As I'm trying to decide on the best powdered milk for storage, I'm running into a rather bewildering array of - Instant Non-Fat Powdered Milk, Non-Instant Non-Fat, Instant Regular Milk, Non-instant Regular, and for good measure they've thrown in "crystallized" and "Country Creme". Help! It is bad enough to have to use powdered milk, especially in an area where somebody should be able to have some dairy animals nearby, but don't - what is the difference between all these, and what tastes/makes yogurt or cheese the best? And then where can I find it? Searching the Net it seems the best is exported!

-- Kathy Bungard (partisan@iomet.com), November 09, 1998

Answers

get nonfat kind unless packed in a can and vacuum sealed. also the powdered milk seems to lack lysine, so is not a complete protein. it would be good with legumes to complement it as a protein.

-- Jocelyne Slough (jonslough@tln.net), November 09, 1998.

Maple Island sells the best powdered milk products around. Phone: 1-800-369-1022. They are located in N. St. Paul, MN. They will send you free samples to try. You be the judge. All are fortified with Vitamins A&D and are nitrogen packed. I do not own stock in the company, nor do I have any relatives that work there. Just a good product.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), November 09, 1998.

I've just received my powdered samples from Maple Island, 3 in all; whole milk, non-fat milk and powedered cheese.

I reconstituted the whole milk, and me and my 12 year old son tasted it. I was pleasantly surprised! It's nowhere as bad as I remembered powdered milk from my childhood. My son liked it, said it had a sweeter taste than the regular 2% milk I usually buy. I like it myself too, especially if milk is not easily available it will be tasting great :-)

I'm going to order only whole milk, as fat content in foods will be important if food is not as readily available as it is now, and considerering that we will be more physically active, and also probably shivering alot more often.

Haven't tasted the powdered cheese yet, but I will make some macarony and cheese with it soon. I'll let you know how it is.

If you call Maple Island for samples, make sure you ask them for literature or directions on how to reconstitute. All they sent me were the 3 samples with no instructions. I added cold water to the milk powder to taste, but I'm sure there is an optimum ratio for best result and taste for their products.

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), February 16, 1999.