Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Saving Milk Money

Today, Works For Me Wednesday is being hosted over at Don't Try This At Home because Shannon is in Africa!

(Of course, I'm not envious. The bloggers in Africa are wading through all that poverty, garbage, and sewage. And they are smelling the smells. I, however, am sitting on my couch, in my warm house, blogging away. But, people, I AM envious. What an experience that must be. I long to journey out of North America one day. And no, Hawaii doesn't count.)

Okay, back to Works For Me Wednesday. I was going to talk about saving money on milk.

First, check around for the best prices. I buy milk at Safeway, where they always have 2 gallons for $6. Walmart has good prices as well. I'd tell you how much I pay there, but it's been so long since I've shopped at Walmart I don't know the price.

Second, I use powdered milk for all cooking and baking purposes. No one knows the difference. I am an extremely busy mom, but seriously it only takes a few seconds to put some water into a mixing cup and stir in some milk powder. Easy, easy, easy. I buy a large box of powdered milk at Walmart for cheap and it lasts forever.

Third, if you really want to save on milk, buy whole milk. Divide the gallon in half. Add 1/2 gallon of reconstituted dry milk to each 1/2 gallon of whole milk and mix it up. Put the 2 gallons into the refrigerator to chill. Wait and see if your family notices.

Fourth, if your family drinks soy milk, find Costco. The Kirkland soy milk is the best and least expensive I've found. Walmart had good prices, too, if you don't have a Costco membership. If you really want to save money you could buy and start using one of these. Or you could make your own soy milk completely from scratch if you have lots of time on your hands.

Fifth, and last, if you are offering your family a varitety healthy foods, water is the healthiest beverage you can consume. Period. And it can be a whole lot less expensive. Water doesn't taste very good on cereal, though.

(Milk from a cow is not necessary to growing human bodies, contrary to what dairy farmers would like us all to believe. Google it if you wish, I don't want to get into a debate. Our family drinks milk and uses it in recipes because it is part of our culture and what we are used to doing, not for health reasons. I would love to switch over to soy milk completely, but it is too expensive for us at this time.)

How much milk money can you save?

5 comments:

Kathy in WA said...

Those are great ideas! Thanks for sharing. My family LOVES milk and it is extremely expensive these days. Why have the prices gone up so high??

I need to start using powdered milk more often in my baking. I should try your whole milk/half pwdr milk recipe.

Duckabush Blog

Anonymous said...

I love this post! You are right, milk can be such a drain on the grocery budget! I limit our milk intake to one glass a day but I never thought of using powdered for cooking...great tip!

Be careful with the soymilk - LOTS of estrogens in there that can adversely affect your health and your family's. I encourage you to do a little more research before jumping the fence to that one!

The Proverbs Wife said...

I use all of these tips. You are very thrifty. You may consider joining my next book club. Every other month I host a book club where we read books on thrifty living. We have unearth so many valuable tips. Visit my blog and on my sidebar you will find a link titled "Blogger Book Club". Check it out or just stop by and visit.

C said...

We just rarely drink milk. We cook with soy or rice milk - only when necessary.

Good post!

Tiffany said...

I love milk! But, it is getting pretty expensive. I had not ever thought about using powdered milk when cooking. I may have to try that.