My Powdered Milk Project

I'm an "all or nothing" person, which means I do it 150% or I don't do it at all. Which also means sometimes I'm crazy and most of the time I don't get a lot done. Anyway, I'm working on my food storage (for probably the next 5 years at the rate I'm going) and my main focus right now is milk. My first thought is powdered milk is not good no matter what, so go cheap. Then I found some great tasting powdered milk, but quite expensive. After shopping around a bit I realized that no #10 can is created the same and they all vary quite drastically in weight, number of gallons each makes, storage space needed, price, nutrient value, etc. Hoping I could justify the expensive milk I started a comparison spreadsheet, which eventually led to me buying several different kinds and then hosting a milk sampling day at my house for my ward. Macey's is having a huge food storage sale this week (through at least the 20th) and 2 of the "good" milks are on sale there so I wanted to share my research results.

First, my neighbor recommended this awesome book . . . Food Storage in a Nutshell . . . which is where a lot of my information comes from. The church recommends 16 pounds of dried milk per person for a year and this book recommends quite a bit more. The difference is the church recommends the amount you could survive off and the book recommends the amount you more likely need and/or use. So, all of my calculations go off the assumption that you need an average of 3 cups of milk per day (realizing you probably won't have yogurt, as much cheese, etc.).

I'm not claiming to be an expert and I only tested 4 of the milks I've most heard about, but I hope this helps. I also have a nice spreadsheet (remember, I'm an accountant) with my calculations that I can e-mail if anyone is interested. Here's my results:

COUNTRY CREAM POWDER: (Granda's Country Store, 386 West 9400 South, Sandy)
4.03 lbs, $13.99, 14 cans/person/year, $196/person/year, $2.80/gallon

**TASTES 2ND BEST, BUT VERY COMPARABLE TO THE COUNTRY FRESH FARMS AND MORNING MOOS, COMES IN CHOCOLATE ALSO

MORNING MOOS: (Macey's)
4 lbs, $13.99, 16 cans/person/year, $224/person/year, $3.29/gallon
On sale at Macey's in Cans: $8.88, $142/person/year, $2.09/gallon
On sale at Macey's in Buckets: 37 lbs/$57.99, 1.75 buckets/person/year, $102/person/year, $1.48/gallon
Powder in Cans $82.14=Powder is Buckets $57.99

** This is a milk alternative so it's not pure dried milk. Everyone has their opinion about this. But I compared the nutrient values and my opinion is that my family still gets the nutrients we'll need and it's cheap-er.

** TASTES 3RD BEST, BUT VERY COMPARABLE TO THE COUNTRY FRESH FARMS AND COUNTRY CREAM POWDER (some people noted they could tell is was an alternative, but only after I said it was), COMES IN CHOCOLATE ALSO

COUNTRY FRESH FARMS: (Macey's)
2.06 lbs, $13.99, 30 cans/person/year, $420/person/year, $3.29/gallon
On sale at Macey's in Cans: $5.99/ $180/person/year, $2.66/gallon

**PROBABLY TASTES THE BEST, BUT VERY COMPARABLE TO THE MORNING MOOS AND COUNTRY CREAM POWDER

CHURCH CANNERY:
$8.40 (fluctuates), 19 cans/person/year, $160/person/year, $2.32/gallon

**DOES NOT TASTE GOOD, ACTUALLY IT'S HORRIBLE WHEN SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO THE OTHER CHOICES

The church published a new shelf life list this summer and powdered milk is 20 years, but some of the cans even say 25. A bucket I've been told should last the same, but once it's opened then it needs to be used. So the buckets are not good for rotating, but are good for a long term storage and then used at some unknown time.