What can I use in place of cream?

Fromage frais? Cheese sauce? I love fish pie!!

I know the problem, suebailey1, I have to contend with totally dairy-free members of the family. In lots of recipes I use thickened stock as an alternative which works well. In fish pie for example, I make a roux (I am forced to use non-dairy instead of butter) then use fish stock as the liquid, with some herbs. Tastes great.

Coconut cream is tasty.
I often use it in a chicken casserole, and it should also go well with fish.
Some kinds are thicker than others - coconut "milk" is more watery.
Or you could make your own from a block of creamed coconut.

Thank you all but coconut is very high in cholesterol and Dh is already very high even on treatment so I better not polish him off yet.

I was wondering if fromage frais or natural yogurt acts in the same way as cream in a sauce obviously the taste will be different but he can detect cream even if I out a smidgen in something its part the taste but part the terror of cholesterol I think.

My mum always made fish pie with eggs. I didn't like it and have never made it myself, but Mum, Dad, and sister all liked it - maybe worth a try?

Oat cream (Oatly) - yes really! - or soya cream. Both available in most supermarkets; tasty and satisfying, low in cholesterol and dairy free. I use them all the time.

I cook with lots of cream in my sauces, and it's really difficult to do without.

Yoghurt will separate, and will probably not thicken the sauce, or taste nice. You can try it, but add it at the very last minute and don't boil again. Even then, it will not mix in homogenously, but will make little white spots all over everything.

A potato gratin can be made with cream or creme fraiche, but you can also use a thin stock. Looks like this is your best bet for the fish pie. It's not at all creamy, of course, and works with potatoes because they soak up the liquid, so including potatoes in the mix will bind the ingredients together more.

I should persevere with the roux, though. You can spice up your roux with some stock cube, or chopped anchovies, as we're talking fish here. If well seasoned, most flours -except wholemeal - should add an interesting taste and will hold the fish and vegetables together. Other alternatives for thickening sauces include gravy powder, or tomato paste. You can also thicken the mixture with boiled, mashed potatoes or a few spoons of instant mashed potatoes, but the instant kind may contain some dairy (dried milk), so check the ingredients.

You could try a low fat/fat free Greek yoghurt, they are very creamy in texture and tastes lovely. Or a very low fat cream cheese (Philadelphia for example) - you can add parsley to both and they won't affect its flavour.

Re the fish pie - I've cooked those a fair bit and have never used cream (I'm not a fan of the stuff at all) and tend to thicken the sauce with cornflour.

low fat cream cheese, or quark

I never use cream. Like Mishap says, oatly cream or Alpro soya cream.
Haven't eaten fish for nearly 40 years, but I am sure that Alpro will taste okay with it. I just pour it over pasta. It's thick enough to save making a sauce.
I sometimes mix with Tofutti which is like a cream cheese. It's always available from Holland and Barrett.
Alpro has a 5% fat version.

Cream makes me nauseous so I don't use it unless I absolutely have to. I've used Philly light instead of cream in a quiche and in a fish pie. I prefer to thicken sauces with flour rather than cornflour which I think feels a bit slimy. I once bought some sauce flour from Waitrose (inevitably) but didn't think it made any difference to my sauces. Has anyone else tried it?

Stir in some Quark (low fat soft cheese), low in cholesterol and calories.

Haven't tried the sauce flour anno but I tried some of these Threw them out as they didn't dissolve.

I wonder if the sauce flour, being wheat flour (according to website), is any different to cornflour.

If you use yoghurt instead of cream, blend in a little cornflour first, before heating, and that will stop it curdling.

Good tip.

Wheat and corn are completely different, jingle.

Well yes. I know that! I just wondered how the sauce powders...

Oh never mind!

Cornflour does not contain gluten, but wheat flour does. Wheat flour has to be cooked through, but corn flour is just a thickener.

Oh..... I didn't know cornflour is gluten free.

(Not that I've ever really thought about it tbh...)

I rarely make cream sauces to go with anything. I would probably use milk and cornflour to make a cheese sauce which is as calorific but tastes less sickly.

If you have a friend who is a member of Slimming World all their recipes, where cream would be used, have an alternative. It is usually fromage frais, quark or fat free yoghurt.

SW recipe for fish pie uses both fat free natural yoghurt and fat free fromage frais

I've used Mascarpone in a ham and leek pie and in a mushroom quiche recently. Both worked very well but not sure of the dietary content. Is dietary a word or have I just made it up? Sounds odd