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Step 1
The easiest step is to buy fresh ingredients with no additives or processing. Start at the produce aisle and you can scoop up fresh fruit, salads, tomatoes, potatoes and other vegetables. When dealing with these raw ingredients, you always know it's safe from lactose.
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Step 2
Be careful when buying meat, especially frozen packages and particularly the chicken items. You may be surprised to find that broth and other additives are injected into the meat, and that includes milk products. Read the labels carefully.
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Step 3
Get used to reading ingredient labels. Lactose itself as well as other forms of dairy are often added to give flavor, body or crispiness to unexpected items. You'll find dairy or lactose in chips, French fries, lunch meat, chicken noodle soup, cookies, cakes, breads, vitamin supplements and candy. The only way to be sure is to read the labels. Many manufacturers are now adding statements at the end of the ingredients list that lets you know it may contain dairy, soy, peanuts, or other possible allergens.
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Step 4
Know all the forms of dairy. Ingredients including milk, milk solids, milkfat, butter and cream are easy to spot. There are also hidden forms of dairy such as whey, sodium caseinate and hydrolysates. See the Resources section for a full list of dairy ingredients that you can print out and take with you when you go shopping.
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Step 5
Keep a list. When you find items that are dairy-free, keep a record of them. Once you have a good selection of items you can buy, you can simply refer to the list each time you go shopping and won't have to keep looking at the ingredients lists. See Tips section.
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Step 6
Keep it simple. Buying healthier products with short ingredients lists can help you stay dairy-free. Many grocery and discount stores now carry healthy and organic products in their own part of each aisle or in their own section of the store. In these sections you can find items like potato chips that have simple ingredients such as "Potatoes and salt." This makes it very simple to find products that are dairy-free.
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Step 7
Buy lactose-free products. If you go digging in your grocer's dairy case, you should, at the very least, be able to find lactose-free milk. Now you can have that bowl of cereal or oatmeal in the morning. You can also cook with it, so no need to get rid of all your favorite recipes that call for milk.
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Step 8
Try soy products. Soy is often used to create dairy substitutes, like milk, cheese, cream cheese and yogurt. It does have a slightly different taste, so be aware that it may take some getting used to. It definitely can be a great way to enjoy some of your favorite foods, while also continuing to get the calcium and/or healthy yogurt cultures that you need.
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Step 9
Visit health, whole food and organic food stores (and their online counterparts). These specialty stores are the most in tune with people's various needs regarding food intolerances and allergies. You'll have much better luck finding items with less addititives, as well as lactose-free and soy substitute items. The lactose-free products are clearly labeled, so you won't have to do as much reading of ingredients lists and can get through your shopping much more quickly.
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Step 10
Choose different forms of the food you love. Milk chocolate is off the list, but many brands of dark and semi-sweet chocolate are dairy-free and better for you health-wise. Hard cheeses like Swiss and cheddar have very small lactose content, if any, so put a slice of Swiss on your sandwich instead of American. Look for cultured butter, the old-fashioned process for making butter that makes it virtually lactose-free.
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Step 11
Buy lactase supplements. You can buy these name brand or generic from pharmacy and many grocery stores. It is very difficult to consistently eat dairy-free, so taking one pill as you start a meal will help you digest any lactose that you ingest.
