Lest I get a pinchin' for lacking me Irish green today, I'll use the text as my covering.
Sara asked about milk and what we do. Well, back in the old days, we were easily going through 9 gallons a week.
Yes, that says NINE and GALLONS. No typo. That's actually being a bit frugal on the milk usage as well. My children can drink down a gallon in one sitting. They love milk. They will go to milk before anything else here, given a chance to drink their glut of it.
Yes, a good portion of the fridge was devoted solely to gallons of milk. It was a sea of white plastic back then. But, you see, the local grocery had a designated "milk day" every week where they bought a lot and you could get a 4 gallon limit at a mere $1.99 each. Ahh, them were the good ol' days, my friend. Cheap milk.
Then, I don't know, the cows went on strike or something and we hit milk inflation. When milk first hit near $3 a gallon, the first time around, when it was a surprise to folks to pay that much, we went on strike. I won't pay that for milk. It's milk, for crying out loud. It's really a rather poor substitute for calcium when you're eating a good variety of dairy. We once paid between $8 and $11 a gallon for unpasteurized goat's milk from a dairy about 2 hour's drive from us. That's when we decided we needed a goat.
And those farmers sure ain't getting all the extra surcharges and taxes off that high priced milk gallon. Sure, feed prices go up, gas to transport milk goes up...but still...I just don't see the farmer making the extra pennies on the milk/dairy increase. And Uncle Sam keeps poking his hand out with that blasted pencil there and making the buying of fresh, raw milk a total hassle for folks simply wanting to buy local and drink fresh and healthy.
But, I digress. As usual.
We buy milk very rarely these days. Last year, it was all goat here. This year, no goat milk, but when drinking milk is desired, we simply mix powdered and chill it overnight in a glass jug so it's really good and cold. Given several good shakes/stirs to aerate, it's as good as any gallon of 2% milk from the store. Aeration is the absolute key to successful powdered milk as a drink. That, and being certain to use a glass container and chill it good. Plastic just never gets as cold as my gallon jug does. If you are a 2% milk drinker...and yes, I know all the studies about how whole milk is the go-to for toddlers these days, the added fat is a big bonus and plus for growing bodies and developing brains and such...but, if you're a 2%-er, then at the very least, mix your store-bought gallon with an equal amount of mix milk. Chill well and you will stretch those pricey gallons even farther. Mixed with whole milk, you're going to get about a 2% quality of milk.
And if you're drinking skim milk (a.k.a: opaque water), move on to some good yogurt (which you can also made from powdered milk) some good cheeses and get your calcium and dairy that way. I'm not dissin' your milk choices, but really...ain't no way I'd pay even a dollar for a gallon of dishwater-colored weak "milk"
I'm just saying.
5 comments:
Love your blog. Dried powdered milk leads to all kinds of health issues, as well as feed store grains . Check into it , it would be better to give no milk then the sprayed dried chemical dry milk. There are tons of nutrition sites you might want to check it out.
Blessings,
I'm sure there's chemicals in powdered milk, as in just about every other thing one might add to their storage pantry. Without fresh-from-the-goat milk this year, powdered milk is our staple.
Without doing a lot of gathering, I have to go with the feed store supply of feed for those goats, so chemical processing on some level there as well. The chemical-treated food stuffs are everywhere -- including those gallons of store-bought milk.
One has to do the best they can with what they can produce themselves or purchase. We are no longer big milk drinkers here because it isn't the be-all/end-all source of nutrients it once was, and it's not cost-effective for storage. Powdered milk is our substitute for baking needs, and every so often, free drinking. We're talking maybe 3 meals a week as a drink.
What, would you say, is out there available for consumption and storage that *isn't* tainted with some kind of chemical insult?
And, no, we haven't found any wheat or corn yet at the feed store we would feel suitable for our own consumption. There is a mill over in Alabama I'm told, and we might check that out.
Still, without knowing the cow or goat, the farmer's level of sanitation practices, the handling from point A to point B and onward to consumers, the feeds and vaccination practices of those farms and their livestock, the conditions surrounding the fields where the corn, wheat, oats and what-have-you were grown, as well as those areas surrounding those fields in terms of run-off and the like...right down to the transportation companies who supply my grocery stores and the stores themselves (our once local grocer had a habit of not getting the refrigerated items directly into their climate-controlled areas...milk and other dairy, as well as meats, were often not *right* long before their dates came up)...
Without knowing all that line of 'history' for each item and each component of each item that we consume, how do you know what is actually safe and what is not?
Seems powdered milk is probably the least on the list of worrisome eating.
Just a thought.
Deanna
There's been something wrong with everything since the fall. We just all do the best we can, huh?
Thanks for sharing....Not sure what we'll do...although, we're not shopping for any really long stretches, there are times I can't keep enough milk for just the one week. Right now, I'm driving 30 minutes to a nearby town and buying raw goat's milk at $6 a gallon, plus gas, that is when she has it available. Otherwise, I'm buying the expensive pasteurized stuff at the store for about $16 a gallon. For the rest of us, we just drink good ole' 2%, but I have been taking and making it last longer by mixing half and half with powdered.
And I totally agree...what isn't "tainted" with some form of something that's bad for you, unless you're growing/raising whatever you eat right there in your own backyard, you really have no idea. Thanks again,
sara
We have raw goats' milk, and as much on hand as we can use - it is a real blessing. :)
Praise God that our son can now milk the goats!
Have a wonderful week,
Blessings,
Jillian ♥
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