Lactose-Free Me

One of the questions we get asked most often is:

“What do you actually eat?”

The short answer? A lot more than people think!

We love good food as much as those lactose lovers, however, just need to be a little bit more strategic with our choices.

When I was diagnosed with lactose intolerance over 30 years ago, the options were pretty limited. Today, grocery stores are packed with lactose-free and dairy-free alternatives that make life so much easier.

That said, not everything is worth buying.

Some products have earned permanent spots in our kitchen, while others only got one chance before being banished forever.

Below are the lactose-free products our family actually buys again and again...

• Our Family’s Lactose-Free Staples
• Best Lactose-Free Milk
• Best Dairy-free Milk
• Best Lactose-Free Ice Cream
• Best Lactose-Free Cheese & Dairy Alternatives
• Grab and Go Snacks
• Easy Meal Shortcuts
• Chocolate Worth Buying

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Our Family’s Lactose-Free Staples

If you opened our pantry right now, you’d almost always find:

In fact, if Logan had her way, she’d probably survive on black beans, chicken, and rice forever, which I can’t really complain about, she is a pretty good eater. Below we have narrowed it down to some of our favorite selections from our most frequented stores: Costco, Vons, Target, Walmart and Trader Joes. I have included links directly to some of the products so that you can see where they are sold in your area!

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Best Lactose-Free Milk

Lactose-Free Milk is real milk that has lactase added to it to help us “lac-toes” digest it easier. Although you still won’t find my sensitive stomach gulping an ice cold glass of leche alone, I will use it in almost everything else, like cereal and cooking.

#1- KIRKLAND 2% LACTOSE-FREE MILK

#2 – LACTAID 2% MILK

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Best dairy-free Milk

Dairy-Free milk means that there is absolutely no dairy, which means 0 lactose for us! These milks are usually derived from nuts, plants or soy. Many people think they are lacking, but some, like almond milk, actually pack more calcium than the real thing. If you are looking for that creamy texture, cashew and oatmilk are usually the ones to grab.

#1 – SILK CASHEW MILK

#2 – KIRKLAND ORGANIC UNSWEETENED ALMOND MILK

#3 – PLANET OAT OATMILK

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Best Lactose-Free Ice Cream

This is the category Logan takes VERY seriously. Needless to say, we have tried many, many types of dairy free and lactose free ice-cream. I will most likely have a post on ice-cream alone – that’s how serious we take it in this home! For the sake of brevity, we will list a few of our top picks here today. And if anyone ever wants to send us samples- we are very, very open to trying new products!

We may not agree on top flavors, but we do agree on top brand! BEN & JERRY’S takes the cherry with all of their dairy free ice cream flavors. This is one of the only brands we have found that tastes like the real deal without the stomach ache. With many dairy free, vegan, gluten free and kosher options, you can’t help but scream for ice-cream from Ben & Jerry.

PRO-TIP: The Ben & Jerry’s packaging to the regular dairy flavors is VERY similar, so keep an eye out for the green caps that note they are dairy free.

PRO-TIP: Look for Non-dairy ice cream that has a CASHEW base! We think that they usually yield the creamiest, flavors that don’t seem to upset our stomachs like some others.

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Best Lactose-Free Cheese & Dairy Alternatives

This is probably one of the most important categories because it seems to be the hardest one for the industry to get right! That’s right, I said it. There are SO many horrible non-dairy cheeses out there, you are sometimes better off just going without it than throwing on some chalky, lab-created product that ruins your whole meal.

Let’s be honest, cheese is everywhere; pizzas, sandwiches, salads, snacks, burritos, pastas….everywhere. It is hard to find a good recipe to make non-dairy when you don’t have the right products to use. So we have put together a list of some of our favorites and hope they help you navigate the cooking world a little easier.

⭐#1 – GREEN VALLEY LACTOSE-FREE CREAM CHEESE

Buy it at: Vons

This is one of the best and closest lactose-free cream cheese alternatives we’ve found. Unfortunately, we don’t think anyone has really nailed the non-dairy cream cheese world, but this lactose-free version seems to be as good as it gets. However, there is one BIG caveat.

Although it is marked “lactose-free” Logan and I would argue that you should take your level of intolerance into consideration, because too much of a good thing, usually is just that… This product may still have you keeling over with digestive pain if you have too much or too often. We would encourage Green Valley to bump up their lactase in this one. That said, we both have pretty severely low tolerance levels. So enjoy, but use sparingly!

MOZZARELLA, CHEDDAR AND PARMESAN CHEESES

Trader Joe’s takes the cheese in this category! All three of our top cheeses come from Trader Joe’s making it a one stop shop for this category.

Since we can’t just buy non-dairy pizza anywhere, our family makes a lot of pizza. We have tried many cheeses and doughs to try and get as close to the real thing as possible. We have found that if one brand nails the flavor, it just doesn’t melt right. And if another company gets the melt, the flavor is horrible.

That is until Trader Joes entered the chat with their VEGAN mozzerella style cheese!

This baby not only tastes great, but melts great as well! And no surprise to us – it is made from our favorite nut- cashews!

Even better is to sprinkle a bit of the Trader Joe’s parmesan alternative with the mozz for an even more delicious pizza topper that will leave you saying “Bellisimo!” (Keep an eye out for our Best Pizza recipe coming soon.)

We are a Mexican family, so items like quesadillas, taquitos and nachos are after-school staples in this home.

But how do you cook those without cheese? Well, you can, and we have. But sometimes you just need something closer to the real-deal, and that is when we turn to Trader Joe’s Mexican Style Non-Dairy Cheese!

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GRAB AND GO SNACKS WE ALWAYS KEEP AROUND

Whether we are racing to school, soccer, football, practice or are at a tournament all day, we are always looking for easy food to grab and go. Here are just a few of the items that seem to be staples in our home that help us survive the rush.

PRO-TIP: Mix unreal dark chocolate peanut gems with mixed nuts for homemade, lactose-free trail mix! The kiddos love it.

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Easy Meal Shortcuts

I didn’t say healthy, so don’t come for me…but these are those “you need to stuff something in their body ASAP,” quick lunches and dinners, because let’s be honest—nobody wants to cook every meal from scratch. Add a can of black beans and a veggie and your an A-ok mom in my book!

⭐ KID FAVE: DINO NUGGETS

Buy them at: Costco

Careful, not all nuggets are created equal. In fact, MOST nuggets have dairy mixed into the breading. But lucky for us, these dino nuggets are a win for kids in the lactose-free world.

⭐ MOM FAVE: STICKY WHITE RICE BOWLS

Buy them at: Costco / Vons

90 seconds to a side dish? yes please. Pop one of these in the microwave and add to the side of any dish to get something into those carb-burning bellies.

⭐ MOM FAVE: CANNED CHICKEN

Buy them at: Costco / Vons / Local Grocery Store

I’m not going to lie, at first the thought of canned chicken kind of grossed me out. Now it is a breakfast, lunch and dinner staple. There are 100 ways to use it. Mix with scrambled eggs and you have yourself a breakfast burrito. Toss with mayo for a chicken salad sandwich. But the easiest is just to throw this on the stove to cook it up a little more, toss on some salt, pepper and garlic seasoning and its perfect with black beans and that microwave rice. Top it with some avocado for something fresh!

⭐ KID FAVE: GOODLES, VEGAN IS BELIEV’N

buy them at: Target / Vons / Walmart

Mac ‘n cheese is a hard one to get right when it is lactose free, but this one is one of the best ones we have tried, and it gets bonus points for not being filled with junk that makes us feel like a slug after eating it. We use margarine instead of butter and Lactaid milk to help get as close to the real deal as possible.

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Chocolate Worth Buying

These are a few of our favorite sweet treats because they actually taste delicious—not health food pretending to be candy, but the actual good stuff. We won’t rate these, since they fall in different categories. But we think they are all worth a try.

⭐ NON-DAIRY CHOCOLATE CHIPS

Buy it at: Vons / Target

These are great for baking or adding to pancakes!

⭐ SWEET LORENS COOKIES

Buy it at: Vons / Target

This is slowly becoming one of our favorite brands! These cookies are ready to bake and great to have on hand. I send these pre-cooked with Logan to birthday parties so she doesn’t feel left out of the party.

⭐ UNREAL CANDY PRODUCTS

Buy it at: Costco / Vons / Target

Not all Unreal products are dairy free, but these three are at the top of our list.

⭐ HOLD THE DAIRY MINI CONES

Buy it at: Trader Joes

These vegan sweet treats have a coconut base and are hard to not eat all at once!

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Final Thoughts

Lactose-free living has come such a long way.

There are so many more options than ever before, and thankfully, most of them taste significantly better than the products I grew up with.

These are the products we genuinely buy, eat, and keep stocked in our kitchen.

As we discover new favorites, we’ll continue updating this list.

Because if there’s one thing we’ve learned as Lactose sherpas, it’s that finding the good stuff is always worth sharing!

Have you found a product or brand we need to know about? Write us and let us know! we would love to hear from you!

Related Articles

• Our Lactose-Free Story
• Lactose-Free vs. Dairy-Free: What’s the Difference?
• Easy Lactose-Free School Lunch Ideas – Coming Soon!
• Costco Lactose-Free Finds – Coming Soon!
• Trader Joe’s Lactose-Free Favorites – Coming Soon!

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