New to Dairyfree

[squirrel]

Hi there,

I just found out last week that there is a good chance that I am lactose intolerant and have started the 28 day exclusion of all dairy in my diet. I have been suffering from IBS for 6 years and no one had ever thought this might be the problem, until a friend of a friend suggested going for a food sensitivity test. I have shown up as potentially having issues with dairy, tomatoes, peppers and E150 (found in diet coke!!! :().

I have to say that I am finding it easier than I expected as I have never really liked milk or butter - it's the cheese, ice cream and chocolate that I miss! Although, I tried the Sainsbury's dairy free custard at the weekend and it wasn't too bad. What I am finding difficult is the number of items that I would normally buy that contain 'hidden' dairy - like some flavoured crisps. And I am finding it difficult to even buy a can of soup! Does anyone have any tips on 'normal' products that are safe that I can get easily from the local supermarket?

Cheers,
Clare

[cnc]

Hi Clare, welcome to the site.

Many normal products are safe, but the most important thing you have to remember is that packets need to be checked everytime you buy the same product. Supermarkets are pains like that, ingredients get changed and no one bothers to tell you.
If you provide some more idea of the kind of food you like/ are after then that would be quite helpful so we can suggest appropriate things.

Hope you stick around and let us all know how you get on.
Good luck

[squirrel]

Hi there,

I guess since I have only just started this, I am still trying to get to grips with what is and isn't ok! I seem to find that most things I used to eat contained dairy, tomatoes or peppers!

I love soup and could almost live off it, and make my own a lot of the time. But it is nice to have some cans for 'emergencies' when I haven't quite planned out my lunches properly. When I was in SAinsbury's on Saturday, I just couldn't seem to find one that didn't have dairy in it, which left me feeling quite down.

I love most kinds of 'foreign' food as well - Chinese, Indian, Italian, Mexican and Thai especially, but again, a lot of my 'danger' foods are main ingredients in these.

I guess I don't just want to be stuck with 'plain food' forever more. I enjoy eating and resent not being able to have what I like :D

[Fozzybear]

I think we all know what you're going through, and it can be very hard at the beginning but as time goes on you'll find it gets easier to know what you can and can't have. There is a lot of good information in the forums here, which was very helpful when I started going milk-free so if you have a browse you should be able to find a lot has already been written here that will be useful to you.

I love italian food too, but as most of it seems to rely on cream or cheese I've found that I can't eat most of it unless I make it from scratch (which means I go without - I can't be bothered with too much cooking!). There are some pasta sauces that are dairy free (but of course will contain tomatoes so no good for you :().

A good site with more information on hidden milk products is lactose.co.uk, and there is a page listing the things to look for here:

http://www.lactose.co.uk/lima/hiddenmilk.html

Some packaged goods will have allergy labels telling you which allergens (milk, gluten, wheat, soya, egg...) the product contains, but always check the ingredients list as well as these labels aren't always correct (very naughty!).

[Copper]

Hi Clare and welcome to the site. Last year I found the odd can of soup in Tesco was dairy free. I think it was their own make but for weight watchers. One at least had tomatoes in though. Most soups appear to contain dairy :(

Ice cream - no need for despair here. Most supermarkets sell Swedish Glace vanilla flavour. This ice cream is dairy free and very yummy. Other flavours can be found in health food shops - I can vouch for the strawberry. Add some Monster cracking and you will be in heaven.

Chocolate - Tesco plain organic is very nice and dairy free, Most peppermint creams or Matchmakers mint and orange are ok for us. You must read the labels though as sometimes they use butterfat. Green and Blacks make very nice dairy free bars of chocolate - expensive but :p I really like their peppermint one. Others here like their Maya Gold one.

[rebecca c]

Hiya Clare

Good luck with the exclusions, I must say I would miss fresh tomatoes. I cant eat the tinned ones and thats a pain as it is. I dont eat peppers but dont really miss them and they are quite easy to remove.

I found some tinned soups in my independent health food store, I cant remember the brand but they did leak and potatoe and pea. They tasted nice. I think I've seen tinned soup in the free from section in waitroise too.

Everyone on the site has been through it and we all know what its like so any questions just ask.

Beccy

[Pam]

Hi Squirrel,

I'll go for the Swedish Glace ice cream too, even my husband who hates dairy free stuff prefers swedish glace to normal ice cream. The vanilla one is lovely, other flavours seem to be down to personal preference as my daughter likes the chocolate one. You can also buy Tofutti dairy free ice cream and Sainsbury's sell their own brand free from ice creams (but they have been known to have accidents in the production of their free from products).

Chocolate - lots of dark chocolate is ok, if you only like milk chocolate then try the rice crackle bars (available in Morrisons and some other supermarkets) or free from bars at Sainsburys. Plamil also make dairy free chocolate but the orange or mint bars are probably nicer flavours than chocolate alone - you can get these in health food shops and occasionally Tesco. After Eights, Elizabeth Shaw etc are usually milk free just check for the butterfat that they sometimes slip in.

Cheese is not good. I use tofutti slices when I need some melting cheese but otherwise I do without. You need to try the different cheeses available but be aware that they will taste different to what you are used to. Cheezly and Scheese are the best alternatives but are really a matter of taste.

I know what you mean about hidden milk - who would have thought that they put milk in boiled ham? I've only really found vegetable soups that don't have milk in but they probably have one of your other forbidden foods in anyway.

[squirrel]

Hi there,

thanks for all the suggestions and ideas - you are starting to make me feel a little less lost in all of this :unsure:. Before this, the only thing that cheered me up was finding out that Green & Black's Maya Gold chocolate was ok - it's delicious!


Cheers,
Clare

[Fozzybear]

It is astonishing how poor the information is for food allergies but it does seem (to me at least) to be slowly improving. Some of that is just down to getting experience at looking for the information but I am definitely finding a lot more packaging with allergy information on it now compared to a year ago.

Thinking about how hard it can be when you start on an allergen-exclusion diet I think it could be helpful to newbies (and old hands too!) if we set up a dedicated list of places to find allergy information on the web - links to pages on food company websites where the information is available. I know it's all in the forums here but it's a bit haphazard so a dedicated list would be a very useful resource. I'll try and work out a possible way of presenting it and submit it on the suggestions forum.

[Nic]

Hi Clare, and welcome!

I know that some of the Heinz soups (including their rather nice lentil one, and the minted lamb hotpot 'big soup') are non-dairy. So are some of Sainsburys own brand, though they're harder to tell as you have to read all the ingredients and not just the allergy panel, since Sainsburys is unreliable about these things.

If you read labels, I think you'll probably find quite a lot. Just avoid anything that's 'cream of' and check the rest, and it should be OK. Even my husband manages it, and he loses patience pretty fast in the supermarket.;)

Nic

[squirrel]

Hi Nic,

the big problem that I am finding is that the soups that are not dairy seem to have some tomato in them! I decided just keep on making my own from nice fresh organic veg instead.:D If nothing else, this means that I can't be as lazy with cooking as I used to be.

Cheers,
Clare

[linny]

I have a similar problem with soups as I can't eat onion. The one I've had is Sainsburys Be Good To Yourself chicken and sweetcorn. Not very interesting but it's about the only one I can find.

[cnc]

I know this won't be as good for you, but why not make an extra bit of soup one day and freeze it for emergencies?? Will defrost quite quickly and you know whats gone in to it.

[Nic]

Even better, put the soup into those plastic takeaway boxes (which are both freezer-safe and microwave-safe). That way it can come straight out of the freezer and into the microwave, and lunch is ready in three minutes. And there's very little washing up, and what there is is easy.

Though I do find you have to put the lid back on once you've poured the soup out, otherwise the lid mysteriously warps while its hot and no longer fits on the box. Which is irritating.

I do this with a lot of food (cooking double, freezing and then microwaving) as I rarely have energy to cook after work.

Nic

[matt]

the other solution might be stock cubes or stock liquids. either of these mixed with hot water pretty much the same as any soup. easy to make aswell and nice and simple to store in cupboard.

i don't have wheat either so tins of soup are pretty much a no go for me.