Monday, November 8, 2010

Year’s Supply Review – Powdered Milk

We all know that for what seems like hundreds of years we’ve been counseled to get our year’s supply of food and supplies. But a complete year’s supply of food can be hard to compile and store, and then compile and store all of the supplies that are required.


Our experience has been that even though storage space is an issue, having the extra is well worth it. We’ve found ourselves out of butter or milk, and resorted to using our reserves in powdered form. And there have been times when we’ve run out of potatoes, and used our canned potatoes, or we’ve run out of grape jelly and used our stored homemade jellies.

Most recently, we’ve used our powdered milk. Over the years I’ve tried powdered milk products, judging their taste and bake-ability, and have found that one brand, so far, has topped the others hands down. As far as using powdered milk in baking bread, any brand or kind works well. But drinking powdered milk is a whole different story. Taste is everything!

Provident Pantry’s Instant Nonfat Dry Milk has the taste a powdered milk should have (because it's supposed to taste like regular milk), and is worth its weight in gold. It mixes quite well; better than regular powdered milk, which can stay lumpy for a while. This milk mixes smoothly with little lumps that dissolve quickly. I usually add the water to the powder in a pitcher and whisk it to blend quickly, then use a long spoon or knife to loosen any powder at the bottom edge of the pitcher. Even though whisking produces lots of foam, refrigerating the milk (or adding ice cubes to cool it for immediate use) will break the tiny bubbles and make it smooth like regular two-percent, store-bought milk.

When we first bought Provident Pantry’s brand milk, I was so impressed with the ease of mixture and especially its taste, I wanted to tell the whole world how good it was (and passed my enthusiasm on to some ladies at church, and wrote a post about it). I even invited some ladies to come by my house and taste it.

I use powdered milk when we’ve run out of store-bought milk, and I use it in bread-making. Our picky teenagers sometimes turn their noses up at the thought of drinking any kind of powdered milk, but they’ll drink it, which is a good thing.

If you need to add powdered milk to your year’s supply of food storage, and know that at some point you might need to drink it, get the milk that you know will taste as close to store-bought as you can get (sounds like a commercial!). Because you’ll be glad you have it when you’re dollar-stretched or have run out of regular milk. And hopefully you’re family will enjoy the taste as well.

3 comments:

Melissa said...

I'll have to remember that name. I know we need to get some powdered milk into our food storage, and I agree with you! It has to taste as close to the original as possible or you won't want to drink it! Thanks for the info!

Rebecca Talley said...

Great info. I don't really like regular milk so powdered really isn't my fav. But, we should try this kind just in case we need it. Mostly, I need to get my food storage organized.

Nonna said...

This has been a real problem for us. I am the one who turns up my nose at powdered milk. I drank Carnation Instant milk sometimes as a kid and it was awful. The cannery milk is o.k. for cooking and baking but tastes icky just to drink. Thanks for the taste test... it's a matter of taste as to which one is best for your family !