Plant-based alternatives to dairy products are available all over the world, especially in health food shops and large supermarkets. You can use them in nearly all the ways you would use standard dairy products, the exception being in coffee, where they tend to curdle unless the coffee is already at drinking temperature.
soya milk
Where to look when shopping:
Next to similar dairy products (both fresh and long life), and in “Free From” and organic sections in supermarkets.
Dairy Conversion Table
| Item | Context | Vegan version | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| milk | cold and in cooking | soya milk, rice milk, oat milk, nut milks | any supermarket or health food shops (hfs) in long-life and fresh milk sections |
| milk | in hot drinks | soya milk, rice milk, oat milk, nut milks | note that soya milk curdles in hot coffee, but not tea |
| butter | to spread and in cooking | vegan margarine, olive oil, avocado oil | e.g. Pure; big supermarkets and all hfs |
| butter | in cakes | vegan margarine or 2/3 the weight in sunflower oil | supermarkets etc |
| butter/ghee | savoury cooking & frying | vegan margarine, olive oil (healthiest), vegetable ghee | supermarkets etc |
| single cream | cold or cooking | Soya Dream, and soon an oat based one that also whips | any supermarket or hfs |
| sour cream | Mexican dishes and bagels | Granose soya cream (or other make & corn flour) and lemon juice | whisk / blend |
| cheese | cold dishes | Cheezly, Scheese, Tofutti | health food shops (hfs), Tesco |
| cheese | melting | super melting Cheezly, Tofutti mozarrella slices or home-made cheezy sauce | Redwoods direct, independent health food shops |
| Parmesan cheese | sprinkling and cooking | Parmezano | big supermarkets and hfs |
| cheese flavour | sprinkling and cooking | yeast flakes | big supermarkets and hfs. Well worth finding these tubs |
| cream cheese | snacks and sarnies | Tofutti and other brands such as Swedish | hfs and Tesco |
| cream cheese | in desserts | silken tofu, soya cream/yoghurt and lemon juice | blend with a hand blender or liquidiser |
| yoghurt | cold and cooking | soya yoghurt (Alpro Yofu, Sojasun) | plain and fruit flavours. Supermarkets and hfs |
| ice cream | desserts and smoothies | dairy-free ice cream, e.g. Swedish Glace, Tofutti. Also most sorbets | supermarkets and hfs |
| custard | desserts | vanilla Soya Dessert by Alpro or Granose, or use Bird’s Custard Powder with soya milk | supermarkets and hfs |
Annoyingly, some apparently vegan dairy replacements are not, though this is more a problem in the new world. Rice slices and Rice parmezan are not vegan or dairy-free, as they contain casenates, which are milk-derived. That’s nuts, I know!
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