Money, Money, Money.....

It seems like lately, without looking very hard, you can find a news story or a magazine article with advice on how to buckle down in these tighter economic times. I used to listen intently but I always found myself thinking, "Great, but what about those of us who already do all those things?" I cut coupons, watch sales and have price matching down to a science. We eat more often then not at home. I have a programmable thermostat. I do my own nails, have family activities at home, my husband fixes our car.

For what it's worth here's something we have done for awhile now. It involves this:

Wait! before you stop reading just remember this post. None the less, though, we still have a lot of powdered milk in our food supply. Just sitting there, getting old.  How do we rotate this?

I have attempted to rotate this by keeping some mixed up in my fridge for cooking but we don't go through it very fast. We tried adding chocolate to it and drinking it but I don't like chocolate milk either.

One day, while shopping, I was once again regretting that I had to buy whole milk for my son (it is recommended that children for the first year after they turn one have whole milk to help brain development) in the half gallon size. He LOVES milk but we still can't go through a gallon fast enough before it went bad. The gallon was so much cheaper though. Then it dawned on me. A way to solve two problems.

 First you take a 2 quart container.

 Fill it halfway (1 quart) with water. 

Add 2 cups (we do two 3/4 cups to be exact) powdered milk.

Then find this trusted kitchen utensil

We have a plunger style pitcher but things always 

tended to clump up in the plunger. 

My husband, who does the dishes, got tired of cleaning this. 

He experimented around and found the whisk works beautifully.

Whisk until smooth. 

Then fill the pitcher to the top (ie. add 1 more quart of water). 

We then plunge a little, but a spoon works just as well.

(See no clumps!)

 Pour into a clean gallon jug 

and add a half of gallon of whole milk.

I don't notice a taste difference. Especially if I alternate the mixed powdered milk and whole milk as I pour it in. Instead of buying 4 gallons of milk a week  I buy 2. At an average price of $1.75 a gallon (depending on sales and where you shop). I figure we have saved  about $180 a year.