Last Saturday I went to Welfare Square to the Bishop's Cannery to dry-pack some non-instant powdered milk. Here's a little extra information. There are two kinds of powdered milk, and then there are other milk substitutes (like Morning Moos which isn't really milk, it's a milk alternative made from whey, a by-product of cheese, like what Little Miss Muffet was eating before you-know-who came along).Non-instant powdered milk is the kind you can get from the Cannery. It's twice as dense as instant, therefore you need half as much room to store it. The downside to non-instant is it's a little harder to reconstitute (so they say, but I haven't found that to be true), which is why they suggest mixing it with warm water.
Instant powdered milk (like Carnation or Country Fresh Farms) is readily available and what you'd probably find on your local grocery store shelf and is not offered at the Cannery. I've used both, and frankly, I find them both very easy to mix into drinkable milk.
When you're ready to use powdered milk in a recipe and you're not planning to reconstitute it into milk before you use it, check to see if the recipe specifies instant or non-instant. If it says non-instant in the recipe and you want to use instant, you can still do it, you just need twice as much instant to make it work. Clear as mud, right? Hang on, not to worry.
While I was preparing to pay my bill at the Cannery, the lady told me I was lucky I came that week instead of the week before because everything (almost) had been reduced in price! I saved $75.60 by waiting one week! Awesome! She said that prior to June '08, the price of their powdered milk was $13.30 per can (would have cost me an extra $288.80!). Then it dropped to $7.40 until just two weeks ago, and now it's at the bargain price of $5.30 per can. Keep in mind that I bought a can of instant powdered milk from the store for almost twice the price (since you have to use twice as much of that to equal non-instant, shouldn't it be half the cost?).
She said all their prices went down except for the orange drink mix and maybe one other thing which I don't remember. Even their cans and lids are cheaper. What I'm saying is- get yourself over to the cannery and stock up while the prices are low!
Here is a list of items you can get at the cannery (by the way, on that order form, you can add your own quantities and print it out to take with you to the cannery). If you're lucky enough to go when they're super slow, maybe you can get two worker-guys to help you can your stuff like I did! 36 cans of milk- in and out in 45 minutes!
Did you know you can make your own sweetened condensed milk? One time I wanted to bake something which needed that ingredient. That was before I knew I could have made my own. I had to choose something else because it was too much hassle to go to the store for that one item.
Here's just one recipe of several you can get online (Google it, you'll see what I mean). Sweetened Condensed Milk.
1/2 cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
1 cup non-instant powdered milk (if you use instant, you'd need 2 cups. Get it?)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 T butter
Put all the ingredients into a blender and mix until smooth.
That's all there is to it! I took some Magic Bars (7-Layer Bars) to a friend using homemade sweetened condensed milk.
She said it worked! Either she's sparing my feelings, or it really does work. If you don't have any powdered milk, here's another sweetened condensed milk recipe that's even easier.
1 cup evaporated milk
1 1/4 cup sugar
Heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Let cool. You can refrigerate the mixture for several days. I'm trying this recipe next!
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