The magic of powdered milk….

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One little secret that I have been keeping since I started on my frugal journey is that I learned to value the wonderful grocery entity that is powdered milk. Milk has been a big part of our budget, even when we didn’t have an official budget for groceries. Hubby loves to chug it down and truthfully, he doesn’t care how much it costs just as long as we always have it in the house. But, with the rising cost of, well, everything, I had to find a way to stretch that bovine buck. I stumbled upon hillbilly housewife and it was like I had hit frugal heaven. Make your own pizza? Homemade hamburger helper? And there it was…..powdered milk. I remembered it from my youth when my mom would have it in the house but I could never figure out what she used it for. I was lactose intolerant and she didn’t drink too much milk. Oh yes, it was Dad that loved it and she used to stretch that bovine buck as well! I read the page about the many uses of powdered milk and learned that once its nice and cold, you really can’t tell the difference between it and say, 2% milk.

Long story short (too late), I started to use it on Hubby. I take a half gallon of the milk I get, usually 2% or whole, and mix it with a half gallon of the prepared powdered milk and viola! He doesn’t know a thing!

Ok, for those who are all about the dollar, here are the numbers. A box of powdered milk, in packet form, is about 6.00. That includes 10 packets(they make 1 quart of prepared milk each) and will equal 2 and a half gallons of nonfat milk. A gallon of milk (here) is around 4.00, so by using only prepared powdered milk, I would save 4 dollars for every 2 and a half gallons. Thats about 2.40 a gallon. Because I mix the two, my savings are a little less, but I also use only prepared powdered milk when I cook with milk and when I need buttermilk for a recipe. Powdered milk can be prepared into buttermilk very easily.

I just love the many uses of it and milk seems to always be in our house now. There were times when we had to chose between milk and other grocery items. Now Hubby gets what he wants and I don’t have to worry about not having milk in the house ever again.