My daughter Avery has severe food allergies to milk, eggs and peanuts. Although we control our environment as best we can with a peanut and egg-free home, it’s the milk allergy that challenges us the most. Why? People need calcium, and dairy is the main way we typically consume it. So I have to find other sources of calcium to supplement her needs. Second, other members of our house need dairy products for nutrition, I can’t just have a dairy-free house, too. So I’m constantly on guard — making sure I don’t mix up the glasses of milk (Avery drinks rice milk), or give her a slice of regular cheese instead of rice cheese.
It took months for me to realize there were safe, non-dairy yogurt options available. We were also avoiding soy in the beginning, so traditional soy substitutes wouldn’t work for us. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled on these at Whole Foods:
It’s called Ricera – and is a good yogurt for people allergic to milk or soy. The blueberry and peach flavors to work best in our house with the two year old. It has a bitter taste that bothered me, but not the little one so much. Read the ingredients on the Ricera web site.
The So Delicious coconut yogurt was the next yogurt I found, and we fell in love with it. It is super sweet, and comes in lots of flavors: blueberry, chocolate, passionate mango, plain, pina colada, raspberry, strawberry, strawberry banana and vanilla. Read the ingredients on the So Delicious web site. Avery and I both loved this yogurt, especially all the different flavors available.
Avery’s allergist suggested we introduce soy into her diet again, as her blood work reflected a drop in sensitivity. That opened up a lot of new dairy-free options, as it seems there are soy substitutes everywhere. I headed back to the yogurt aisle and found a few options. But I was concerned that some of the yogurts, such as Stonyfield Farm, listed that their active cultures were grown in milk. Since Avery has a true milk allergy, that concerned me and I didn’t want to risk it. Then I found Silk Live soy yogurt.
The texture is great, the taste is smooth – it tastes pretty much just like regular milk-based yogurt. I buy vanilla for Avery and she gobbles it up each time. There are many flavor options: blueberry, black cherry, key lime, peach, raspberry, strawberry, banana-strawberry, vanilla, and plain. Read the ingredients on the Silk Live web site.
The best thing about the soy option, in my opinion, is the price. They sell the Silk Live yogurt in the large 32 oz containers (in addition to the smaller single-serving size). If you look at the pricing in the pictures I took at Whole Foods, you’ll see that the price per ounce for the yogurt in the large container is only 8.72 cents. Whereas the rice yogurt is 26.5 cents per ounce, and the coconut milk yogurt is 33.17 cents per ounce (on sale!).
Does your family use non-dairy substitutes for yogurt or other foods? What is your experience?
You can read more about our family’s experiences with food allergies by clicking on the “On Food Allergies” tab at the top of this page.
Fine print: I took these photos myself at Whole Foods. No one from any of these companies contacted me to write about their products. I was not compensated in any way for discussing these products.
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Marketing Mama® features articles on parenting as a working mom, health, family activities, cool products, my two adorable children and sometimes I even talk about marketing.
I really like the So Delicious, it is pretty expensive but very tasty.
awesome! thank you for this post. my little guy has a dairy allergy as well. he seems to really like the trader joe's soy yogurt – just another idea.
Whole Foods definitely has the best selection of dairy- and soy-free alternatives! When I was breastfeeding my MSPI baby (milk/soy protein intolerance), I also really enjoyed the Purely Decadent coconut-milk "ice cream" made by the So Delicious people. The vanilla flavor is fantastic!
I buy the Yoso brand here in Canada. It has fructose in it, but the bacterial culture is non-dairy. My little guy LOOOOOVES it.
Thanks for sharing these! My Husband has very severe lactose intolerance (which I *know* is very different from an allergy), but we do a lot of dairy substitutes at our house. SO Delicious makes really good ice cream! They just came out with a coconut milk kind.
I love the coconut yogurt sounds yummy!, also I love your blog very informative and fun to read.
Tati
http://Groovybabyblog.blogspot.com
For plain yogurt, I use Silk or WholeSoy. But for everything else, I really like the So Delicious coconut milk yogurt. Their coconut milk kefir is really good, too.
We don't have allergies, but I have made coconut milk ice cream in my ice cream maker and it ROCKS. I kind of adore coconut milk. Because it has fat, it's much more versatile than so many other dairy substitutes.
I also love the So Delicious coconut yogurt! I am lactose intolerant and can't eat soy b/c it interferes w/the effectiveness of medication I take. When this product came out, I was thrilled:)
I buy Plain and add Agave Nectar to control the sweetness.
Also, the Purely Decadent coconut milk "ice cream" is wonderful. It's dairy and soy free and both my kids, ages 6 and 11, like it. Our favorite is chocolate. Very creamy!
I have not actually tried any of these yet for our son! He too has milk, egg, peanut and sunflower and melon allergies. He also had so many things that he could not tolerate that would cause severe eczema but fortunately his Belly Boost children's chewable probiotic has been our miracle. He can now eat so many more foods and his skin cleared up so much within a few weeks and we were shocked.
I am happy for you that your daughter's blood is showing a decline – I honestly don't eve have an allergist for our son anymore because our choices are limited and the one we were seeing was awful and made him (at two) become steroid dependent. It was a mess. Anyway – he is much better now
YAY! And he eats a soy yogurt I buy at our local grocery but now I cant remember the name. It wasn't one of these though – I will have to look into these! Where do you buy them?
I also wanted to add that he does still have actual allergens but that his intolerances are better – incase that was confusing? Thanks
I never worked so hard as the weekend we had my daughter's friend with the lethal dairy allergy up to the cabin with us. I had to be careful of cross contamination on cooking surfaces and utensils as well as what she ate. She'd never been out of town without her parents before so I was nervous. But I was amazed at how many products there are now. It must have been so hard years ago. I can't imagine having to avoid dairy and soy. You're taking good care of that little sweetie.
Thanks for the great comments and ideas everyone! Melissa, I totally get what you mean on about how these options are also good for people with sensitivities to dairy – thank you for bringing that up!
Amber – I've found coconut milk is awesome for baking and frosting, too, rather than rice milk. Great minds!
Smiling Green Mom – I bought these varieties at Whole Foods – but the Silk is pretty easy for me to find at Cub Foods in MN – a pretty common/popular grocery store. The other two are much more unique.
Trish – thanks for sharing about that experience! Yes, it's tough having to be super careful! Neat you had that experience though, I bet you learned a lot about food allergies! (Wanna babysit?)
Wow! My 4 month old baby has a milk-protein allergy and I've been struggling to stay off dairy myself! I found the coconut yogurt at Whole Foods and I love it! I will have to try the Silk yogurt next.
I buy So Delicious coconut milk and ice cream for Connor. But it's so good that I drink/eat it too. He's lactose intolerant does OK on regular yogurt and cheese.
OMG!!! I am absolutely thrilled to find you! My 10 month old is severely allergic to milk and soy protein and has GERD. The GI wants us to bulk her up since she is diagnosed as failure to thrive also. But, what they don't tell us is how to fatten up a baby who can't eat anything.
I am going to try the coconut and rice yogurt. I'm hoping she can tolerate them. I find the best advice from other Moms….not doctors!