Product Review: Daiya Cheddar Flavoured Shreds

Here is my first product review! I have tried many different products and foods in my quest for a balanced dairy-free diet, so I'm excited to share my thoughts on them.

Daiya Cheddar Flavoured Shreds:

First of all, my son LOVES eating these plain. He obviously had never tried real cheddar cheese, so the flavour was fine for him. I would often put a little pile on his tray for him to pick at while I fed him lunch.

I actually don't mind this stuff either when it's straight from the bag. However cooking with it is a little tricky, depending on what you are making. See below for the list of successes and flops.

The nice thing about this product is that it is both dairy AND soy free. Most cheese alternatives are made with soy, but this "cheese" has neither.

 The cost of 1 bag is not terrible, considering most dairy alternatives tend to be quite pricey. In my local grocery store, they go for about $6 a bag, which is about $1.50 more than a bag of real cheese.

A bag of Daiya shreds has a very long shelf life (stored in the fridge) before you open it. Once opened, it says to use it up within a week. I have kept it for a couple days longer than a week, but no longer than that because it is hard to tell when it has gone bad, and I wouldn't take the risk of my little one getting sick.

Here are some meals that worked well with this product, and meals that are only meant for real cheese:

Successes (recipes to follow!)
-Homemade Mac'n'Cheese
-Tacos
-grilled cheese

Flops:
-Pizza
-fajitas (the cheese melted and the flavour did not go well with the fajita)

Dairy Replacements

To follow up from the previous post, I have a list of replacement dairy items that were great for when you just crave that dairy!

Cheese: Oh, how I missed cheese. Thank goodness I discovered Daiya! This is a brand of dairy free/soy free cheese replacement. They are a few products, including shredded "cheddar" cheese, and cream cheese spread.

Yogurt: Most dairy free yogurts are made with soy. There are some made with almond, but the ones that I have found "may contain traces of milk/soy". Enter So Delicious Cultured Coconut milk! They have a few different flavours, and they are dairy/soy free.

Milk: My allergist recommended rice milk. I was not excited about this because A) I am not fond of the taste, and B) I found the nutritional value to be considerably lacking. I found Flax Delight (flax milk), Enriched Oat Dream, and Enriched Coconut Dream to be the best options (nutrition wise).

I find most of these products at Loblaws.


Stay tuned for my reviews of these products and more!


**This post is not sponsored, and I am in no way affiliated with any of the brands mentioned in this post**