Need Dairy-Free Snack Ideas

Updated on February 17, 2012
H.H. asks from Royal Oak, MI
12 answers

A child in my son's preschool class has a dairy allergy and all parent provided snacks must be dairy free. They have provided a very small list of dairy-free snacks (perhaps this is all that there are). Can anyone provide me with some dairy free snack ideas? Also, what actually makes something dairy free....obviously, I know things like milk, butter, cheese and yogurt are the big things but what else is considered dairy? Any information on this topic would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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R.L.

answers from Grand Rapids on

popcorn popped in corn oil and then seasoned with corn oil and salt - instead of butter. My non-allergic kids love it.

Look out for whey-protein as far as dairy allergy.

As a mother of a severely allergic child to multiple foods, I applaud you for taking this so seriously for someone else's child.

For allergen free recipes - I share at www.mothercupboards.net/my-blog.html

More Answers

M.Q.

answers from Detroit on

Hello ~

I apologize for this being so long....

Here is a list of Dairy & Egg Free Food Safe Snacks

Nabisco Barnum's Animals Crackers
Nabisco Mini Teddy Grahams (Honey)
Nabisco Grahams Crackers (Plain or Honey)
Original Wheat Thins
Original Ritz Crackers
Jello (not pudding)
Musselman's apple sauce in the little snack cups
Del Monte fruit cups (Make sure not the yogurt)
Mott’s Original Apple Juice (not the Tot’s Plus)

These can be found at Target or Costco
Kellogg’s Fruity Snacks (Make sure they are not the yogurt)
Welches Mixed Fruit Snacks (Make sure they are not the yogurt)

Rold Gold Original (Plain)Pretzels
Kroger Brand Original (Plain) Pretzels

(If there are no issues w/Nut or Peanut allergies)
Snyder’s Brand Original (Plain) Pretzels
Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars Peanut Butter
(Make sure not yogurt)
Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars Oats ‘n Honey
(Make sure not yogurt)

any kind of fresh fruit or veggies w/o the dip

CherryBrook Kitchen Bake Mixes & Frosting can be found at Kroger in their specialty isle **(most of the mixes call for butter/margarine & milk)** (Mixes are also Nut Free)

Use Fleischmann’s Unsalted Margarine (Meijer)
Silk Soy Milk
Pillsbury Crescent Rolls Original or Low Fat Only

Be aware of possible cross contamination when baking.
Update CherryBrook Kitchen Mixes can now be found at Meijer & VG’s
(http://www.cherrybrookkitchen.com/products/index.php)

KINNITOOS Vanilla or Chocolate Sandwich Crème Cookies
(Look like Oreos) (kinnikinnick Foods)

Enjoy Life Cocoa Loco Snack Bars
*Also Nut & Gluten Free)

Betty Crocker Fruit by the Foot
(Make sure not Yogurt – Yogos)

Breyers Pure Fruit Fruit Bars (Strawberry, Orange, Raspberry)
(Make Sure not crème flavors)

Edy’s Fruit Bars
Strawberry
Grape
Tangerine
Lemonade
Lime
(Make sure not crème or smoothie flavor)

ZenSoy Chocolate Pudding (Kroger, whole Foods or Health
Food Store)


If you see any of the following items listed as an ingredient in a food, it will not be milk-free:
Butters: artificial butter, artificial butter flavor, butter, butter extract, butter fat, butter flavored oil, butter solids, dairy butter, natural butter, natural butter flavor, whipped butter

Casein & caseinates: ammonium caseinate, calcium caseinate, magnesium caseinate, potassium caseinate, sodium caseinate, hydrolyzed casein, iron caseinate, zinc caseinate

Cheese: cheese (all types), cheese flavor (artificial and natural), cheese food, cottage cheese, cream cheese, imitation cheese, vegetarian cheeses with casein

Cream, whipped cream
Curds
Custard
Dairy product solids
Galactose
Ghee
Half & Half

Hydrolysates: casein hydrolysate, milk protein hydrolysate, protein hydrolysate, whey hydrolysate, whey protein hydrolysate

Ice cream, ice milk, sherbet
Lactalbumin, lactalbumin phosphate
Lactate solids
Lactyc yeast
Lactitol monohydrate
Lactoglobulin
Lactose
Lactulose

Milk: Acidophilus milk, buttermilk, buttermilk blend, buttermilk solids, cultured milk, condensed milk, dried milk, dry milk solids (DMS), evaporated milk, fat-free milk, fully cream milk powder, goat’s milk, low-fat milk, malted milk, milk derivative, milk powder, milk protein, milk solids, milk solid pastes, non-fat dry milk, non-fat milk, non-fat milk solids, pasteurized milk, powdered milk, sheep’s milk, skim milk, skim milk powder, sour milk, sour milk solids, sweet cream buttermilk powder, sweetened condensed milk, sweetened condensed skim milk, whole milk, 1% milk, 2% milk.

Milk fat, anhydrous milk fat

Nisin preparation
Nougat
Pudding
Quark
Recaldent
Renned, rennet casein
Simplesse (fat replacer)
Sour cream, sour cream solids, imitation sour cream

Whey: Acid whey, cured whey, delactosed whey, demineralized whey, hydrolyzed whey, powdered whey, reduced mineral whey, sweet dairy whey, whey, whey protein, whey protein concentrate, whey powder, whey solids

Yogurt (regular or frozen), yogurt powder
Possible sources of milk:

Natural flavoring
Flavoring
Caramel flavoring
High protein flour
Lactic acid (usually not a problem)
Lactic acid starter culture
"Non-dairy" products may contain casein.
Rice cheese
Soy cheese

Also you want to watch for anything on the packaging that says product was also processed on equipment that may contain milk.

Hope this helps. Please feel free to contact me off post if you have any questions. M.

3 moms found this helpful
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K.T.

answers from Detroit on

There is a child entering my son's elem school this year that has diary, wheat, and nut allergies (probably a few more as well)....as a result, our school has made a policy that kids can bring in fruits and vegetables only until further notice.
In your case, anything made with dairy would be out....so you'd need to look at ingredients in crackers and baked goods.
Can they do soy? Perhaps there are some options in the health section of your grocery?

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

H.H.

answers from Portland on

I am dairy free, so I can understand your frustration.
http://glutenfreemommy.com/30-snack-ideas/
You can find some snack ideas at this website above, and if you look online, you can definitely find more snack ideas at different websites.
I can't have goat's milk, as for me it is considered dairy, but some dairy free people can. You can find goat's milk cheese and yogurt at amazon.
Whey and buttermilk are considered dairy.
You might want to get together with the dairy free child's mother, and figure out some snacks that she let's her son have.
I hope this helps!

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K.V.

answers from Detroit on

Always read the label and look for milk/whey/casein...butter/cheese, etc.

My son and nieces are allergic to dairy and these are some of their favorites. I just did a short list of things that are typically safe and enjoyed by all kids.

*Oreos
*Fruit (apple slices, grapes, raisins, etc)
*Fruit snacks (gummy fruit snacks)
*Teddy Grahams
*pretzels
*cheerios/fruit loops/cookie crisp cereal

To make a cake (or cupcake) that is safe:
Duncan Hines yellow cake mix is safe (and tastes better than Cherrybrook Kitchen). There are also some safe Duncan Hines frostings (chocolate and white). Some brownie mixes are also safe!

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B.D.

answers from Grand Rapids on

Cheerios (not honey nut!!)
Gerber Graduates Fruit Strips
Gerber Graduates Juice Treats (Fruit Medley)
Stauffers animal crackers
Town house light buttery crackers original
Jell-O
Mini Teddy Grahams (not chocolate flavor)
Keebler animals, cookies, iced, lightly frosted
Nabisco Grahams Crackers- cinnamon, regular
Wheat thin toast chips
Meijer abc pretzels
Honey Maid Graham Crackers
Teddy Grahams - Honey
Saltines & Premium Saltines
Zesta (Original & Unsalted)
Quaker Rice Cakes (Plain)
Ritz Crackers (Original)
Triscuits (Original)
Wheatables (Original)
Wheat Thins (Original)
Fruit Popsicles
Minute Maid Soft Frozen Ice (Lemonade & Strawberry)
Rold Gold Pretzels
Lays Potato Chips (BBQ & Original)
Jello
Meijers Applesauce
Motts apple juice
musselman's apple sauce in the little snack cups & del monte fruit cups

Cereals
Kix
Raisin Bran
Rich Chex
Corn Chex
Crispex
Wheaties
Rice Krispies
Alphabits
Post Shredded Wheat
Froot Loops
Trix
Cookie Crisps

I saw someone put oreos, I would double check on those, because last time I looked they contained a milk product.

Here is also a list of different names of milk (there might be a couple of egg names in here too, but I tried to take them all out)
Things to watch out for:
Albumin
Artificial Butter flavor
Brown sugar flavoring
butter
Butter Fat
Butter Oil
Buttermilk
Caramel flavoring
Casein (Casein Hydrosylate)
Caseinates (All Forms)
Cheese
Chocolate
Cottage Cheese
Cream
Curds
Custard
Ghee
Globulin
Half & Half
High protein flour
Lactalbumin
Lactalbumin Phosphate
Lactoferrin
Lactulose
Livetin
Lysozyme
Margarine
Meringue
Milk (All Forms - Condensed, derivative, dry, evaporated, goat's milk other animal milk, low fat, malted, milkfat, non-fat, powder, protein, skimmed, solids, whole)
Natural flavoring
Naturlose (Sweetner derived from Whey)
Nougat
Ovalbumin
Ovomucin
Ovomucoid
Ovovitellin
Pudding
Rennet Casein
Simplesse
Sour Cream
Sour Cream Solids
Sour Milk Solids
Tagatose (Sweetner derived from Whey)
Whey in all forms
Yogurt

According to FAAN These Products Do Not Contain Milk:
Calcium Lactate
Calcium Stearoyl Lactylate
Cocoa Butter
Cream of Tarter
Lactic Acid (However, lactic acid starter culture may contain milk)
Oleoresin
Sodium Lactate
Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate

As you can guess, I'm a mom with a child with allergies. I take it very serious because my son is deathly allergic to it; even the touch. I would also becareful with breads. A lot of breads contain milk. I don't know how strict the school is, but any help from other parents will help this child. Good luck with it and thanks for being a parent that cares about others!

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K.G.

answers from Detroit on

There are actually alot of Dairy free foods out there.
A good friend of mine and all 3 of her boys are allergic to dairy. Just read the labels. Anything with Lactose, Whey, or Casein in the ingredients has milk in it. Some of her childrens favorite snacks are Meijers Organic Fruity O's cereal, Meijers Chocolate Dino Grahms Crackers (like teddy grahms). Most of the Newmans Own cookies (in the organic section) are also dairy free. Of course any raw fruits and veggies are dairy free. Maybe you can ask the Mother of the cild for a broader list of snacks.
Good luck!

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M.J.

answers from Detroit on

My oldest has a nut allergy and it is probably more of an issue with that but I just wanted to say that you need to check labels every time. Just because a brand is safe today, doesn't mean they won't change their recipe/process and it will be safe 6 months from now.

Supposedly, it is required for companies to put potential allergens in bold or list them after, that could help quite a bit in identifying products that contain milk...but you should still review the list.

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N.W.

answers from Detroit on

Grapes, mandarin oranges, bananas, apples, carrots and celery with hummus to dip

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H.S.

answers from Detroit on

I try to keep Kosher, so here's a recipe that might help: pareve brownies; (pareve means not meat or dairy):

6 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (I like a fair trade powder I found at Arbor Farms or Green and Blacks)
1 AND a half stick of Willow Run (soybean butter; completely dairy free)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 c granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (Mexican vanilla gives a nice flavor)

Heat oven to 350

In medium sauce pan, heat the cocoa powder and "butter" over med. low heat; when it is completely melted, turn off the burner and add the sugar, flour and baking powder and mix as well as possible; add the eggs and vanilla and mix well

Pour into a greased 9x9 baking pan and bake for 30 minutes or until it tests done with a toothpick.

Good luck! For more ideas, ask the teacher to ask the child's mother what kind of snacks are okay.

You can do chocolate chip cookies the same way too by purchasing chocolate chips with the word pareve written on it and using the willow run in place of the butter.

Just bring the packages of the willow run and stuff into class to show the teacher and or parents.

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R.W.

answers from Jackson on

Google "Dairy Free Snacks for Kids"

In the meantime...you can take fruit, you can take Jello cups, you can take trail mix Ritz bits, Teddy Grahams Cinnamon flavor, Soy based puddings, Quaker Rice cakes, Pumpkin Seeds (you can make them sweet by mixing the melted soy based "butter" cinnamon and sugar before roasting) Dried Fruit (welches makes dried fruit snacks in individual bags) Apple sauce (any jarred or canned fruit really)

look at the side under the ingredients listing in bold letters will tell you the allergen information so you can rule out any brands that have Milk/Dairy listed in that section

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

S.M.

answers from Saginaw on

Reading ingredients on packages is a must with allergies. Cookies that are store bought could have dairy. Homemade ones simply need to avoid milk and butter. Use margarine and rice or soy milk instead and don't add chocolate chips. Fruit is always good, like cut up apples. Hope this helps.

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