This is the Backwards edition of WFMW, where I get to post a question and you can answer. Please stop by Rocks In My Dryer, for more Q & A’s.
With the prices of everything going up at the grocery store, everyone I know is trying to stretch their dollars and food. Milk is hovering at around $4.00 a gallon again, and it pains me to pay that much for it. So I was reading about powdered milk, and you can get a large box of it fairly cheap. I’ve never tried it before, so I’d like any advice at all. Thanks!
Powdered milk gets very bubbly when mixed, so don’t try to drink it immediately–let it sit in the fridge overnight so all the air settles out…then most folks can’t tell the difference between powdered and regular skim.
Make sure to mix it very well–we usually use the blender.
Another option is to mix the powdered with regular milk…so if you usually drink 2%, buy whole milk and mix it half and half with the powdered…when it’s mixed you really can’t tell the difference.
Personally, I always use powdered for baking (out here in Alaska I pay over $8/gal for fresh!) Just add the powdered portion with the flour, and add the water portion wherever the recipe says to add the milk. It’s not difficult to get used to, and in baking you really can’t tell the difference at all.
Do the price comparison first. I priced it in our area (mid-Atlantic) and the cheapest powdered milk I could find was NOT cheaper than the cheapest skim milk I could get.
When I was a kid we used powdered milk all the time and I thought it was great. I have not had it since then, but if it passed the kid taste test then it can’t be too bad. Plus my siblings and I all grew up without any physical or mental deficiencies (at least not as far as we know). So from my experience there aren’t any health issues involved with powdered milk.
I say go for it.
We have used Morning Moo in the past and in a pinch — like tonight. We used the end of the jug of milk for dinner and I know we’ll need milk for breakfast. http://www.moosmilk.com/ My kids especially love the chocolate morning moo.
Do you have a costco close by? Milk is $2.50 a gallon there, so it is worth joining.
If the family hates the taste you can take care of that by either buying whole milk and halving it like stated before, or you can add a little bit of vanilla and sugar. Not enough to sweeten it, just to cover the ‘box’ taste.
Wow! Thanks for all the great advice. I’m definitely going to try this and then I’ll post a review for ya!