Dairy Free Made Easy: Thousands of Foods, Hundreds of Tips, and Dozens of Recipes for Non-Dairy Living

Lactose Intolerance Books from Amazon

Dairy Free Made Easy: Thousands of Foods, Hundreds of Tips, and Dozens of Recipes for Non-Dairy Living

List Price: $19.95
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Average Customer Rating:

(10 reviews)

Editorial Review: Dairy Free Made Easy is a one-of-a-kind publication that addresses the needs of over 10 million non-dairy consumers. Whether you are allergic to milk, lactose intolerant, vegan, or simply following a special diet, this book will provide you with hundreds of answers, foods, tips, and ideas to simplify your lifestyle. It also comes as a handy, spiral bound guide that can travel with you to the kitchen or the store. Some highlights include product lists with over 2000 non-dairy foods noting which are also vegan, free of gluten ingredients, free of soy ingredients, kosher certified, or manufactured on dairy free dedicated equipment; a contact list with the phone numbers and websites of roughly 500 non-dairy food manufacturers; a strong bones guide addressing calcium needs and sources; a food label guide complete with dairy ingredient lists; information on dairy alternatives and how to make them at home; recipes for old dairy favorites such as lasagna and cheesecake; and ext...

Customer Reviews:

5 of 5 found this review helpful:

Not a traditional cookbook, 2007-04-23
I agree with others this is certainly an excellent resource book, but want to point out that this book has a limited number of recipes. To the book's credit, these recipes include all the "standards" for dairy-free eating including Alfredo Sauce, Macaroni and Cheese, Tofu Sour Cream, Cream Cheese Alternative, etc. So, if you want information about Non-Dairy Living (i.e., its health benefits) and you don't mind that about half the book is a spreadsheet of store or internet products and their content (i.e., gluten-free, dairy-free, non-soy, vegan or Kosher), then this is the book for you.

2 of 2 found this review helpful:

Fantastic Resource--A must have for a dairy-free lifestyle!, 2007-04-12
This is an exceptionally detailed, organized, and informative book. The author writes in a very intelligent and easy to understand manner. The topics of each chapter are well-defined and information can be found very quickly. I was especially pleased with all of the additional resources made available at the end of the book.

Besides all of the information on food allergies and dairy-free concerns, the book also addresses the many challenges we face when dining out, preparing our own meals, and how to shop for ingredients. Preparing non-dairy meals and shopping can be time-consuming and challenging. Sometimes, those labels you find on food products are very confusing. Alisa's grocery shopping lists provided a way for me to quickly scan the categories I was most interested in and find those types of foods with little trouble at my local or specialty health food stores. The chapters on dairy-free alternatives and cooking without dairy illustrated that we can still make many of the meals we love without worrying about sacrificing taste. Restaurant tips include fast food, ethnic choices, and general ways on how to be more aware of what you are eating when information about ingredients are not readily stated on the menu.

All in all, this book is a tremendous reference for anyone who is interested in a dairy-free lifestyle. Although I personally do not have dairy allergies, following her advice worked well for me because I can still enjoy eating the foods I love but in a more healthy and balanced way.

2 of 2 found this review helpful:

Dairy Free Made Easy? Definitely!, 2007-02-20
This is a great resource that certainly lives up to its title.
You can literally pick this book up and "run with it" to the grocery store or the restaurant (or your own kitchen).
It is also a great reference book - it contains the latest research information regarding dairy and dairy alternatives.

I am currently using this book to "wean" our family off of our dairy addiction!
I am confident that, by using the recipes and the extensive list of additional resources, the transition should be a smooth one.
Well, except for that "addiction" part, but that is our job and it is a big one.

Thanks for writing a book that actually inspires you to make the change.

5 of 5 found this review helpful:

A wealth of information, 2007-02-07
"Page Turner" is not usually a term you'd use to describe a cookbook or lifestyle guide, but that's exactly what "Dairy Free Made Easy" is. Like a good mystery, this comprehensive guide to diary free living was filled with one "ah ha!" moment after another. Alisa Marie Fleming brings you the insider scoop on dairy, and all the havoc it can reap. From the revelatory chapter on "The Many Faces of Non-dairy Dieters" (thanks for the info on "acne and dairy!), to the excellent "Dining Out With Diary Free Style", to the encyclopedia-like "Grocery Shopping: Over 2000 Non-Dairy Products", this book continuously impressed me with its thoroughness, and helpful timely advice. Of particular note was the chapter on "Non-Dairy Milk Alternatives" which includes instructions on making your own rice milk, oat milk, soy milk, etc. -- a very helpful guide for those with growing concerns over cross-contamination.

As the mother of a dairy-allergic child, and an asthmatic toddler, and the wife of a lactose intolerant husband, "Dairy Free Made Easy" just made living dairy free a whole lot easier!

12 of 12 found this review helpful:

excellent resource, 2007-01-25
If you are trying to avoid dairy products in your diet, you may have found the excellent Web site: [...]. The site is constantly updated with product reviews, articles, announcements, discounts, etc. To make the information even more accessible, the sites founder, Alisa marie Fleming has put together a book entitled "Dairy Free Made Easy: Thousands of Foods, Hundreds of Tips, and Dozens of Recipes for Non-Dairy Living."

This well-researched book gives detailed information about dairy products - what they are, how they are processed, what is so special about dairy milk anyway, and answers questions about organic vs. conventional dairy products.

For those avoiding dairy products for health reasons, there is extensive information about allergies, lactose intolerance, whether dairy can help you to lose weight or to gain it, whether there is a link between consuming dairy products and certain cancers, acne, migraines, and other ailments. There is also great information about infant milk allergies and steps to prevent food allergies in babies. Fleming includes information about why breastfeeding is so important but she gives a comprehensive breakdown of infant formulas on the market with the pros and cons of the various choices.

Probably the most common concern of those giving up dairy products is where will they get their calcium. Fleming does an excellent job of dispelling the myth that dairy products are the best source of calcium (they're NOT!) and gives excellent advise for getting calcium from food and choosing a supplement if you feel you need one.

Fleming goes on to list non-dairy alternatives for milk, cream, cheese, etc., recommending products you can buy but also including easy ways to make the substitutions yourself. There is a small section of recipes with some yummy sounding dishes like "Easy Dairy-free Lasagna, Cream of Mushroom Soup (I can't wait to make that one!), 5-Star Ranch Dressing, Chocolate Tofu Ice Cream and Dairy-free Cheesecake.

Another really excellently done section is the chapter on dining out. Fleming goes through the various kinds of restaurants and lists dairy-free options for each, for example, she says that most dishes at Asian restaurants (Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese) are dairy-free though they may contain eggs. At Mexican restaurants, she suggests tacos, fahitas, tamales, and burritos - but tell them to hold the cheese and sour cream. More importantly (I think), she clues you into dishes that you might think are dairy-free but aren't, e.g. she tells you to "Skip the Tandoor and kabob entrees. Though they may appear dairy free, these specialities are typically meats and/or vegetables marinated in yogurt." For curries, Fleming recommends going to a Thai restaurant as Indian curries are usually made with cream.

Other helpful sections in the book tell how to decode food lables, lists of ingredients that really mean dairy (e.g. lactose, caseinate, whey), and foods that may contain dairy - some that even surprised me like tuna fish, chewing gum, chicken broth, and breath mints!

A large portion of the book is dedicated to profiling non-dairy products (over 2,000). A nice feature is that the products are ALL free of hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup. (YAY!) The foods are listed in a chart format that lets you know if the product is in stores on can be purchased online, if it's gluten-free, soy-free, vegan, processed on dairy-free equipment, and is kosher certified.

The book also lists resources for finding dairy-free products and cookbooks. Although this book is not vegan, it is an excellent resource for vegans and anyone avoiding dairy. If you suffer from severe dairy allergies, I would say this is a definite must-have.

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