Dairy Substitutes

Vegans don't eat dairy, but finding recipes that don't require dairy is often unrealistic, so there is sometimes a need to find a substitute. Lactose-intolerant people, same thing. I am both. I do not tolerate milk or milk-based products well. The point is, there are plenty of options for people who choose not to or aren't able to tolerate dairy. And, some of them are fantastic! Wine and cheese anyone?

Cheeseball with French Bread

Erin's Opinion

I've said I'd give my honest opinion about the dairy substitutes I've tried, so I will. I won't be glossing over anything to make it sound better, or more viable or less disgusting than I think it really is. However, remember that these are only my opinions, and you very well may not agree. After all, I don't even like bananas, which is weird, right? Also worth noting, that Laura and I don't agree on many of these products either.

Nay

Yay!

Almond Milk

As soon as I have milk in my mouth, my throat and ears begin to itch. I also get gastro effects from it, which can make me ill enough to spoil my day. So, even before I thought of becoming vegetarian or vegan, I was replacing dairy milk with almond milk for my cereals and beverages. Almond milk, to me, even tastes way better than dairy milk with the added benefit of not having to block out any knowledge associated with milk production. I won't get into that here. Almond milk has a nuttier flavor (go figure) than dairy milk, but is otherwise very similar in both taste and texture, especially the unsweetened ones. I think all almond milk is better than dairy, and my favorite brand is Earth's Own. I especially love almond milk on porridge and cereal, but it's fine to use for cooking as a milk substitute for most recipes, and I even use it to make cream soups, etc. I also use cashew milk sometimes, which is a bit richer and thicker. We've made both almond and cashew milk here at home as well, but with the price of nuts, you're not saving money, just wasting time, really. It's the same as the store kind.

Earth's Own Almond Milk

Earth's Own almond milk is about $.50 to $.75 more than regular milk. Silk has a cheaper version, but Laura doesn't like it as well. I think Silk's is fine, but I do prefer Earth's Own. There are also a lot of other brands available now, especially in comparison to just 5 years ago, when they only carried Earth's Own and would be out of stock more than they we in stock. I'm thankful for all the options they have now, including various flavors like vanilla, sweetened, unsweetened and chocolate.

Earth's Own Almond Milk $4.69

Earth Island Vegenaise

This stuff here is a godsend. I started using it a few months before going vegan, just to test the waters and was amazed that it was actually delicious. It's a bit lighter in texture than mayonnaise or salad dressing, but the texture is okay and it tastes really, really good. I love it on cucumber or tomato sandwiches and it makes for fantastic potato salad. I love a vegan product that doesn't contain soy. Downside is that it's pricey at 7.99 a jar...a small jar, at that. So, we go a little easier on the "mayo" than we used to, but this is probably the 5th jar I've bought.

Earth Island Vegenaise

There are different types of vegenaise, but we've only tried the grapeseed one. We like it, so I'm hesitant to try other kinds, even though they're cheaper ($5.99).

Grapeseed Vegenaise 7.99

Hellman's Vegan Mayo

So, Hellman's has finally decided to tap into the vegan market and has come up with a product I like even better than the Vegenaise grapeseed product. I've used it for potato salads, tomato sandwiches and cucumber sandwiches and it's delish!

Hellman's Vegan Mayonaisse

Earth Balance Margarine

This  is good too, for margarine. I can't say it tastes better than butter, but it's as good as any margarine. Plus, it has a soy free version and also comes in sticks or blocks for cooking.

Earth Balance Margarine

Again, the downside is the price. It's like paying butter prices for margarine. However, to vegans, the price is worth paying and if it's not affordable, then it's used as a treat, when not having butter for toast is just not an option.

Earth Balance Margarine $5.49

Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream

Like I've mentioned before, it's better than no sour cream, but not as good as dairy sour cream. Sometimes you just want a fajita, you know? Or a baked potato. And you want it the way you've always had it, with a dollop of sour cream and chives.

Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream

This sour cream substitute costs about $1.30 more than regular brand name sour cream and about $2.00 more than the no names. We don't care because we're using it less; we're really not spending that much money on sour cream anymore in the grand scope of things. I'll tell you where we're spending a lot of money: produce. And boy, has the price of produce gone up. But I digress.

Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream $4.29

Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese

Nope. It's not.

Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese

Tofutti's products aren't all soy-based, but most are. Some are better than others, but they went astray while flavoring this cream cheese somehow.

Daiya Cheese

The Daiya cream cheese is even worse than the Tofutti stuff. Mind you, we have not tried the plain kind yet, only the chive & onion and strawberry kinds. Ate most of the chive & onion kind on bagels. Not inedible, but not delightful, either.

The provolone was used for oven subs and it was okay, but suffers in comparison to actual provolone. Overall, we're not big fans of Daiya.

Daiya Cheese Substitutes

Daiya cream cheese subs are a bit more expensive than Philadelphia cream cheese, too, by about $1.50.

Daiya Cream Cheese Substitutes $5.99

***UPDATE ON DAIYA CHEESE***
Ohhh, how things change. I am a big believer in that if you try a food enough times you will begin to like it. Now I like Daiya cheese slices, especially on grilled cheese sandwiches. So good! We haven't tried some of the other products again yet. but we've gone through several packages of this sliced "cheddar" stuff. So there you have it. Daiya isn't all bad. :)

Daiya Pizza

We don't enjoy Daiya cheese substitutes, but still thought this frozen pizza looked like a viable option for dinner one night. It really wasn't. Neither of us finished it and it was a waste of $8.99.

Don't get me wrong; I don't hate the brand, in fact, I really appreciate that they make dairy substitutes available. I know of people who like their products and a couple people who love them. I read some reviews from people who really love them. Just not a huge fan of them myself.

Daiya Pizza

Daiya Frozen Pizza

Homemade Vegan Parmesan

There is still hope for pizza! This vegan parm substitute is one of the best things I've ever had. It just takes a couple minutes to whiz some up and the recipe only calls for a few simple, easily-obtained ingredients: raw almonds, nutritional yeast, garlic powder and sea salt.

Recipe here!

Almond Parmesan on Pizza

I can't say enough about this stuff. We love it soooooo much. We put it very liberally on pizza, pasta, garlic bread, and whatever else we think it would be good on. We've let some friends sample it and some of them are hooked as well. Honestly, even if real parmesan wasn't animal-based, I don't know that I would go back to it in place of the almond parm. The best part is, of course, the taste, but it's also completely nutritious. How do you overdo it on almonds, garlic and nootch?? You don't! That's the beauty. And, it's actually NOT more expensive than real parm.

Cheeseball

The cheeseball in the top pic was amazing. Laura made it on the weekend and I love, love, love. I ate way more of it than she did. She didn't like the coconut undertone, but I did, I thought it was perfect. It was rolled in these amazing organic cranberries that I bought at Boyce Farmer's Market in Fredericton a few weeks ago.

Here is the recipe!

Tofutti Frozen Treats

We've tried a number of frozen treats by Tofutti and they're all pretty awesome. They are by far my favorite Tofutti product so far.

Tofutti "Marry Me" Bar

Tofutti "Marry Me" Bar in Deep Freezer

I think these were $6.99. We definitely don't get them very often, maybe once every month or two we'll get a box. Sometimes you feel like having a treat, though, so these are available, along with a lot of other kinds, like Cuties which are "ice cream" sandwiches and Black Gold, a soy fudgsicle.

Cuties

Black Gold

Stay Tuned

Check back sometime down the road for updates. I plan to keep adding to this blog post as we try new products and recipes. I'll probably also come back and elaborate on the existing ones.