Whether you have a dairy-free diet by choice, because of food sensitivities, or allergies, you may have already discovered how challenging it is to find high-quality, delicious, dairy-free products and alternatives.
Ever since we discovered my daughter had life-threatening allergies to all dairy products, my husband and I have been making various changes to our own diets. It has been a struggle to eliminate certain foods but in this time of change we have made some great discoveries of delicious products available to us and our little girl. Today I’m sharing some of our favourite dairy-free products and alternatives.
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TOP DAIRY-FREE ALTERNATIVES
Becel Vegan Margarine
Prior to discovering this margarine, baking was a challenge. We now use this vegan margarine in all of our recipes that call for butter or margarine.
Rice Dream
Rice Dream has served as a great alternative to milk. My daughter drinks it regularly and we use it in all of our recipes that call for milk. Since its low in fat, we ensure she gets enough good fats in her diet through avocado, fish and olive oil.
Daiya Substitute Cheese Shreds
This is by far, the best cheese substitute there is! It comes in various flavours. It is made with arrowroot and tapioca flours and is produced in a facility that is free of dairy, lactose, casein, gluten, nuts and soy. We especially like that this cheese substitute melts and stretches just like real cheese. It also tastes delicious. It is not a significant source of vitamins or minerals but it does fill the gap for recipes that call for cheese. Bring on the pizza!!!
Chocolate Silk
We are chocolate fiends! Finding a safe delicacy that satisfies our sweet-tooth has been a challenge. However, Chocolate Silk is the richest, most delicious chocolate beverage we’ve found. It does not have the typical aftertaste that most soy beverages have. We can even warm it up and drink it like hot chocolate. Of course our daughter loves it too!
Enjoy Life Foods Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
These chocolate chip substitutes are made in a facility that is free of dairy, nuts, soy and gluten. Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips are a fantastic substitute for all those dessert, cookie, loaf and muffin recipes!
My daughter is also allergic to eggs. There are various egg substitutes available but we save money by making our own. This homemade egg substitute is a fantastic leavening agent.
Egg Substitute
Whisk the following ingredients together until frothy. This recipe sufficiently substitutes one egg.
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp water
Dairy-free eating is much easier with the fabulous substitutes available in the stores. In fact, most of the time I don’t even miss dairy. Have you discovered any great dairy-free products? If so, we would love to hear about them!
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I really enjoy poking around your site, always great tips like these!!
Thanks Tara! I’m glad you found this useful!
This is a great article! I am always looking for dairy substitutes to use in my recipes. My motivation for eliminating dairy is due to the horrors of factory farming, which applies as much to dairy farmers as meat farmers. While I am passionate about being a vegetarian, I always feel guilt for consuming dairy. I will have to try out your vegan butter and cheese recommendations. For eggs, I typically use flax seed and water, which works great as well. I will test out your egg substitute next time I bake though!
Thanks for sharing,
Monica
Enjoy Life brand chocolate chips are really yummy! I’ve used coconut milk to make cream soups and that’s really yummy too. Wish I could give you a recipe, but soup is one of my favorite things to make ’cause I usually don’t use a recipe . . . if I decide I want to make it creamier toward the end I just dump in the coconut milk; if vegetable based I blend with an immersion blender, so all the blended veggies make it a little thicker.