Dairy Free Review

We are almost a month into our dairy-free adventure.  Unfortunately, we haven't noticed any improvement in Rapunzel's skin just yet.  But we're going to give it a full two months before giving up on it.

Rapunzel has had a chance to try many different dairy free options.  Some she's loved and others she could do without.  Here's a run down.


Chocolate Coconut Milk has hands down been her favorite to drink straight up.  She drinks it almost every morning with her breakfast.

Vanilla Oat Milk has been a close second.  This is what she prefers to pour over her cereal and she likes to drink it on its own too.

These were the only two that she liked the taste of by themselves.

As for baking and cooking, I've had equal amounts of success with hemp milk and rice milk.  I use original if I'm making something savory, and tend to use either original or vanilla if I'm baking something sweet.  And no one has complained about anything tasting any different.

Rapunzel has liked all of the Coconut Yogurt that she's tried.  She's tried several different flavors.

And she's found the Plain Greek Coconut Yogurt to be a great substitute for sour cream on her tacos, bean burritos, and baked potatoes.

She's tried the Coconut Ice Cream in cookie dough flavor, and loved it too.  In fact, I snuck a taste one day and really really liked it.

I've used the Enjoy Life chocolate chips in a few things, and they taste just like regular chocolate chips to all of us!

Rapunzel has been very happy with the Coconut Spread to replace butter on most things.  She likes it on toast, but not on bagels (she sticks with jelly for her bagels now).  I used it to make frosting and that was pretty good too (though definitely a different flavor than I'm used to).  I didn't use it for a butter sub in baking/cooking and instead opted to sub canola oil.

I found these little "cheese" sauce packets at HEB and thought I'd give them a try.  They had alfredo and cheddar flavors.  I tried the alfredo and served it with shrimp and pasta.  It was just ok.  It didn't really taste like alfredo, but it wasn't bad.  I'm planning on trying the cheddar this week and making mac n cheese.

We still never found a true cheese substitute.  But honestly, Rapunzel hasn't minded.  She just eats her sandwiches without cheese.  And we make her pizza without cheese.  Her bean burritos and tacos are cheeseless.  And we don't sprinkle parmesan on her pasta.  She hasn't really minded at all.

So, while I'm not sure if we'll continue dairy-free after our 2 month trial, I feel confident that if we do, we'll survive.  Once I did all the research and found these safe alternatives, it's been pretty easy to incorporate them into our menu.