Coffemate was our alternative to milk when my ex & I tried a lactose free/yeast free vegetarian diet pre 2000 but neither of us were allergic mind you, be warned though that it has a natural sweetness to it and you'll need to adjust how much sugar you put in your tea/coffee, best bet is to add Coffeemate first to desired whiteness then add teaspoon of sugar, taste, more teaspoons if needed.

As for alternatives to Cadbury's drinking chocolate (if you cant find any near you) the biggest brand names for chocolate are Nestle and Hershey in Canada. Nestle's drinking chocolate might have dairy powder in it but have you had a look at Hershey's chocolate drink mix?

You should also be able to find soymilk readily in large grocery chains (biggest ones I was used to in Montreal were IGA, Loblaws, Metro and Maxi but they vary regionally), usually you'll have more luck in the biggest floor space grocery stores as they have room/money to spend on a larger variety of products then the smaller supermarkets. Alot of the 'hot chocolate' powder mixes have directions for either heating milk or water so there should be an option to suit your taste, maybe have the OH be a guinea-pig first on it though (thats what I do! Dont tell him!! *lol*)

Only catch with cost-co though is you need to have paid for a membership to buy there (or atleast thats the way it worked 3 years ago!) or go shopping with an existing member. At checkout they ask to see your membership card/ID... just forewarning!!

We're already members of Costco, got out membership within 2 weeks of getting to Canada, and it's more than paid for itself!

Well then fair enough, go for it! Mum paid for membership back when she was feeding a houshold of 6 every day, really paid off for her to 'stock up' on stuff in the basement pantry room... sadly the house sizes most have here in the UK would prob have difficulty in finding the room mum used to store non-perishables! I fondly remember the days of 24 cans of soda & 5 Alive fruit drinks and bulk sized Nutella jars when I was a kid... *sigh*

You could try this for hot chocolate

5 squares of dark chocolate ( 70% cocoa solids )
1 egg yolk
1 cup of milk ( you can use soya )
1 teaspoon caster sugar

Melt chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water,
when melted mix in egg yolk.
Warm milk and sugar till hot ( not boiling ) and mix into chocolate and whisk
until frothy, then serve.

I know this doesn't help you directly but I was in the "British Pantry" a local Brit store here in Calgary and they had Cadbury's Drinking Chocolate $13.99 for a 500 gram tin. :scared:

More than likely you can get someone in the UK to send you some cheaper than that.

Cheers
Steve