You’ve decided to go dairy free due to your choice or medical need, now what? When you love all things dairy, but your body doesn’t, it can be overwhelming to think about changing your diet. What will you eat instead of cheese or ice cream? What can you drink instead of milk with your cookies? These are serious concerns, especially when you live with dairy loving people! Here are some practical tips and strategies to help you make the switch to dairy free as easy as possible!
Almond Milk comes in many different flavors – one of them is sure to hit the dairy spot.
* Try to go one week without dairy or use a dairy substitute
“Wait,” you’re thinking about now, “I thought you said this would be easy?” Bear with me. You certainly don’t have to follow this step, but I believe it makes switching to dairy free easier. Here’s why: when you go from a full dairy diet to a dairy free diet, with no break in between, your taste buds are conditioned to the taste of dairy. Anything that is not dairy may taste different or substandard. Taking a week in-between these changes helps get the dairy out of your system, therefore you will start to notice how much better you feel or even how clear your skin is getting. Those positive results will give you even more incentive to want to make going dairy free work for you! The other reason is that your taste buds will not remember as clearly the taste of dairy. Many people notice they can taste fresh foods better during this time, too.
Daiya Cheese is delicious! Check out all of their flavors!
* Start slow and increase your substitutes gradually
Don’t begin your first day on dairy free eating dairy substitutes with every meal. Start slow, for example, have soy yogurt for breakfast or a snack and maybe replace almond milk for milk in a recipe. Give yourself time to slowly try different substitutes, a little at a time. Gradually add more dairy free choices every day until you have tried multiple items and are satisfied with your choices. Instead of starting with pouring a huge glass of soy milk with your meal or snack, try pouring in your cereal first.
* Buy the smallest sized dairy free products in the beginning
As you are trying different products, it only makes sense to buy the smallest size until you know which items you will be using. You may decide you don’t like the taste of dairy free cheese or an alternate milk product. You won’t be wasting food you don’t like if you buy smaller amounts. You can try a wide variety of dairy free grocery items when you buy the smallest size to start with.
* Stock your fridge and pantry with dairy free products. Once you have discovered what items you really like, stock your pantry and refrigerator with a good selection. This is really important, friends! We all have days where we don’t feel well, or we have to stay home with a sick child, or even days where the weather prevents us from going out. You don’t want to be stuck at home without the grocery items you need to stay dairy free! You should plan to always have enough on hand for at least a day or two of dairy free meals. Choose some items that are shelf stable and can go in the pantry and some items that can be stored in the freezer for those days. You can buy an extra package or two of dairy free cheese and stash them in the freezer. You can even buy shelf stable soy, rice or almond milk and store them in the pantry. I love So Delicious Coconut Creamer in my pantry. I use it as I would in place of any cream and I also bake with it.
* Be creative and keep trying new products
Now that you know what you like and have extra stored for emergencies, begin to branch out and try new things. Try going back to some of the products you didn’t think you liked in the beginning. You may find that your tastes have changed enough that you really like them! When I began my dairy free journey, I only liked one soy milk. I loved drinking a big glass of it and no other milk would do! I could tell if I was served anything with another kind of milk in it and it turned my stomach! Now, I happily pour unsweetened almond milk on my cereal and use it in cooking. I love the taste and more importantly, I love the way I feel without dairy in my life! What are some of your favorite dairy free products? I’d love you to tell me in the comments.
Hi there – found your post on the Tuesday Link party and I immediately clicked because I can SO relate to the struggles of going diary free! This is a great list. It’s hard at first, but once you get in to a groove it becomes like second nature. Great post!
Unsweetened coconut milk is my go-to… However unsweetened FLAX MILK is also pretty tasty and I am going to pick up some of that today!
Nutritional yeast! We sprinkle it on EVERYTHING. 🙂 It gives a hint of that cheesy, nutty flavor. Plus, nutrients. 🙂
My son is on a dairy free diet due to a diagnosis of Eosinophilic Esophagitis. At first we were on a STRICT no dairy at all diet…so not only no fresh dairy (milk, cheese, butter, yogurt etc) but also no baked in or shelf dairy either…so no pop tarts, cheese its, granola bars, cookies, chocolate, potato chips, and basically any and all fun snack foods that a 7 year old boy loves! I was the mom in the grocery store reading EVERY single label of what she put in her cart. Let me tell you, it was exhausting! There is dairy in SO much more than you realize until you have to actually look for it in everything!
We did, however, finally find our way to some suitable alternatives for milk…he likes chocolate soy. Ice cream…he likes Coconut milk, yogurt (almond milk) as well as snacks. He enjoys Whenever Bars by Pamela’s and most all snack foods from “Enjoy Life” “Earth Balance” makes good Vegan cheese crackers which he likes as well. One of his favorite things is Dairy Free Rice Mac and Cheese by Amy’s
As for Pizza, he’s tried Ian’s French Bread Pizza and a couple by Amy’s as well. In the end, however…he just prefers me to make him a little pizza of his own with either Daiya cheddar cheese or the “Go Veggie” cheese.
Now, his restrictions have been relaxed a bit…for the time being…so he can have “Baked and shelf safe” goods, which has definitely made things easier on both of us!
Great information. My DIL needs to eat dairy free and gluten free. I need all the help I can get!
I think your tips are great for those trying to go dairy free. Me personally, I love my farm fresh milk.
Oh Johnhutchens1 if only I could eat dairy without pain and abdominal problems! You are lucky!