Improving one's personal finances takes some changes. The easiest ones to make are the ones that don't seem like sacrifice, or aren't too big a sacrifice.
In our efforts to build up our savings again, we'll try changing our milk habits. Switching from lactose-free milk in the carton to powdered milk may be a change that isn't too hard to swallow. Other members of my family have been using powdered milk for a while and are used to it.
I usually drink a protein shake for breakfast. When I've tried the shake with powdered milk I did notice the difference, but it wasn't a huge difference, and it's something that I could probably get used to. The shake takes a little bit longer to make because I'm putting an extra scoop of something in the shaker, but that's about 10 seconds.
I've also heard that, even though there's nothing really special about powdered milk, it doesn't seem to irritate people who are lactose-intolerant as much as regular milk from a carton does.
Even with the Dairy Cliff averted for the time being, we still stand to save a bit of money doing this. Here's how it breaks down.
Two estimates help figure out yearly savings
To figure out the dollar amount of switching from one food item to another, we'll need two estimates. The first estimate is quantity: How much milk will we drink in a year? The second estimate is unit cost: What is the cost per serving both for regular milk and for powdered milk?
The first estimate is straightforward. The members of my family drink about 5 cups of milk a day. That's about 1,800 cups per year.
The second estimate is also straightforward. Our milk from a carton is $3.78 per half gallon, or $0.47 per cup. The most economical box of powdered milk we could find was $18.85 for 80 servings (a serving is one cup). This is $0.24 per cup, or a little more than half of the cost of milk from a carton.
So, our 1,800 cups will cost $846 if we use milk from a carton, or $432 if we use powdered milk.
That's a savings of almost $400 per year. That's not chump change. It will help us quite a bit toward shoring up our savings accounts again.
I always envision powdered milk mixed with water is a lot less enjoyable to drink than regular milk. I personally would probably never be able to do this.
We’re not drinking it straight, so that makes it more palatable.
wow, that’s expensive milk! I pay $2.15 per gallon at Aldies. Powdered milk isn’t as cheap as it was years ago, but one tip is 1/3 cup powdered milk and one cup of water to replace milk in any recipe! Works great to make a white sauce, not noticeable flavor change in cooking vs drinking.
That’s exactly the mixture we use.
Powdered milk is nasty…if you’re drinking it plain. But for mixing in protein drinks and cooking it’s not a big deal. Our family has to do the lactose-free milk too, which easily adds a buck or more per gallon to the price of the milk. Might be worth trying this 🙂
Here’s where we are fundamentally different, John. I would not make the switch to more processed food, no matter what. I’d rather reduce the amount of milk I’m consuming and still get it as fresh as I can afford. This is one case where it’s true: YMMV!
Overall, we’ve made a lot of changes in the way we eat. Part of me drinking milk was to lower my carb intake. I had been drinking orange juice and eating fruit; now I’m drinking milk (and water, and eating more nuts. My wife has done this to great effect, and I do notice for myself that I feel better with lower carb intake. Baby steps 🙂
Although we do not drink milk, the concept is good for a lot of things. If everyone takes a second look at their expenses with the idea of either reducing consumption or thinking outside the box, you could save a lot of money.
We didn’t drink a whole lot of milk as-is but still we can save money.
First Thought…..Wow. This guy’s hard core. Now that’s taking frugality to a whole new level. I am not sure I wouldn’t rather pick up some other side work to invest in the healthier more flavorful milk.
Second thought……What an awesome analysis. I’m all about truly understanding where your money goes, and I can seriously respect any person who makes that level of commitment to their financial journey.
Third……Totally thought provoking. I use powdered milk in cooking but usually only when I’m out of regular or only have a little and don’t want to use it all. We can never tell a difference in cooking. But I think unless I have milk that is going to expire if I don’t use it from now on I will make a decision to use powdered that I buy in bulk. Thanks for the post….
Thanks for stopping by, Trish. I didn’t mention in the original post that wasn’t drinking the powdered milk straight, so honestly, I don’t know if I could be that hardcore. It does help that it’s mixed with other things when I consume it.
I love this idea. While I don’t drink milk (doing more of a “paleo” thing myself), the idea works for lots and lots of stuff – generics, clothing, etc. Looking for the “small things” can help save big bucks.
Thanks for stopping by! The milk was an improvement carb-wise for me (I had been drinking orange juice, which is fairly high-carb). Tastes great with chocolate whey protein. I can taste a small bit of difference between it and regular milk, but not much.
We tend to use soy or almond milk, which is more expensive anyway, but I hate regular milk, and our daughter likes the soy, so I’d have to cut something else to still be able to have what we use now. We’ve been able to cut our grocery, dog food, and household budget to $350/month, down from 500-600/month, so I’m pretty excited about that. Good luck with the experiment.
Thanks! One thing that will help is that we’re not drinking it straight. We use it mainly for cooking, and as part of a protein shake.
I use almond milk, but powdered milk actually sounds interesting. How healthy is it? And how often do you have to make it?
I’ve been doing OK with the powdered milk. I make it with my protein shake each morning: 8 oz water, 1/3 cup of powdered milk, 1 scoop of whey protein.