or Yikes! When Did Powdered Milk Become More Expensive than Fresh Milk?
When Ward and I were kids, both of our mothers had powdered milk in the cupboard because it was a money saver--especially since they had a lot of kids around who drank a lot of milk. (I thought nothing of having two or three glasses of milk with supper-growing girl and all). Even though powdered milk was quite a bit cheaper than regular milk, no one liked the taste. However, our mothers tried their best to get us to drink it. They would mix the regular milk and powdered milk together to hide some of the taste and make the regular milk last longer. They also tried serving it ice cold when it was said that you couldn't taste the difference between the two. My mother even tried mixing it with Nestle's Quik.
However, no one was very happy with their experiments. At Ward's house, it was an acceptable drink although not preferable. But it was a no go at my house. My father was raised on a farm with fresh-from-the-cow milk every day, and the powdered milk just didn't cut it. My sisters and I really didn't like the taste, so we were secretly siding with my father. So after a valiant try, my mother gave up. I even once or twice tried powdered milk with Wally and Theo because I thought it was my duty as a mother. And they didn't like it any better than I did. And just for nostalgic reasons, today Ward made himself a glass to see if it tasted as bad as he remembered. The look on his face told me that things hadn't changed.
So in my mind, powdered milk has always been there as the bad tasting, but inexpensive, nutritional alternative to regular milk. But somewhere along the way, things changed. It got expensive. More expensive than regular milk. I wondered why and did a bit of reading. And you know what I figured out? It's a very confusing issue. Price supports, weather, disgruntled cows and a customer preference for cheese may be involved.
So what is the conclusion to all of this? The more things change, the more they remain the same. Powdered milk still tastes bad.
*This was comparing milk prices in the same store. We did this in two different stores and found the same thing.
Growing up I only really ever had powdered milk while camping, and everything tastes better when you're camping, so it wasn't so bad :) But yeah, if it's more expensive, you'd wonder why there's still a market for it.
ReplyDeleteI guess that its long shelf life is the main draw at this point. Also, a lot of people used it in baking, but I think that was mainly when it was cheaper than using regular milk.
DeleteWe too had powdered milk in the house that was mixed with regular milk to cut corners on the grocery bill with 6 children. You are right it was much much cheaper than fresh milk, and not something we really liked. Powdered milk was also used for cooking and baking rather than fresh milk for the same reasons. Other than someone trying to put up a store of foods for power outages, or someone preparing for the apocalypse I have no idea why someone would pay more for powdered or why it's still on store shelves.
ReplyDeleteI would think if this price difference keeps up, there will be less and less of it on the shelves.
DeleteHoly Moly! I've never actually done a price comparison but I'll have to do the math next time. I usually keep a box around to use for recipes since I seldom buy fresh milk. Can't imagine actually drinking the stuff though... BLICK!!! Perhaps it would be cheaper to just freeze some real milk to have on hand for cooking.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't need the milk solids for yeast, it may make more sense to keep some milk in the freezer for cooking. It certainly warrants checking out.
DeleteI remember the days of powdered milk, mixed half-and-half with fresh. On one hand, it didn't taste right. On the other, my brothers and I could go through more milk than my parents could buy, so it was considerably better than nothing (or water).
ReplyDeleteThe price went up in the last decade (I've kept track because of bread baking) and I'm not sure why.
Also, ground meat is more expensive than bottom roast around here, too, which also makes no sense to me. Luckily, we have a meat grinder attachment for the Kitchen Aid.
That's interesting. Ward used the same words you did, "it didn't taste right." He didn't say it taste bad like I did.
DeleteWhen I was trying to find when the price of powdered milk went up, I could find no clear data. I do know that in 2007 there was a problem and people were complaining about it again in 2010 and 2011. There were also some regional variations. Interesting that you've actually been following it for 10 years. Also, I'm not sure about the price of ground meat because I buy all of it from a local farmer. I'll take a look the next time I'm in the store at beef.
I noticed it too! It's crazy! We have two cans of powdered milk in storage for the emergency but that's the only reason why we bough it.
ReplyDeleteI think in emergencies, we're going to drink something else. But we don't have any little kids around like you do.
DeleteThe only way that I've found powdered milk to be cheaper than fresh is when buying in 55 lb sacks of the non-instant variety, from the distributor or wholesaler. We did for a few years when our kids were smaller. A pound of non-instant will reconstitute into 1 gallon of milk, and needs to be mixed with a blender or mixer.
ReplyDeleteBut otherwise, the stuff in a box in the grocery store is so much more expensive, and only worthwhile for making your own mixes of something even more expensive, like cocoa mix, if you need it to contain milk (going camping for instance).
I priced the non-instant in a 55 lb sack, at our cash and carry wholesaler, a couple of months ago. I believe it was around $131, which works out to about $2.38/gallon.
55 lb sacks--now that's a lot of powdered milk. But that's in keeping with your bulk buying. I guess you got your kids to drink it?
DeleteThe kids were so young then, they didn't seem to notice. I mixed it 50/50 with whole milk, for a homemade version of 2%. Plus non-instant tastes better than instant. Instant has a faint burnt taste to it. The non-instant is better, and improves by sitting overnight in the fridge.
DeleteBut the one thing I didn't like about the non-instant is it was not fortified with Vit D.
55 lbs os a lot (that would be 55 gallons!!), but back then we were going through 5-6 gallons a week of milk. Now we're down to 2 gallons/week.
We drink a couple of gallons around here also. The males drink most of it. I remember when Wally first went away to college how much our grocery bill went down and that was mostly from buying less milk.
DeleteIt took me a while to use up the powdered milk left over from some huge white sauce my mum made for charity lasagne. I only ever used it baking etc. I became used to it (cause it was more like normal milk than oat and other mills in my fridge). But when I went to buy more the price stopped me. That being said, milk pricing is contentious in Australia - fresh milk is below cost and killing farmers. I buy shelf stable lactose free milks so I think I pay a premium
ReplyDeleteThis is new. For years and years, there was a significant cost savings, but suddenly it shot up in price. I've been trying to hunt for a reason.
ReplyDeleteThis is new. For years and years, there was a significant cost savings, but suddenly it shot up in price. I've been trying to hunt for a reason.
ReplyDelete