Shopping Around... Dairy Free

When we first started shopping dairy free, I must admit I was a bit daunted. I mean, I knew that I was safe with plain meat and fruit and veg but there had to be more to food than that!! Would I have to give up cakes, biscuits and chocolate? It's all very well being born with a milk allergy - you never know what you're missing, but when it is suddenly thrust upon you (and until now you've been able to eat whatever you like) you know exactly what you're missing! 

Fortunately, as I was to discover, there is food that you can still enjoy out there... somewhere, it's just finding it! 



First, know your 'enemy'!

So you've got the list? You know the one that goes like this...


Check labels for: 
milk (including skimmed, semi skimmed, evaporated, condensed, dried, longlife, sterilised)
buttermilk
butter
cheese
quark
cream
yoghurt
fromage frais
casein
caseinates
hydrolysed casein
whey
whey solids
whey syrup sweetener
milk solids
non fat milk solids
lactose*


Yes? Well, now you have it, anyway!

This'll be the list that you'll need to assist you in your shopping! The list looks a bit long long to remember off by heart, but of course most of these do not need to be learned off by heart as they are pretty much common sense. It's the unusual words, that you never realised had anything to do with milk (for me it was 'casein') that really need to be taken in. By the way, watch out for 'lactose free' - this does not mean 'milk free' or 'dairy free'!

Update 2019: You no longer need to carry around this list in the EU, because of statutory requirements that mean that all food products have to clearly denote the presence of the top fourteen allergens (one of which is milk). However, it is still worth knowing your enemy, as other products such as shower gels etc. do not have to declare the presence of the top 14 allergens. I have recently found a really comprehensive list of allergens via a US Allergy Charity which is really comprehensive. Please click here.


Checking the labels

Dairy free shopping means checking the food labels on every food product you purchase (even if you have bought the product before, as recipes and ingredients can change) and being aware of all the ways that milk might be referred to on these labels. It can be a bit of a chore. 

Once upon a time, it was much more difficult to source suitable products, I believe health food stores were pretty much the only option (I shudder to think what people did before these came along). Now the big supermarkets have got in on the act; they've cottoned on to the 'need' or 'market' and made things slightly easier for us - in that they not only stock specific 'Free From' products but helpfully group them together in one section. The big stores also have lists of dairy free products which can be obtained from them, if you ask.

A supermarket Free From aisle

Helpful as this is, the frustrating thing is,that they often major on 'Gluten Free' products some of which (by no means all) are also dairy free, so again you need to check labels. Conversely and confusingly, sometimes products labelled 'Gluten Free' are sometimes also dairy free but do not state it openly. Waitrose gluten free chocolate chip cookies are just one example of this and it's a shame they don't make more of the dairy free labelling, because in my opinion, they're quite scrummy. 


Recently I met a mother whose child, like mine, was dairy free and who expressed her frustration at the restrictions of her child's diet. She just wanted to buy her daughter 'ordinary food'. If you are or have family members who are dairy free, you have probably shared this frustration at some point. The good news is, that there are products out there on the shelves of the supermarkets**. The bad news is that it is a bit like looking for a needle in haystack unless you get some hot tips from someone you know (I can still remember the huge sense of joy I felt, when told by the curate's wife, that Hobnobs were dairy free). 



Use modern technology

The next bit of good news is, that you can get an app for that!! Called 'Food Maestro,' its been made in conjunction with Health Care Professionals, who work with allergies. It doesn't work in all stores yet, but is getting there!


My husband has been my lifeline - he often finds food products, when doing the weekly shop (which, to make life easier, we now do online at Ocado). He originally started doing this to avoid the weekend scrum at the supermarkets and soon discovered he liked the way they laid out their product information. It was through investigating Ocado's website that he discovered my gluten free pasta, which I'm only mentioning here because it is made with chickpeas and is therefore quite handy if you are trying to top up your daily calcium (it's also available from Waitrose, in the fresh pasta section). Of course other stores do similar things with online shopping, you just need to find the one that suits you. 


You can also shop online by using Internet food stores devoted to allergies. I haven't used these personally but have looked at a few and found them quite interesting. They have a wider range than you might find at a supermarket and provide accurate information.  The only thing you might find with these is that delivery charges add to the price of already pricey items - Free From food is already expensive enough as it is! 


You may decide online shopping is not for you and may not have a smartphone on with which to use fancy apps but you can still find product information online, and browse for ideas before you hit the shops. In the past we have used Sainsburys site which seemed to be fairly helpful but I don't generally spend much time browsing for products, unless I'm looking for something specific. Also I get frustrated if I can see something online but not in my local store! 



It's worth shopping around 

Someone made me laugh the other week by pointing out that my husband*** works for one major supermarket, but that we shop elsewhere - at Ocado and Waitrose. This is not entirely true - living in an area where I have quite good access to a number of different supermarkets, I hop around the different shops according to where I happen to be that day or according to which Free From products I want, as the supermarkets all vary slightly in what they have to offer. Prices can vary too, as I found out last week, when I visited the Co-op and found that my favourite brand of Free From bread and my Free From Jaffa cakes are currently cheaper at the Co-op than at either Sainsburys or Tescos! 


I also still pop in to independent health food shops from time to time. They might be a bit pricier than the supermarkets but they quite often have products that you can't find elsewhere (except maybe the allergy food shops online). Where else can you find a dairy substitute made from pea protein? And they tend to offer their customer a bit more of a personal touch than supermarkets too. Who else might offer to order in something that they don't have in stock, but will offer to order it anyway, because they can get hold of it and they know you want it - like those Free From ice cream cones I wanted, last summer? Yes! These days you can get dairy free ice cream! Mmm! Sounds like a cue for another blog!




*Watch out for 'lactose free' on labels - this does not necessarily mean 'dairy free'!

**The bad news is that if you are really sensitive to milk, a lot of these products may not be suitable for you. Even if they do not contain milk in the ingredients, they may still contain 'traces of milk'. This is because they have other products made on the same production line that are made with dairy - in which case they cannot guarantee 100% that a tiny amount of dairy might not enter the one you're after. 


NB Something else to look out for - if something is suitable for Vegans then it may also be dairy free. Although some products that say they are Vegan still say 'may contain milk'. The only way to be sure is to (yep, you've got it) check the label carefully everytime.

*** The Hub no longer works for any supermarket - just in case you're wondering!

Anyone for coffee and cake?

I don't know about you, but when I go out shopping, the trip doesn't seem complete without a bit of a pit-stop somewhere along the line. I think the habit began, when I was a teenager and my Mum started taking me and my sisters to the odd cafe for a sneaky tea and cake. I don't always indulge, but from time to time, the urge to have a coffee with a bit of cake on the side, just steers me in the direction of a cafe. 

It was one of the things I was so looking forward to, when I went on maternity leave. Problem was, my maternity leave had no sooner started than it finished when I was admitted to hospital with HELP syndrome, and ended up giving birth far earlier than I had originally thought. Oh well! I thought, as I lay in hospital, I'll just make up for it once baby has arrived. 

Of course it didn't work out that way as before long we found out that our baby had an allergy to cow's milk. As the realisation began to sink in (of what that meant for me, if I continued breastfeeding) I thought what can you do and where can you go when you're dairy free?

The answer to that, of course (if like me you've tried going out for coffee and cake) is not a lot, sadly. Finding a black coffee, if you can't tolerate soya, you can do almost anywhere. Finding cake to go along with it, is something else! If Baby is asleep my options are wider as she can now tolerate it if I have something with a little milk in it, like a biscuit or small cake, but if she's awake - no chance - she wants what I've got!  In the interests of complete self- interest, this is what I have found so far:

The Big Three!   (near me anyway)

Costa

Soya milk - yes

Cold drinks also available.

Dairy free cake - yes! Last Christmas Costas made my day, when I realised that they sold a slice of Christmas cake which was dairy and gluten free!! What's more I thought it was great. If I was being really picky, maybe it was a teensy bit dry, but you tend to get that with gluten free cakes anyway. 

Alternatively, they now offer a packet containing two mini Cherry Bakewell Tarts (which Baby LOVES!) The packet says 'Gluten Free' on the front, but the back of the packet confidently states that they are also wheat and dairy free.

Costa now also sell gingerbread biscuits that are dairy free (not gluten free). They're quite big, for a little person, though!

Anything else you can eat?  - plain crisps and fruit. I couldn't find any nutritional information available on their website. It's a shame, because when you rush in, you don't have time to stand there and read all the labels and, in my experience, you can't rely on the staff to possess detailed knowledge about the food they sell. 

Starbucks

Soya milk - yes

Cold drinks also available.

Dairy free cake - NO, not anymore! They used to sell a chocolate and hazelnut loaf. I thought it was OK, if a bit dry, but maybe I'm just desperate for a bit of cake!! But the only problem was that it often sold out. Now the only problem is that is has disappeared completely!! There is no dairy and soya free cake at Starbucks, at all!!

Anything else you can eat? The answer is, not much if you're really hungry. There is a Vegan gluten free wrap, but it's usually filled filled legumes I avoid, because of intolerance. A friend of mine asks for the fruit loaf, without the butter and you can ask for soya milk with your porridge. Starbucks website says they do a bacon butty. They do have what looks like a very comprehensive chart on their website which covers various things, including dairy, but sadly a lot of the dairy column is filled with N for no! If you do take a look at the chart, I'm not sure if it's still there, but watch out for a sandwich listed as dairy free - it contains cheese! Please beware if you have the bacon butty - if it's heated on the same grill as everything else, there is every chance of cross-contamination occurring!!

Cafe Nero

Soya milk - yes

Cold drinks also available.

Dairy free cake - Yes! - although if you're gluten free, there is now the option of an OK raspberry, coconut slice. 

Anything else you can eat? - fruit, plain crisps and more recently, I spotted some sweet and salty popcorn. Nero do have additional nutritional information online, but you have to research product by product - which is very time consuming. 

Is there anywhere else you can go? 

This isn't an exhaustive list, by any means, so if you have any other suggestions, we can add to it.

Sainsbury's

Near us there's a large Sainsbury's. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they have decided to stock two Free From nibbles - a chocolate brownie and an almond biscuit! The almond biscuit is obviously a replacement for the mince pies that they stocked around Christmas. 

Sainsbury's  cafe also has a folder for staff, full of nutritional information. I found that if you ask, they will show it to you. They can't guarantee that any of the food they sell is dairy free unless it is in Free From packaging. If your dairy intolerance is not very severe, you might be OK with some of their food, as long as it doesn't list dairy products on the ingredients list in their folder. However, it is always a calculated risk, as none of their food is produced in a strictly dairy free environment.

Bebo

A small local, independent cafe. They have just two cafes in the UK - Welwyn Garden City and Birmingham. They sell a wide range of drinks and offer soya milk as well. It's basically a sandwich bar and food on the menu is made to order, so there is some lee way about what you can request, when you make your order.

The one near us has a really nice ambience and the staff are helpful, although not always all that knowledgeable. They are beginning to recognise the importance of food allergies - apparently, my coeliac friend approached the manager there, when the shop opened and asked him what he was going to do for Welwyn Garden City. He responded by supplying gluten free cake and has gone on from there to offer gluten free bread as well. Some of their cakes are meant to be dairy free as well, according to one staff member I spoke to, he just couldn't remember which!!  

Summing up!

So the answer to my earlier question is that the main players (near me) are pretty similar, but there are some differences. I think that it just goes to show that both independent cafes and big chains can be open to new ideas, they just might need to be approached to realise we're out there! I mean to go back to Bebo and Starbucks to ask about dairy free products again, because I believe that if you don't ask, you don't get!

There are dairy free alternatives, but it's certainly not butter!

You may be familiar with the advertising slogan for a current alternative to butter: 'I can't believe it's not butter'. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a true alternative to butter in dairy free land. It's very difficult to replicate the true flavour of dairy products. However, I have found a spread that replaces margarine quite nicely. The one I use is produced by Pure dairy free. They have produced three different versions: Soya, Sunflower and Olive, all of which are are associated with certain health benefits. Their website provides more information and some helpful recipes to try, but here are a few of my personal thoughts about their products:

Soya

The soya version isn't any use to me, due to my problems with soya. I did try a bit, to see if my body would cope with it (it didn't), and it seemed to taste OK. It is the spread of choice for supermarkets - if they only have room for one dairy free margarine, they seem to stock this version, by default - which is rather annoying for those of us who need to avoid soya!

Olive

The Olive version is alright, but I thought it produced slightly greasier results, when baking. 

Sunflower

My favourite version is sunflower, which I have found to be very versatile - good on bread and toast, I've also used it for making scrambled egg and cakes, with excellent results. I have to admit, I thought that it might have some unpleasant after taste, but I haven't noticed any. The other good thing about sunflower is that it contains vitamin D, which your body needs to absorb calcium.

Update
Since I wrote this post other dairy free margarines (usually made with sunflower) have seemingly sprung out of the woodwork! Vitalite's version is available in many places, Sainsbury's also sell one called 'Tomor' in the Kosher section of their chiller cabinets and most supermarkets now seem to be producing their own dairy free brand - from M&S to Aldi! Now we have choice!!

Update 2015:
Look out also for Koko's new margarine, which is coconut based. It is currently sold via Waitrose.

Here's what to look out for!

Update 2016:

Now Flora have entered the dairy free fray by bringing out their own dairy free version. Watch out though, as the packaging is very similar to it's Original margarine! I also hear that its made on the same lines as other products containing milk, so if you're really sensitive to dairy, it may be best to avoid!