So a few years ago we discovered that our middle daughter, Kennedy, had an allergy to all things dairy. Not just lactose, but literally every component of dairy. Her allergy had gotten so bad that it was not an unusual thing to spend a lot of time in the restroom or even to vomit on a daily basis. I could forget about eating a warm meal at a restaurant. It was really sad because her most favorite things were full of dairy. Her favorite snacks were yogurt, string cheese, pudding, and drinking just plain milk.
When we first had to remove dairy from her diet we were completely overwhelmed. Most of the things we ate on a regular basis included milk or some form of dairy (cheese usually). Spaghetti O’s for lunch? Nope - they have milk. Sandwich at Schlotzsky’s? Nope - their bread has milk. Chocolate chip cookie or chocolate chip anything? Nope - it has milk. A lot of potato chips even have dairy! 😩 Other places you don’t suspect dairy: Chicken Nuggets, Fish Sticks, BBQ sauce, and really just in any and everything. Ok, so what can she have?
One of the very first stressful trips to the grocery store I met this really nice vegan girl by the dairy free ice cream freezer. She very kindly got us started, and let us know that Oreos surprisingly DON’T have milk in them. YAY!
Our very first haul from the store was limited. We ended up with pretzels, dairy free pancake mix, dairy free chocolate chips, dairy free bread, one of those heat and eat complete meals in the form of spaghetti, lots of meat, and of course Oreos. Since that time we have found acceptable replacements for most of the things Kennedy liked to have, except pizza. You do NOT want to get me started on dairy free cheese. 🤮
If you are starting a dairy free diet, here are some of the things we get to enjoy. I hope it helps. We use Silk original unsweetened almond milk for both cooking and cereal. Smart Balance butter is also great to cook with. *Always double check these labels as changes may be made or I picked up a different variety than what you may be looking at.*
- Dairy Free Go Gurt made with coconut milk found at Target and Publix
- Ben & Jerry’s Almond Milk Icecream
- Muffins cooked with almond milk
- Mashed potatoes made with almond milk or mayonnaise (mayonnaise really only works with real potatoes and not so well with instant)
- Sara Lee and Great Value are 2 of many dairy free breads (just check them all because there are just as many with milk as there are without it)
- Tyson Chicken nuggets
- Great Value Fish Sticks
- Spaghetti without cheese but yay for Smart Balance Butter so we can still have garlic bread!
- Duncan Hines Yellow and White Cake mix and standard vanilla icing are dairy free. Aldi has a dairy free chocolate icing.
- Duncan Hines chocolate chip cookie dough mix in the bag is dairy free
- Pillsbury Sugar Cookie Dough and Chocolate Chip cookie dough is dairy free
- Great Value Hamburger and Hotdog Buns
- Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup
- Great Value Crescent Rolls - canned in the refrigerated section
There are a lot of items that can be made dairy free just by replacing milk with almond milk or using a dairy free butter like smart balance. For things like s’mores or something else you’d need chocolate for, some of the dark chocolates don’t contain milk.