A New Vegan's Guide to Dairy Substitutes

If you're new to eating vegan, you might need some help navigating through the wide range of available options for dairy substitutes. There are dairy-free equivalents for nearly every dairy product including milk, cheese, butter, sour cream, cream cheese, and ice cream. Determining which products to buy and where to find them takes some additional effort. Below you'll learn about vegan substitutes to many popular dairy products.

Milk Substitutes

There are a seemingly endless amount of milk substitutes that are entirely dairy-free. Your options for what to put on your morning cereal are varied indeed. Rice milk, soy milk, almond milk, and oat milk are all tasty and healthier alternatives to traditional cow milk.

Milk substitutes can always be found at natural food stores. Rice and soy milk can usually be found at most mainstream supermarkets sometimes even under the store's own label. Oat milk and nut milks such as almond milk can be found at upscale grocery stores as well. You can also make your very own rice and soy milk at home, and any web search will turn up numerous results for assisting you with this task. Soy milk can also be made with a countertop appliance that transforms soybeans to soymilk, so you're not limited to buying commercially-prepared milk substitutes.

Ice Cream

If you own an ice cream maker you can easily make your own homemade ice cream using rice or soy milk. If you don't want to go to the trouble of making your own, there are a variety of frozen confections that are surprising imposters for the real thing. Soy Dream, Rice Dream, and Tofutti are all well-known ice cream brands among vegans. You can also freeze fruit such as bananas and combine them in a blender with maple syrup for an interesting frozen dessert.

Cheese

Most commercially-available cheese substitutes contain soy. However, not all soy cheese products are vegan. Some soy cheese products contain casein, a milk protein which is still considered a dairy product. Make sure you read labels carefully. One well-known vegan cheese label is a product made by Follow Your Heart. They sell vegan cheese in a wide variety of flavors including cheddar, mozzarella, and Monterey jack. Vegan cheese is another product that can be made at home, but it does require some practice and a learning curve if you aren't comfortable in the kitchen. The Uncheese Cookbook by Joanne Stepaniak is a great resource containing dozens of recipes that every new vegan is sure to love, so you might consider adding this cookbook to your library.