Best powdered milk?

[Roger Caffin]

> The half-fat or non-fat powdered milk is available too, but it's not nearly as tasty.
Very true, but the full-cream can be rather hard to dissolve in cold water, especially in winter. The skim milk is much easier. A minor issue.

Cheers

[Ashley Brown]

> Very true, but the full-cream can be rather hard to dissolve
> in cold water, especially in winter. The skim milk is much
> easier. A minor issue.

A minor issue indeed… just carry a blender! ;-)

[Christopher Holden]

As others have mentioned, I found Nido in the international market here in town. I have yet to find a powdered milk that I like, but I've found Nido to be the lesser of the powdered milk evils. I've also found that a little squeeze bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup makes it not suck. I saw a post awhile back where someone suggested to mix milk and leave it in the creek/river to chill overnight. Since we don't have cold rivers in the summer, I chilled it in the fridge at home. I still didn't like it. Powdered milk is too convenient when hiking for me to ignore, but Hershey's makes it tolerable. Adding it to my oatmeal/wheat germ/nuts/berries breakfast combo buries the "ugh" flavor too.

[Ken Thompson]

Humboldt creamery is still open and producing dry milk. Both facilities are near me. So must be another reason. Marketing!? Nido is the best of a bad lot that I have found. Look in the Hispanic markets.

[JASON CUZZETTO]

Has anyone tried Moo's Milk?

http://www.moosmilk.com/Page.html

[Scott Bentz]

I find one of the problems with powdered milk is getting it mixed properly. I like to take along a 12 oz. water bottle and mix it in the bottle by shaking.

What really makes it taste good is mixing it at night, burying it in a cold stream under some rocks and then drinking it cold in the morning with granola or Carnation Instant Breakfast.

If the milk has time to settle down it tastes MUCH better.

[Laurie Ann March]

I too like Nido…. sadly it isn't available in Canada… no matter how much I pester Nestle. I usually get a friend to send it up from the US for me.

[Christopher Plesko]

I don't know about the rest of you but our REI has whole milk powder from backpackers pantry. I used some on my last Yellerstone trip with my granola in a ziplock bag and some in my tea and it was muy bueno!

100g granola, 1oz whole milk powder, add water to "there" and let sit a couple minutes. That with some M&Ms was a mighty nice breakfast and cooking not required. I prefer to only have to cook at dinner anyway, with tea being an option if temperatures or time make it prefered.

[Denis Hazlewood]

Kathy,
Thanks for the information on the demise of Milkman. I've used it for over twenty five years now and love it. I still have 9 envelopes and will be careful to measure each tablespoon. Looks like I'll be visiting my local Tienda de comestibles.

[Christopher Holden]

Denis,
No need to guard your stash of packets. Just find yourself a bovine hiking companion. Who knew granola for breakfast could be so good? Get milk straight from the tap!
Chris

[Denis Hazlewood]

Christopher,
I can see the look on the faces of hikers I pass. Me, with my light weight gear, leading a cow down the trail. I should probably teach her to "defecate" on command, just as I have done with my parrot. Not good to contribute any additional "land mines" to the "road apples" already on the trail.

Wild Child,
Like your new "do".

[Laurie Ann March]

Thanks Dennis.

About milk…. often, because Nido is so difficult for me to get, I will use instant soy milk in my granola. It has a richer/creamier taste than the Carnation skim milk powder that is so common here.

This isn't exactly lightweight but sometimes I take a 500 ml thermos and make yogurt on the trail. It's yummy on granola and it ensures that my little boy is getting enough calcuim. Yogurt making works better with powdered skim milk even at home.

[Christopher Holden]

How do you do it in a thermos? I've never made it, but I thought it was something that involved a long time in high heat, such as in an oven.

[Dicentra OPW]

Another vote for Nido here. I find it in the Hispanic section of Albertsons. Never seen it anywhere else (except online).

Milkman is good too (and I'll be stocking up!! geez) but it doesn't dissolve well in hot liquids.

That Carnation stuff is crap – tastes like wallpaper paste to me. Ick.

[Laurie Ann March]

Christopher… it is an overnight process that I often do at home without a thermos.

In the late afternoon I heat the milk (Carnation is perfectly fine for this) to boiling without actually boiling it. You just want bubbles starting at the edge. I add a bit of this to a clean thermos and do up the lid.

Then I let the milk in the pot cool to just above body temperature. I add the culture to the thermos (it's a powder from the health food store) and then a little more of the warm milk. I stir it and add the rest of the milk, seal it up, put it in an OP Sak and cozy. Do not disturb until morning.

If it is really cool out and we aren't in Grizzly country I will put the works in my sleeping bag.

By morning we have really thick yogurt that I flavor with rehydrated fruit (usually freeze-dried) and sometimes a little honey. Bryan and Tobias love it over granola – I could just eat it on it's own.

[Roger Caffin]

> In the late afternoon I heat the milk (Carnation is perfectly fine for this) to boiling without actually boiling it. You just want bubbles starting at the edge.

Heat milk to 85 C.
Cool to 45 C.
Sterilise container with boiling water.
Mix milk with culture in container, leave 12 hours keeping warm.
Acidopholus culture is the best imho.

Cheers
Roger
(We go through about 1 litre a day of this!)

[Tad Englund]

(We go through about 1 litre a day of this!)

Roger I assume you mean at home? What about on the trail?

[Roger Caffin]

Hi Tad

Sigh. At home. No yoghurt in the bush. Sigh.

Sue and I tend to move fast and light with longish days, and carrying yoghurt brewing gear just doesn't fit. We make up for it when we get home though :-)

Cheers

[Sarah Welton]

I have two favorites – Nido and Nature’s First.

Nido dissolves really easily and tastes pretty good. I usually use it when I’m mixing in with a few other ingredients. It’s available here in the local Latino stores.

Nature’s First tastes better than Nido but takes a little bit more mixing to dissolve. Super rich and creamy though – this is what I use when the milk plays a larger part like in granola or a smoothie. Their coffee creamer is also really good. We have Nature’s First on PackitGourmet.com

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

It often shows up at Big Lots btw on the cheap.

[Jeff Jeff]

Another vote for Nido. I tried it on a tip that said it has a lot of fat and it's a good way to add a few pounds before a long trip.

[Laurie Ann March]

Roger has the yogurt process pretty much bang on. It certainly isn't for every trip because of the weight of the thermos… not exactly backpacking light.

[Monty Montana]

Yikes! I'm devastated that Milkman is no more! It's my all time favorite, better than Nido IMHO. Just checked the pantry and there's about half a packet left…what am I gonna do! The 'publicans are right, there's just too durn much gummit reglation.

[Stuart Armstrong]

Another vote for Nido. I picked some up today. All they had was the "1 year old plus version", but I figure I'm in the plus category so it can't hurt me.

I made half a cup with 2 ounces of cereal and it was much better than I expected. I can see how colder water would help out though.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Bummer that milkman is no more. I hope I can find Nido. We have a lot of Mexican, Asian and International groceries. I wonder if the local health food stores have powdered soy milk.

Anyway, I really like grapenuts when I'm hiking. I add walnuts or pecans and dried strawberries and raspberries called Just Fruit that are like freeze-dried, not moist. Very tasty.

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