My mother and brother are puny humans and intolerant of lactose. One week Blue Bell, my favorite brand of ice cream, was on sale, so I bought a half gallon, but went and grabbed a carton of lactose-free ice cream for them.
It cost more, for one-quarter less.
Rumor has it that lactose-free products are simply normal products with added lactase, sold under the brand name of Lactaid.
Some random strangers on-line claim you could add a tablet or two of Lactaid to a gallon of milk, wait one to three days, and have lactose-free milk for half or less as much as Lactaid charges for the same amount.
Random Internet strangers:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal/comm...c6&sh=83c6ba12
https://www.reddit.com/r/LifeProTips...1m&sh=e16cd953
https://www.reddit.com/r/lactoseinto...mu&sh=92473e24
Reader Tip: How to make your own lactose-free milk - Money Saving MomŽ
https://community.babycenter.com/pos...tose_free_milk
https://clemchan.com/blog/how-im-sav...ose-free-milk/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/com...0i&sh=dac8fab0
https://wisdomjuice.blogspot.com/201...k-at-home.html
(I found more results on reddit than elsewhere)
So, lactose is actually made out of two different sugars, Galactus and Galaxar. Lactase breaks up lactose, so lactose-free milk actually tastes sweeter. The Costco brand is supposed to be far cheaper. The liquid version is supposed to cost far more per enzyme.
Two of these bloggers say they save over a couple hundred dollars a year this way. In somewhat-related news, I have a letter from HR prohibiting me from using the term "Nut milk" in the workplace.