Yikes! I didn't realize the cost of skim milk powder!

**mom2three** · 11-13-2006, 01:53 PM

Due to gluten intolerances in the family (dh,dd1,and dd2), I am cooking a lot from scratch. I finally took the time to calculate the cost of using skim milk powder that a lot of the recipes call for and it is ~double what I pay for regular milk (~$2/L for enough to make 1 L powder versus ~$1/L liquid)!! Yikes! I will have to experiment with the recipes that I am using! The good news is I have found a bulk supplier willing to sell me large quantities of the specialty flours I need. I just placed my first order and though it will cost ~$300 for several months supply, I am saving ~$140 doing it this way. Hopefully I will have no storage issues.

**frugal.lass** · 11-14-2006, 10:22 AM

Hey...I'm with you. I can't seem to find a cheap source of dry or instant milk in my area. When I did the math I found out that it ends up being the same price if not more than fresh milk so I just decided to stick with fresh milk (I don't have any intolerances to dairy).

The only reason I could think of to explain the high cost is that I live in a fairly wealthy area where it's hard to even find "normal" fresh milk...the stores tend to stock the organic or ultra-filtered-super-pure premium fresh milk and nobody here tries to economize on food costs.

Congrats on saving money on the specialty flours!!!

**FrugalWitch** · 11-14-2006, 10:54 AM

I haven't bought powdered milk in a while due to cost. I wish the price would come down as I like keeping it on hand for cooking.

**monkeywrangler71** · 11-14-2006, 10:57 AM

I haven't done the actual math yet, but my "guesstimate" was that it was no cheaper. I will have to actually measure out how many cups are in a bag next time in order to tell for sure.

Make sure you research the proper storage of the gluten-free flours, apparently a lot of them don't keep as well as regular flour.

Originally Posted by frugal.lass

The only reason I could think of to explain the high cost is that I live in a fairly wealthy area where it's hard to even find "normal" fresh milk...the stores tend to stock the organic or ultra-filtered-super-pure premium fresh milk and nobody here tries to economize on food costs.

Congrats on saving money on the specialty flours!!!

I paid $2 less per kg at PriceChopper than at Superstore. At PriceChopper it was with beverages, at Superstore it was with baking items - almost as though they were trying to justify the price by marketing it as a specialty item.

BTW the Natrel filtered milk is $1 off at Sobeys in Ontario this week - it makes it cheaper than regular milk.

**frugal.lass** · 11-14-2006, 11:48 AM

Thanks for the tip MonkeyWrangler (forgot to see if your real name was in your sig...lol)!

I will have to check and see if there is a Sobey's somewhere on my commute home (the only grocery stores in my town are a Zehrs and a Garden Foods)...well, and the food section at Walmart.

**babetteq** · 11-14-2006, 01:53 PM

I find it's cheaper to buy it in the bulk food bins....although it's still pretty pricey. The way I used to justify it was that I lived up north where milk was almost 7$ a gallon and the dry was substantially cheaper due to freighting costs. too bad we can't just put milk that's on sale into our food dehydrators eh?

**Neeley** · 11-14-2006, 03:33 PM

Wow! We are so lucky powdered milk here is not high at all. I get a box that makes 10 gallons of milk for $4.96. "Regular" milk here is running about $3.98 a gallon - which we never buy. The only thing we use milk for is cereal and cooking so a box of the powdered stuff lasts us for atleast a month.

**babetteq** · 11-16-2006, 02:53 AM

Hey Leigh! We should all go in on getting milk shipped from your neck of the woods.... kinda like co-op buying!

**YankeeMom** · 11-16-2006, 08:08 AM

Originally Posted by Neeley

Wow! We are so lucky powdered milk here is not high at all. I get a box that makes 10 gallons of milk for $4.96. "Regular" milk here is running about $3.98 a gallon - which we never buy. The only thing we use milk for is cereal and cooking so a box of the powdered stuff lasts us for atleast a month.

Wow! And I thought our dry milk was cheap. I get a can of Sanalac that makes 5 gallons for $4.98 at the commissary. That's less than $1/gallon. A little bit cheaper than the $1.50-$1.80/gallon of skim.

**peanut** · 11-16-2006, 06:39 PM

Liquid milk is cheaper than dry powdered here on the prairies (read: NOT wealthy area!), but not by much. Enough to make me toy with the idea of changing my homemade yogurt recipe though. It calls for 4 c. liquid milk, 4 c. powdered milk and 4 c. water. I'm thinking switching to all liquid makes sense.

**dmvezina** · 11-16-2006, 07:52 PM

I buy mine in bulk & it ends up being pretty close to the same unit cost as a gallon of milk. So, I try to keep some on hand.

**i.m.cheap** · 11-16-2006, 11:37 PM

Dry milk is really not any cheaper than fresh here, either.

**Katybird** · 11-17-2006, 11:06 AM

It is about the same here as liquid but now that it is just DH and I at home we can never make it through even the smallest carton of milk before it spoils so it is really more cost effiecent for us to make the powdered and just mix what we need to cook with.