Dairy free cheese products

[colsxjack]

Hi there.

We have recently gone dairy free at our house. DD has some food intolerances and we have realized that a big one is dairy. We have cut out all dairy for her and all of us. Problem is, she LOVES cheese and it is a healthy and guaranteed snack and dip for her. 

Before we cut out dairy, she ate cheese cubes, cream cheese on toast, yogurt and sour cream.

We are needing some dairy free cheese and yogurt and sour cream options.

We just bought some Tofutti cream cheese and it was a hit on toast for snack tonight.

Any suggestions for other replacement products for her dairy loves? She is 16 months old.

She also cannot have tomatoes, citrus, berries or other acidic foods.

Thanks so much. I have already learned so much from all of you here.

[germin8]

It's expensive, but coconut milk yogurt is the best.  They make soy yogurt, which is good too... but not the best.  :)

[ShadowMoon]

For cream cheese and sour cream we use the Tofutti brand. I also love Tofutti frozen pizzas and ice creams.

http://www.tofutti.com/

For yogurts we buy So Delicious brand Coconut milk yogurts as well as their soy based yogurts. I also love their ice creams. Yummy!

http://www.purelydecadent.com/products/products.html

Another soy  yogurt choice is Wholesoy, which I like.

http://www.wholesoyco.com/our-products/soy-yogurt/item/soy-yogurt

For cheese I buy Daiya brand cheese (for pizzas, mac & cheese, melty sandwiches, etc)

http://www.daiyafoods.com/

I also use Follow Your Heart block cheeses for pizzas, grilled cheese and baked mac & cheese. The same company makes Veganaise, the best vegan mayo you can buy. I haven't tried their dressings yet but I hear their great.

http://www.followyourheart.com/

For a yummy boxed Mac & Cheese I use Roads End Organics.( For extra yumminess, add some of that Daiya cheese to it as well)

http://www.edwardandsons.com/reo_info.itml

I hope that helps a bit. Peace~

[colsxjack]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I am off to try to find some of these products for us.

Hopefully I will be able to get them here in Canada, I do live in a very vegetarian and vegan friendly city.

I know I can get the tofutti products and veganaisse here. But I will really be on the look out for that coconut yogurt. yum.

[catnip]

The dairy subs that we use are:

Kirkland Organic Soymilk- plain and vanilla

Organic Earth Balance margarine

Tofutti Better than Sour Cream (blue label)*

Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese (yellow label)*

Daiya

Most of the dairy free ice creams I've found are quite good, but we've taken to making our own to save money.

A caveat: Dairy free cheese is not a nutritional equivalent to dairy cheese. It usually doesn't have much protein, is seldom fortified with calcium, and we generally use it as a condiment rather than a food - ie. we make a bean and Daiya quesadilla and use the cheese to get our daughter to eat the whole grain tortilla and the beans.

* Check the labels on these. Some are made with hydrogenated oils, but both types have a non-hydrogenated version.

[JessicaS]

I like most the soy or coconut yogurts.

The coconut milk ice cream is nice but expensive. I like almond and coconut milk. So Delicious has shelf stable coconutmilk in boxes, that is what I usually buy.  I just recently got the Silk almond milk but I haven't tried it yet. I like the Earth Balance for butter.

I don't really like most the cheese subs. They are ok in small amounts or I like the soy swiss in grilled cheese sandwiches but I mostly just make more dishes that don't need cheese.

[AllyRae]

I agree with the Tofutti, SoDelicious, and Daiya.  Daiya is the only vegan cheese that I've found to actually taste good, melt well, and work like normal cheese.  I've even made fondues, pizza, nachos, & mac and cheese with it. :)