Smart idea! 
"won’t take Lactaid pills because they’ll run out extremely quickly and I’ll end up buying another $20 pack within days. "
Dude. There is nothing more important than your health.
We have purchased the lactose free Breyers Chocolate and Vanilla ice cream for DH. IMO it doe not taste the same as regular Breyers Chocolate and Vanilla ice cream. It tastes different enough that my sons and I who all love ice cream won’t eat it. If that’s the only ice cream left in the freezer we all take a pass on it.
Look for vegan products and the vegan menu items at restaurants and cafeterias.
See if goat milk products work for you. They seem to be fine for some folks including my family members.
I have several family members who can’t eat dairy with varying degrees of sensitivity. It is hard but you will find all kinds of foods that you enjoy. We make a cheese free pizza with lots of veggies and a balsamic vinegar reduction drizzled over. Yummm. Everyone eats it, not just those who can’t eat cheese.
We have also found some good cheeses that are lactose free; look for Beemster brand.
Even with pills, some things may still bother you. Go easy until you figure out how your body will react. Don’t start with a pizza and a banana split.
@stugace - my D2 is lactose intolerant. Lactose is only present in “young” cow’s milk products. She is able to eat anything made from sheep or goat’s milk (manchego is excellent!). She is also able to eat any aged cow’s milk products like parmesan. Cabot’s cheddar cheeses are labelled and they usually say “contains no lactose”.
All that being said, your digestive issues may be different. Be careful with Indian food, it often has just a bit of milk or cream in it. You’ll be in AZ, and tamales usually have dairy in the masa mix. Asian food is usually quite safe bit always ask! I’ve had scary food allergy near misses with pecans in pie crust and chicken wings that were rubbed with crawfish shells. Always ask.
D2 loves ice cream made with coconut milk or hemp. There’s a lot of good stuff out there!
She can also eat Fage 2% plain yogurt. No idea why. Maybe her condition is getting better.
Yogurt, especially Greek yogurt, is low in lactose, as are hard cheeses like cheddar. Some lactose-intolerant people can eat these foods without problems, others can’t. Ice cream is not a necessity so I wouldn’t waste a lot of time and money searching out alternatives… It’s a good idea to have the pills on hand, but lots of people successfully eliminate lactose from their diet, or come close. Ask if your college has vegan options at every meal; many do, and if it’s truly vegan it should be 100% dairy-free. Unfortunately, however, many college meal planners aren’t especially sensitive to the need to ensure adequate protein in the vegan alternatives. At my D1’s college, the vegan option at dinner was often pasta with marinara sauce, which contains approximately zero protein. (Fortunately she was able to get off the meal plan after one year).
Several people suggested Mexican. This is a good idea as there are quite a few authentic and delicious Mexican dishes made without any dairy. But Mexicans like their cheeses and crema, too, and Americanized “Mexican” food is often slathered with cheese and/or sour cream. But just a basic Mexican-style taco (corn tortilla, some kind of meat, onion, cilantro, lime), enchilada, or tamale typically won’t have any dairy. East Asian (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) and Southeast Asian (Vietnamese, Thai) cuisines feature little or no dairy as the incidence of lactose intolerance is quite high in those cultures. Middle Eastern food also has many non-dairy options.
I’ve been eating Middle Eastern food from the day I was born until around 16. Although it’s true that most of those ME meals were lactose-free, they weren’t all that delectable. Mexican and Chinese food are definitely favorites of mine, so I’ll keep an eye on them.
H has an even WORSE time with goat cheese than lactose, so he avoids that as well. He is OK with coconut milk and soy and rice milk because none of these are really “milk.” He’s figured out what works for him via trial & error.
Lactose intolerance is genetic, but two lactose tolerant parents can still have a lactose intolerant child (gene is recessive.). In adulthood, lactose intolerant people no longer produce lactase for digesting lactose, the sugar n dairy foods. Apparently, only 7% of people of European ancestry are lactose intolerant. I am one of them. I can handle small amounts, like half and half in my coffee. But eating ice cream makes me feel kind of icky. I can also eat some cheeses, but the younger, milkier ones, are worse, like for example, mozzarella. I don’t bother with Lactaid. I just avoid milk, which I don’t like anyway, and eat soy ice cream if available.
H loves sorbets but some crazies put milk products in them which surprises and annoys his gut.
Here are a few tips:
Goats milk and sheeps milk cheese (romano cheese instead of par magian)
avoid caramel coloring if severely intolerant or take lactaid pills
stick with basic foods and add your own condiments- things covered in sauce can have hidden colorings and thickeners that have lactose in them
some medications have lactose as binders in them.
As you become more experienced you will become an expert!
For future reference - D2 loves pumpkin pie. First I tried to make one that was vegan. It wasn’t very good. Then, I heard that you can make your own evaporated milk. You just heat it on the stove until it reduces by half. Use Lactaid milk and now you have lactose free evaporated milk. Even better, you can simmer some cinnamon and nutmeg and lemon peels in there for extra flavor.
It’s easy to make a vegan crust with Earth Balance shortening and/or margarine.
I tried evaporated goat’s milk one year and the whole pie tasted like goat!
My doctor’s great line: “Cheese is milk’s bid for immortality.” Yes, hard cheese has less lactose but it has lactose.
Some people have transient intolerance and can build up tolerance by taking a bit of milk and then adding more if that works. That’s an intolerance related to a disease or infection. Genetic intolerance is here to stay.
As a note, many people believe they’re lactose intolerant but aren’t: they’ve had other stomach issues that irritated the bowels and maybe lactose makes that worse (or maybe not). These people are more likely to build tolerance by trying small bits. Same with gluten sensitivity of course: many people self-diagnose and so aren’t actually gluten sensitive. Our digestive systems are not going to work well all the time. We aren’t designed that way. Animals aren’t designed that way in general, as anyone with a pet can attest.
The number of pills you need is directly related to the number of lactase units in the pill. That’s one reason I use Costco: 9k units is a whole lot.
As another note, people who have an intolerance often have others as well, possibly because the system has been sensitized. An intolerance for beans is common - so get Beano. It sometimes works. That is, it works on the gas causing parts of the beans but not on the fiber and fiber can cause gas and bloating as well. It’s sad that fiber is good for us but it can cause stomach pain, gas, etc. This kind of thing comes and goes. It’s classically episodic.
It depends on what part of Europe. Note that southern Europeans are less likely to have adult lactase production than northern Europeans.
http://www.nature.com/news/archaeology-the-milk-revolution-1.13471#/lactasemap
I have northern European ancestry, but couldnt tolerate formula made from cow.( I was in the NICU when born so mom couldnt nurse)
Also couldnt tolerate goat. I have impression I just screamed for months.
Just bought the Equate 60 pack and tried it with pizza and it seems to be doing its job well. Thanks for the tips, everyone.