Going Dairy-free on a Budget

Often, people who have to go gluten-free also benefit from going dairy-free, whether it’s to treat celiac, an autism spectrum disorder or a double food allergy. With my two sons, I have had to cope with dairy free for a few years and have found workable substitutes.
When a recipe calls for milk, I usually use soy milk cup-for-cup. Soy milk has a slight bean flavor, but this gets lost when it’s cooked. I have had success with soy milk in baking and white sauces. My favorite white sauce recipe can be found at White Sauce (Gluten & Dairy free) - 12353 - Recipezaar. Coconut milk, if you like the flavor, also works. As with the gluten free flours, an Asian store will probably provide the best deal on coconut milk. Some people prefer the nutty flavor of almond milk. Your choice, of course, will depend on personal preference, as well as other food sensitivities or allergies.
For baking with butter, there are a number of possibilities. Shortening works well, especially Butter-flavored Crisco. Just make sure to follow the directions for adding water when you use it as a butter substitute. When a recipe calls for melted butter, I’ll often use canola oil instead. Coconut oil is another good substitute that seems to melt even more smoothly than butter.
For frosting, use pasteurized egg white to make a meringue frosting. Mori-Nu Tofu offers a non-dairy frosting (as well as other non-dairy recipes) at Welcome to Mori-Nu Tofu.
Finding butter substitutes for topping things like mashed potatoes and (gluten-free) bread is probably easiest of all. Blue Bonnet Lite, Smart Balance and a number of other “heart-healthy” products are dairy free.
When looking for dairy-free products, make sure you read the labels as carefully as you would for gluten-free. Whey, ghee, curds and ready sponge are some less obvious dairy ingredients.
If you’re doing dairy-free because of autism spectrum disorder, anything with the words casein or caseinate is off limits, since that is the substance in milk that causes the problems. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a good whipped cream or cheese substitute, because the “dairy-free” ones contain casein.
Fortunately, for those avoiding gluten and casein, there is a way to cheat.* My sons take enzymes (such as Enzymedica’s GlutenEase and Enzymatic Therapy’s Gluten Defense). They can be a bit pricy, so I still have gluten- and dairy-free snacks available for them. However, the enzymes are great to have on hand so the boys may enjoy regular food. My older son keeps a key-ring pill holder we bought at the drug store in his pocket, so he can enjoy a few slices of a regular pizza when he’s out with friends.
So, if you’re already feeling overwhelmed with gluten-free cooking and facing having to tack on dairy-free as well, take heart. There are still a lot of reasonably-priced choices.

*This is not an option for celiac, but we can hope there will be something for us in the future.