Go-to Dairy Free Foods

[kbtoyssni]

I'm thinking about going dairy free, but struggling with what to eat when I want something fast and don't feel like cooking. I have plenty of Gluten-free Casein-free recipes that I make, but I run into problems when I need something quick. When I don't have time to cook I eat baked potatoes or rice with cheese and salsa for lunch, quesadillas or tacos for dinner, string cheese for snacks. I also don't eat a lot of meat. Any ideas for stand-by dairy free foods?

[missy'smom]

For your potatoes and quesadillas and tacos, you can use Vegan Gourmet cheese just as you would regular cheese. Or use avacado on the tacos for that creamy feel. Not all the alternative "cheeses" are CF. Some taste nasty, but the VG tastes fine to me.

[OptimisticMom42]

Something I just started doing....... coconut milk, fruit and your favorite sweetener makes a pretty good "It's not Yogurt". Adding a little flax seed and taking acidopholus gives it some of the benefits of the real thing.

I use olive oil on my mashed potatoes.

Good old fashioned lard for frying eggs.

Another recipe I got from this site........ one cup rice milk, one can veggies (peas, asparagus...), Herb Ox Bullion ...... makes a yummy quick soup.

I still miss butter and ice cream

[jststric]

I have yet to find a dairy-free cheese I care for. But with a little planning ahead you can have a decent homemade sour cream by using soft or silken tofu, processed with minced garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Or you can find Tofutti brand sour cream as well as cream cheese at stores like Whole Foods or Better Health.

I use this alot to get that creamy texture to my dishes, as well as guacamole or plain avacados.

[kbtoyssni]

OptimisticMom - I'll have to try that quick soup recipe. Sounds like it would be good.

I don't feel I need to use dairy-free substitutes for all my old favorites, although I do want to try that sour cream recipe. I'd almost rather find new, naturally dairy-free foods to eat which is what I did when I went gluten free. Today I bought orange juice at the grocery store. I'm hoping it will be a good substitute for drinking milk with my breakfast. I can get it in concentrate form so I can always have some in the freezer.

[tarnalberry]

I use almond milk on my cereal - even my husband, who just thinks he's lactose intolerance, uses it. I just don't use cheese these days. I make tacos and enchiladas, but just don't add cheese. (Plenty of veggies, though. ) You can still make potatoes (using either butter, if you can do small amounts, or non-dairy butters like EarthBalance). Rice is still great, and turning it into fried rice is actually pretty quick, especially if you've got eggs on hand. I find eggs turn into a great "go to" protein, that cooks up quickly and can go into a lot of things. Avocados can help too.

[GFinDC]

I sometimes fry up some bacon and keep it in the fridge. Then I can make a quick corn tortilla roll-up with a piece of bacon, some mayo, lettuce. Toast the corn tortillas first. A couple of these does me fine for a quick breakfast. I suppose you could do this with soy bacon or some other meat free option. I try to avoid the soy products though so I prefer the real deal bacon. Or fried eggs work too. Guacamole is easy to make as an alternate to mayo.

I made some of the Betty Crocker brownies recently with olive oil instead of butter. They came out great.

Sometimes I fry a bunch of veggies and then drop a couple eggs on top for breakfast. Quick and easy breakfast.

Chex cereal with coconut milk or hemp milk and a banana sliced into it is good. Raisins are a nice addition also.

[Juliebove]

I do stuffed baked potatoes. These can be made ahead of time and put in the oven or if you're really in a hurry, the microwave when you're ready to eat.

Scoop out the insides of a large baked potato, leaving a 1/8" shell. Mash with rice milk, olive oil, chopped green onion or chives, salt, pepper and a generous amount of nutritional yeast. Stuff back into the potato, top with sweet Hungarian paprika and heat through.

Hummus pizza. Can bake your crust ahead of time if you want. I use Ener-G rice shells. Cool the shell, top with a generous amount of hummus then chopped or sliced tomato, cucumber, onion and Kalamatta olives.

Beans and nuts are my go to foods. I eat kidney beans straight from the can. Tonight I had some Hormel chili topped with tomato and onion.

I've made a meal out of Fritos, tortilla chips or thick potato chips and canned bean dip.

Apples and peanut butter are good too. You can hollow out a whole apple and stuff it or use slices and dip them in.

I also like big salads with a lot of beans and nuts on them.

[Juliebove]

I use almond milk on my cereal - even my husband, who just thinks he's lactose intolerance, uses it. I just don't use cheese these days. I make tacos and enchiladas, but just don't add cheese. (Plenty of veggies, though. ) You can still make potatoes (using either butter, if you can do small amounts, or non-dairy butters like EarthBalance). Rice is still great, and turning it into fried rice is actually pretty quick, especially if you've got eggs on hand. I find eggs turn into a great "go to" protein, that cooks up quickly and can go into a lot of things. Avocados can help too.

We eat a lot of Mexican food without the cheese but sometimes I add a layer of canned creamed corn to things like enchilada casserole. Gives it a creamy texture.

[kbtoyssni]

I had fried rice for dinner tonight. Delicious!

Love the idea of creamed corn on mexican food. I used to love creamed corn as a kid, but I haven't had it in a while.

Really like the hummas pizza and stuffed potato ideas. I suppose if I keep more veggies around, it's easy to put together these types of meals without cheese. I have a few veggies I love and buy all the time (mushrooms, peppers, onions), but I tend to not stock up on other veggies because they go bad if you don't eat them quickly. Looks like I'll have to do a *little* more advanced planning so I can buy what I need for the week.