Does Anyone Dilute Their Milk?

**staceyy** · 05-14-2006, 11:17 PM

On another thread on this site someone mentioned diluting 2% milk with water to make 1% milk. They said they read about doing this on the weight watchers site. I previously had heard of people diluting their regular milk with powdered milk but not with water. Since reading this post I've been toying with the idea of buying whole milk and diluting it with half water but haven't tried it yet. I wondered in anyone else has tried this, and if so, how did it turn out? If it works, this could cut our milk bill in half.

**Missy** · 05-14-2006, 11:19 PM

no, i don't but i rarely drink it. But when I *do* i have to have a cube of ice in it...it MUST be ICY cold for me to drink.

**chatterweb** · 05-14-2006, 11:58 PM

I buy evaporated milk, for coffee and cooking. I also use it in cereal sometimes, and dilute it with water when cooking. It just depends.

**Lmullin** · 05-15-2006, 10:25 AM

I use this trick with my kids all the time because they drink enough milk, but they won't drink water. In my three year old's sippy cup, I put 1/2 milk 1/2 h2o and a dab of strawberry powder. She loves it. That's the only time I do it though. I think it's fine to do it. It probably affects the taste if you don't put flavoring in it. It's probably good to do with baking as well.

**Vannie** · 05-15-2006, 10:28 AM

Originally Posted by staceyy

On another thread on this site someone mentioned diluting 2% milk with water to make 1% milk. They said they read about doing this on the weight watchers site. I previously had heard of people diluting their regular milk with powdered milk but not with water. Since reading this post I've been toying with the idea of buying whole milk and diluting it with half water but haven't tried it yet. I wondered in anyone else has tried this, and if so, how did it turn out? If it works, this could cut our milk bill in half.

Staceyy,

I do not dilute my milk with water, but I used to watch my mom do it all the time. It was never reduced to the point that it was watery, it still tasted like whole milk. I suspect that others in my family was aware that she did this--there were never any complaints. If you try it, I don't think it will cut your milk bill in half, but it may save you some money.

**staceyy** · 05-15-2006, 11:21 AM

I think I probably can cut my milk bill in half because we never buy whole milk due to health reasons. We typically buy 2% milk and sometimes 1%. I'm hoping I can dilute the whole milk with half water in order for it to taste like 2%. I'm not sure this will taste as good as the ratios may be off, you may be right. I'll post after I try.

Thanks, evaporated milk is meant to be diluted with half water and I do that all the time. I'm curious about refriegerated milk.

**staceyy** · 05-16-2006, 09:03 PM

Okay, I diluted my milk today, and it was a success! I bought a gallon of whole milk and noted that whole milk has 8 grams of fat per cup, 2% milk has 5 grams of fat per cup, and 1% milk has 2.5 grams of fat per cup. I made a mental note of these percentages and decided to add 6 cups of water to each 8 cups of whole milk. I also added a pinch of salt to preserve the milk. I shook it up and tasted it, and it was fine. This will save me a lot of money in the future as I use lots of milk in my household.

**Budgetmom** · 05-17-2006, 01:00 PM

That's great that it worked! I wonder if it would be acceptable to use a watered-down mix in baking recipes?

**NoDebtMom** · 05-17-2006, 01:11 PM

hmm! Very interesting. Never thought of that idea. In fact, I JUST today bought powdered milk at Aldi's to try and stretch the milk further, without anyone knowing.

**staceyy** · 05-17-2006, 01:19 PM

Budgetmom, I'm sure it would work in baking. I'm a trained pastry chef and cooking and baking is where I use the majority of my milk. I plan to first use the diluted milk in bread pudding I plan on making later in the week. I'll let
you know how it goes, I'm sure it will work just fine.

Another thought I had, is if for some reason one didn't like the taste of the finished product, the amount of water could be adjusted, or a couple Tablespoons of powdered milk could be added.

**Vannie** · 05-17-2006, 03:45 PM

Originally Posted by staceyy

I think I probably can cut my milk bill in half because we never buy whole milk due to health reasons. We typically buy 2% milk and sometimes 1%. I'm hoping I can dilute the whole milk with half water in order for it to taste like 2%. I'm not sure this will taste as good as the ratios may be off, you may be right. I'll post after I try.

Thanks, evaporated milk is meant to be diluted with half water and I do that all the time. I'm curious about refriegerated milk.

Wow! Way to go Staceyy. You sound like a scientist LOL

And you are right. You will save plenty money this way.

**staceyy** · 05-19-2006, 09:33 AM

I made bread pudding last night using the diluted milk and it turned out good. I was on a mission yesterday to find others who diluted their milk and I came upon another website with a recipe for diluting whole milk. They swear you cannot tell its been diluted. Here is the recipe they used which is more economical than mine:

Diluted Milk

1 gallon whole milk
1 gallon water
1 T sugar
1 tsp salt

Mix together in carton, shake and refrigerate.

**Seraph** · 05-19-2006, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by staceyy

I made bread pudding last night using the diluted milk and it turned out good. I was on a mission yesterday to find others who diluted their milk and I came upon another website with a recipe for diluting whole milk. They swear you cannot tell its been diluted. Here is the recipe they used which is more economical than mine:

Diluted Milk

1 gallon whole milk
1 gallon water
1 T sugar
1 tsp salt

Mix together in carton, shake and refrigerate.

YaY!! Thank you!! I'll have to try this nex week when I buy milk. I have to be sneaky about such things, though. (mental note to save the milk jug from this week)

Now, my question is where do I find a 2-gallon container I can seal and shake without leakage... and how do I explain the extra gallon with the "old" date??

**staceyy** · 05-19-2006, 08:16 PM

I used two one gallon containers, one I had saved and the new one with the whole milk. I poured half of the gallon out, cup by cup ( I used a measuring cup with a spout), and then I transferred this into the old container. I then measured water cup by cup into both containers.

**danni** · 05-19-2006, 09:30 PM

I always dilute our milk. I buy whole milk and water it down half and half with water. I save the old jug wash it out and use it to water down the new jug. I've been doing this for 5 years now and my family doesn't mind. We only drank 1% before that so the watered down milk tastes just about the same. I My kids will finish of one 4L jug in about 2 days so we needed 15 jugs of milk/month at a cost of $4/jug. That's $60/month just for milk!!!! Now that we are mixing the milk with water we are down to $30/month.
We use the milk for cooking too and have never had a problem.