroo · 17/04/2009 23:40

Try 27 years!

Labels are much easier now but food is better quality and is more likely to have real milk products not flavourings.

psychomum5 · 17/04/2009 23:44

give me a few more years kenny, and I will be there

ronshar · 17/04/2009 23:57

I too am trying to be dairy free. BFing DS who is 6 months. He is a vomit monster if I have dairy.
Waitrose do a fresh Oat milk. But I use the long life one as well. It is crap in tea so if anyone has a replacement for milk in tea that tastes almost the same I would be eternally grateful.
Both of my DD's have been almost dairy free upon weaning due to excema. They get to have cheese and yogurts every now and then. DD1 is 9 and she seems to be almost out the other side of it now. Fingers crossed.
Good luck pointydog.

psychomum5 · 17/04/2009 23:59

I live with black coffee (am not a tea drinker), so cannot help with that I'm afraid.

the curdle effect put me off!

trixymalixy · 18/04/2009 00:13

IMHO none of the milk replacements are that good in tea. I preferred to drink really weak black tea than use any of them.

extremelychocolateymilkroll · 18/04/2009 00:32

I went dairy free a while back and found Rice Dream was really nice in cereal but useless as a replacement in tea or coffee. Plain soya milk was disgusting. Carol Vorderman's 28 day detox recipe book is dairy free and has lots of good, easy recipes.

foxinsocks · 18/04/2009 09:32

we were egg dairy and soya free for about 3 years and still egg free (for dh and dd though I suspect she may have outgrown it, dh certainly hasn't!) and chicken free (for dh, though admittedly, it's a bit easier to avoid a chicken than it is dairy ).

PixelHerder · 18/04/2009 10:55

Redbush tea with nothing in it is good (and healthy).

Just avocado on toast with salt and pepper is nice... or go continental with bread and olive oil. Get in lots of hummous, it's good for thickening sauces or just generally dolloping on things for a bit of flavour.

Ronshar - do you mind if I ask whether any of your DCs had weight gain issues when babies? I am curious as DD was dairy-allergic and was very underweight from around 10 weeks. She was breastfed to 14mo but I never gave up dairy myself. She was always violently ill when I experimented with formula. She gained weight well after she was mainly weaned onto (dairy free) solids at about 1 year.

ronshar · 18/04/2009 13:43

I can really help you with that one really. Both DDs were not allergic as such just intolerant. Alot of dairy caused a massive excema reaction. In the bad old days I was advised to wean early, 14 weeks with DD1, and DD2 I just did it alone as HV & GP's were very unsympathetic. One GP told me the link between dairy & excema was rubbish Used normal formula & invested heavily in natural life creams!
DS is only 6 months but the HV has offered perscription formula if I want. BF at the moment & avoiding dairy foods for both of us. DS has not gained anywhere near as much weight at the same age as the girls. Although he is tall/long. Big feet, I have just had to buy proper shoes as the slip ons were not big enough!

Can I ask if anyone here is Coeliac or knows how it is first presented? My DD2 (4) has just started to get bad tummy aches following any intake of wheat. Cereals, bread, buscuits, cake all seem to make her either sick or instantly poorly. It does seem to go away again quite soon but it is beginning to worry me!

PixelHerder · 18/04/2009 14:51

Ronshar, thanks, that's interesting. DD didn't have eczema until I tried introducing dairy with solids at 18 months, when it suddenly flared up on her hands and tummy. I stopped the dairy and it went away. Tried again 6 months later and at 2.8 she seems to tolerate it much better now, occasionally gets it behind her knees though. Don't know about the coeliac, sorry - so far wheat seems okay with DD (touch wood!).

ElenorRigby · 18/04/2009 15:11

You can get lots of soya based dairy substitutes. Just go along to your nearest health food shop. Have a look round vegan websites too.
A big plus to a dairy free diet is weight loss. I was vegan for a while and dropped from a size 12 to a size 8!

CantSleepWontSleep · 18/04/2009 15:51

Psycho - who told you that Tesco jam doughnuts are dairy free, because they aren't! Waitrose ones are df, but def not Tesco.

psychomum5 · 18/04/2009 16:12

the donut making man. I used to work there and he showed the book he with the allergy info in.

tis only the red jam ones that are safe for me tho...........all the others contain either milk or apple puree

psychomum5 · 18/04/2009 16:13

I made a mistake trusting the asda ones tho.

had one of theirs the other day, mouth was tingling and I was wheezing after the first bite, so they are def not safe.

Original poster
pointydog · 18/04/2009 16:33

The thing is, elenor, my nearest health food shop is ages away. I haven't got time to spend on this. And I don't want to start ordering special food stuffs from websites that cost a lot more money. I don't want to replace tasty food with more expensive sub-standard replacements.

I've been pleased with what I've found in my local supermarkets so far. And I've been pleased with the cheap products you non-milkers have helped me to find.

Went to a cafe today. It was rubbish. There was nothing that dd2 wanted to eat that she could eat.

I let her have a quarter of my scone to make up for her rubbish choice of lunch. Day 2 and we succumbed to the milkiness. I reckoned one little bit wouldn't make a huge amount of difference.

OP posts:
psychomum5 · 18/04/2009 16:35

oh pointy, tis hell going out to places and finding milk-free stuff. especially if you want something cake-like or sweet. I find myself having more savoury stuff now than ever before.

waterstones near me has a nero coffee shop in, and they do a gluten-free, dairy-free carrot cake that is very yummy.

waterstones get a LOT of my custom

Original poster
pointydog · 18/04/2009 16:37

we'll have to get in the habit of taking our own stuff, psycho. This cafe also had macaroni cheese! dd2's most favourite meal of all

OP posts:
psychomum5 · 18/04/2009 16:55

oh no, that is even worse then!!!

I find it hard seeing people eat lasagna. and in fact, none of my family have had it since my allergy was DX'd, as I cannot stand the thought of it.

poor family, they put up with a lot for me

psychomum5 · 18/04/2009 17:53

do you wanna hear something THRILLING.....

DH has just come home with angel cake.........and it is milk-free[stunned][thrilled]

Original poster
pointydog · 18/04/2009 18:20

great!

what is angel cake?

OP posts:
foxinsocks · 18/04/2009 18:22

we did a lot of macdonalds when mine were small. At that time, they had the best allergy info by miles so I could easily tell what to avoid.

Original poster
pointydog · 18/04/2009 18:29

whey hey, supersize me

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