Best powdered milk?

[Gordon Smith]

Hi folks,
Looking for breakfast ideas. In the past I’ve always done instant oatmeal, but this year I’d like to try some cold cereals. Trouble is I don’t much care for the usual non-fat dry milk you get at the supermarket. Is there something tastier out there? Like a dry 2% or dry whole milk?
Thanks for the help!

[Steve Young]

“Real” is a dried whole milk alternative found in mexican markets. A little harder to dissolve due to the fat content (extra calories).

[Steven Miller]

“Nido” is anothe dry, whole milk available in the Mexican food section at Wally World. It is really good with cold granola, and mixed with Carnation Instant Breakfast makes a most excellent milk shake.

[cary bertoncini]

even before I stopped taking dairy, I preferred this powdered to any of the milk options – it mixes readily, lasts long and tastes good: “Better Than Milk – Soy” by American Natural & Specialty Brands – http://www.betterthanmilk.com

[Anonymous]

Hi Gordon,
Have you tried “Milkman” instant lowfat powdered milk? It has 5% fat content dried and 1/2% fat when reconstituted. I find there is just enough fat to give it a “real milk flavor” when fully reconstituted, but it is downright rich and creamy when mixed with 1/2 the water in the directions. Best of all, you can find it in just about any of the major supermarkets. Each packet weighs 3 3/4 oz. and makes a quart of milk when fully reconstituted.

[Rick Dreher]

I agree! Discovered it in Boy Scouts eons ago and still use it today for camping and backpacking. As a kid who had to either have powdered milk (bleccch) or (bleccch X 10) soy “milk” due to alergies, it was like a gift from above :-)

I suppose it’s the cream content.

[Anonymous]

One other point I forgot to mention: If you do decide to buy Milkman, be aware that it comes in boxes containing something like 8 or so packages, can’t remember exactly, which may be too much to use in a season. An alternative is to buy it at REI, where it is sold by the individual package for ~$1.25

[Dale Wambaugh]

I remember reading Colin Fletcher’s The Complete Walker where he mentioned using powered milk mixed directly into his tea. He carried some sort of ketchup picnic squeeze bottle for a dispenser if I remember right.

[Bernard Shaw]

Here is the link to Nestle’s Nido Whole Milk.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00032B982/qid=1150089005/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-9999793-3228122?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=3580501&s=gourmet-food&v=glance

Personally, I prefer the Milkman product.

[John Lovell]

Gordon, I had the exact same question as you. Thanks for staring this thread, it was very well answered. Thanks everyone.

[Lloyd Crowder]

Try enertia trail foods. Expensive but very good. http://www.trailfoods.com

[Anonymous]

For a non dairy alternative that is highly nutritious you might consider whey protein isolate, either plain or(my favorite) vanilla flavored. It mixes up nice and creamy and tastes great, very much like full fat milk.

[JW]

I too recommend the Better Than Milk Soy mix, very tasty.

I premix it in ziplocks with quickoats, sweetener and freeze dried fruits in individual serving sizes. In camp I just grab a bag and pour in 8-10 oz of hot water, let sit 10 minutes and then eat.

I do the same with mashed potato flakes, but add butter flakes.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I’ll 2cnd Better Than Milk soy milk. The stuff is great, and a tub of it will last a long time :-)

[Kim Skaarup]

Just hate the sour taste of powder milk.

Bring some small brick of UTH cream 12 or 30% fat. Add a lot of water and you have a very good tasting “milk”. Also to be put directly in your afternoon meal.

[Mitchell Keil]

Back to Breakfast ideas. Since you are asking about breakfast stuff as well, might I suggest a visit to Trader Joe’s if you have one near you. TJ makes an instant oatmeal from 7 grains with soy added that has 200 calories per packet and has real cinnamon and brown sugar added. It packs 9 grams of protein as well — far more than the usual 4 grams in other oatmeals. I usually mix it with dried tart cherries and roasted pine nuts for their fat content and a little Milk Man powdered milk for creaminess. Using two packets and the add-ins I usually end up with about 500 to 600 calories for breakfast. Breakfast weighs in at 4.5oz.

[Phillip Nazaroff]

Ask Garrison Kieler (Praire Home)

[Hamilton Moore]

I’ve been working on trying to keep the weight of 2400 calories under 1 pound which can be done with nuts, beans, lentils barley and dried butter. Whole powdered milk is farily high in calories per oz as well.

most of these things can be combined into a pretty tasty breakfast gruel.

[John Garberson]

Gonna try out some Better Than Milk and the brick of UTH cream sounds interesting too. Questions; what is UTH cream and where do I find the bricks? :)

[Eric Carlsen]

I can’t speak about the others but I used to have Nido almost every day while living in Chile for nearly 2 years. I really grew to like it, it’s much better than the non-fat powdered milk available here in the states. I found the trick to making it truly delicious was adding a little bit of sugar.

[Sandra Warner]

I just tried Nido using it on my Wonderland Trail hike . It taste so much better than Milk Man and instant non-fat dry milk. I am sold on it!

[Kathy Stora]

I have been unable to locate any Milkman Powdered Milk in any of the retailers in the Sacramento area. It seems everyone just stopped carrying it. Even REI. No one has an explanation as to why they don't have it any more. I am just told it isn't available any longer. Well, I did some searching of my own and found out through the parent company of Milkman which is Familair Foods, that they stopped production of the Milkman product in January of 2008. The last shipments went out in April of 2008. The plant that processed the powdered milk, Humbolt Creamery in Humbolt County, California was shut down because it could not comply with the California Earthquake requirements. The plant was very old and could not be retrofitted. It would have to be rebuilt and that was not cost effective, so the plant shut down. Familiar Foods, the parent company of Milkman products was unable to locate a new producer for the product, so it will no longer be marketed, which is a bummer, becuase the powdered milk did contain cream which made it taste much better than Carnation nonfat milk. However, not all is lost. Nestle, the makers of Carnation also make a whole powdered milk product called Nestle Nido which is very rich and creamy. It can be ordered through a company called My Brands at mybrands.com or you can call them to place an order at (888) 281-6400. Apparently, you cannot get the Nestle Nido milk in regular grocery outlets as it is mostly exported outside of the United States to 3rd world countries that have no refridgeration. It, however, is available at many Hispanic grocery stores. Just thought all you backpackers like me who used the Milkman product would like to know the scoop as to what happened to it.

Kathy Stora, Sacramento, California

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Eek! I need to go buy up all of it at the local Safeway :-(

[Ashley Brown]

Wow, I'm amazed that full-cream powdered milk is a rarity in the USA! You can get full-cream powdered milk in pretty much every supermarket in Australia, available in multiple brands. It's really not a bad replacement for real milk when you are on the trail (I even use it at home when I've forgotten to buy the milk!). The half-fat or non-fat powdered milk is available too, but it's not nearly as tasty.

[Victor Karpenko]

Nido can also be found in Asian food markets. That is where I buy mine.

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