LDS Cannery Powdered Milk....Now Online!

Every month I try to order one or two items for my food storage from the LDS Church online. (lds.org) When I got online to order my oats guess what is now available..... non-instant powdered milk!!!  It wasn't previously available online.  I am sooooo excited!  I make yogurt with this milk and many other things, but I am so happy that it can be delivered right to my door, instead of driving all the way to the cannery in Salt Lake....it comes in a case of 12 28-oz pouches for $67.00.

Click HERE to see the milk.  Some don't care for this powdered milk as a drink, but there are so many other ways it can be used.  I use if for...

Homemade Yogurt

Homemade Cottage Cheese

Bulk Mixes

Broccoli Soup

Homemade Wheat Bread

Chocolate Mug Cake

And any recipe that calls for milk. For 1 cup of milk= 1 cup of water + 3 T of powdered milk.  There have been so many nights of making dinner and I am out of milk.  Powdered milk to the rescue.  It's a great, affordable, powdered milk!!!
 

My Food Storge Week In Review- Yogurt, Cottage Cheese, & Bulk Spices

This week I was able to bake a little and add a little to my food storage.  Having basic baking ingredients on hand, like powdered milk, keeps me from running to the store for that one ingredient I need for dinner.  And buying spices and other basic ingredients in bulk really does save money, especially when I can save the bulk of it in mason jars with my foodsaver. 

Here's what I did this week that related to my food storage.

My kids have been begging for lasagna for dinner so we finally got around to having it.  I started the noodles cooking and then realized that I didn't have enough cottage cheese for the filling.  I only had about 1/4 C left and I needed a whole cup.  Not to worry....making a quick batch of cottage cheese is easy.  Plus, it uses powdered milk!

Easy Homemade Cottage Cheese

I followed this recipe in the link from Tactical Intelligence

How To Make Cheese From Powdered Milk

I warmed the milk, added 1 T vinegar, let it sit to create curds, and then drained the curds in cold water.  You are left with basic cottage cheese type curds.  When I added them to the store bought cottage cheese you couldn't tell the homemade from the store bought.  It only took a couple of minutes for the whole process!

I must have had powdered milk on my mind because I made yogurt too this week.  I haven't used acidophilus as a starter for awhile, so I wanted to make sure that this process would still work for me. Usually a small amount of yogurt is used as a starter for a batch of yogurt, but I have found that acidiphilus tablets also work because they have the live active cultures in them.  I followed the recipe HERE from my previous post on yogurt, except I used my yogurt maker and not my thermal cooker.   I blended the powdered milk and water in my blender, added sugar, vanilla flavor, and three crushed acidophilus tablets.(using powdered milk also eliminates the need to heat up the milk and cool it back down because it is already pasteurized) Then let it incubate in my yogurt maker.

It took about 12 hours for the yogurt to set up in my Yogourmet yogurt maker and then I cooled it in the fridge overnight.  

 This picture is after I scooped out a little bit to make yogurt cheese.  The finished yogurt is smooth and creamy, perfect!

The yogurt that I scooped out is now draining over my sink in a cheese bag that came with my yogurt maker.  Cheesecloth or a clean t-shirt would also work over a sieve.  I only tried a little of the yogurt to see if we really liked it as yogurt cheese.  This cheese will be soft like a cream cheese, hopefully. We're going to eat it on bagels...yum!

Update on the cream cheese, aka yogurt cheese.  As I was putting the yogurt into the cheese bag I remembered that I had flavored the yogurt with sugar and vanilla.  So the yogurt cheese came out a little sweeter then I would like on crackers.  And I am also thinking that making yogurt cheese will take some practice.  I let it drain too long and was kind of dry.  It was still spreadable, but not as moist as cream cheese from the store is.  Next time I will check the yogurt cheese sooner.  But it was edible and kind of cool to know it works!  Especially knowing that it started out as powdered milk, water, and acidophilus tablets!

Spices in your food storage are almost as important as the basic ingredients.  Have you ever had to eat plain rice, or potatoes, every night without any flavoring.  It would be beyond bland and the family would probably rebel!  I like to keep many spices on hand for a variety in our cooking.  I finally made it to Winco this week to stock up on spices, and a few bulk items that I was running low on.  I bought basil, cinnamon, cumin, cocoa powder, and garlic powder. After refilling my smaller spice containers I sealed up the extra with the foodsaver to keep them fresh for much longer then sitting in my spice drawer.

Transferring from bag to bottle. 

Click HERE to see detailed instructions on how I seal my jars.

Notice that I use more than just mason jars.  Old spaghetti sauce jars and any other glass jar with a metal lid will work with the foodsaver. 

It may not seem like a huge deal, but these small things make my food storage usable and manageable.  It takes a little organizing and some time to get used to a food storage system, but when you find what works for you, food storage becomes part of your every day life. 

Prepare Today Homemade - Mini Lasagna

I found this recipe on Pinterest while looking for something easy to make, and didn't take a long time in the oven.  It is still really hot here and the thought of cooking dinner is almost too much sometimes.  So when I saw this recipe I knew it was perfect and my family gobbled it up!

 The original recipe didn't provide any exact measurements, so I am going to give you a guess at what I did.  The "lasagna" is cooked in a muffin tin using wonton wrappers.  Those little guys are becoming one of my new favorite things to use in kitchen.  You can find them in the produce section by the bean sprouts.  They have square, rectangle, and round ones.  I chose to use round ones because of the muffin tin, but I think the square ones would have overlapped a little better in the pan.  I also used cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese because that is what I had on hand.

Start off by placing two of the wonton wrappers in the muffin tin cups and leave the edges sticking up over the top.  Then the layering fun begins.  This is where you can add exactly what you want to each cup.  If one person doesn't like meat, don't add it.  Or you can add veggies!  Start off with a small spoonful of sauce then mozzarella cheese, sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, and a small dab of cottage cheese/ricotta cheese (don't you love my exact measurements).  Sprinkle about 1/4t of Italian seasoning into each cup.

The next layer is another wonton wrapper (just one) and repeat your layers ending with the cheese.  I chopped up a couple of mushrooms and sprinkled them in after the cottage cheese.  

Lasagna Cups
1 package of wonton wrappers
1 jar spaghetti sauce
mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
Ricotta or cottage cheese
Italian seasoning
mushrooms, veggies, or meat, optional

Layer 2 wonton wrappers in each muffin tin that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Leave the edges sticking up over the edge of the pan.  Add about a tablespoon of sauce onto the wrappers.   Add your meat or veggies now and sprinkle the Italian seasoning on each cup, about 1/4t.  The amount of veggies or meat you use will depend on how full your muffin cups are getting.  Add about 1 T of cottage cheese or Ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, and small sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.  Don't be afraid to push down on the ingredients to make more room.  Now you will layer only 1 wonton wrapper and press down.  Layer sauce, meat/veggies, seasoning, cottage cheese/ricotta, Parmesan, and end with Mozzarella cheese.  Bake in a 375° oven for 18-20 minutes.  Let them cool for a few minutes and they should just pop out of the muffin tin.  


My family ate every single one, including my non-carb eating husband.  He ate 4!  The edges were crispy like a fried wonton and the lower part was just like a noodle in lasagna.  I will be making these again and again!! 


And if you want this recipe to be complete food storage use canned veggies, freeze dried cheese, and homemade wonton wrappers!  I found this recipe for eggs rolls and for the wrappers from preparedness365.blogspot.com.  
And the recipes can be found HERE.


Egg Roll Wrappers or Wonton Wrappers
2 c. sifted flour
¾ c. cold water
1 egg
½ t. salt
Combine all ingredients with a fork and stir till the flour is moistened. Knead dough until smooth, about 5 minutes. Cover and set aside for 30 minute. Roll out on a well-floured board, 1/16” thick and cut into 6” squares. The thinner the wrappers the better they will be. To make egg rolls, place the square of dough with one point facing you and one point facing away from you, like a diamond. Put ¼ c. filling on lower third of dough. Fold up bottom corner over the filling. Fold in both sides then roll up, tucking edges in as you go. Dip fingers into water and put on top edges on either side of the top point and finish rolling up. Bake or deep fry in hot oil.


Baked Egg Rolls
½ c. Chopped onions
½ c. Celery, diced fine
1 clove Garlic, minced
4 – 5 c. Shredded cabbage
1 ½ c. Grated carrots
¼ t. dried ginger (or more, fresh if you have it)
2 T. cornstarch
1½ T. water
1½ T. soy sauce
1½ t. veg. oil
2 t. brown sugar
Fresh ground pepper or cayenne pepper for more heat
1 c. cooked chicken finely diced (one chicken breast, seasoned)
Egg roll wrappers
Water to seal wrappers
Non-stick cooking spray
Coat a large skillet with nonstick cooking spray; add the first 3 ingredients. Sauté a minute then add cabbage and carrots. Cook and stir over medium heat until vegetable are crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Add diced chicken. In a small saucepan, combine cornstarch, water, soy sauce, oil, brown sugar, ginger and pepper until smooth; stir into chicken mixture. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes; remove from the heat. Spoon ¼ c. of chicken mixture on the bottom third of one egg roll wrapper; fold bottom up and fold sides toward center and roll tightly. Brush top corner of wrapper with water to seal. Place seam side down on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling. Spray tops of egg rolls with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 425º 9- 11 minutes, until wrappers start to brown. Turn egg rolls over and bake another 9-10 minutes or until egg rolls are lightly browned and slightly crispy. Watch carefully the last few minutes of baking time. Serve with dipping sauces. Y:16-20 egg rolls


Easy Sweet and Sour Sauce
½ c. sugar
1 T. cornstarch
½ c. vinegar
1 T. ketchup
Combine sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Add vinegar and ketchup and bring to a boil, stirring well. Mixture with thicken and become clear

Prepare Today Homemade- Easy Spinach Lasagna

All the spinach from my garden was ready at the same time and my family will only eat so many spinach salads.  To help me decide what to make, I went directly to allrecipes.com and searched for a recipe to use up my spinach.  My favorite thing about allrecipes.com is the index search by ingredient.  I typed in spinach into the search engine and got hundreds of ideas.  Each recipe is also ranked and has reviews, so a great tasting meal is almost guaranteed.  

I decided on Easy Spinach Lasagna and it truly was the easiest dinner to put together.  There is no need to boil the noodles, just layer everything into the pan and cook!  That is my kind of dinner!!

Start off by mixing the ingredients in a bowl..

 The original recipe called for frozen spinach but I just tore up some of my fresh spinach and it worked great!  I also substituted cottage cheese for the ricotta cheese because that is what I had on hand.  (remember THIS trick)

Then I started layering the lasagna.

Start by pouring pasta sauce into the bottom of the pan, layer the lasagna noodles and then add the cottage cheese mixture.  I noticed there was a big space at the end of the pan, so I broke one of the noodles and placed it along the short side of the pan to fill up the void.

This was soooo much easier than cooking the noodles and then trying to lay them in the pan while burning my fingers on hot, slippery noodles.  

This is the trick to cooking the noodles, pour 1/4 C hot water around the edges of the pan.  This will give the dry pasta noodles enough liquid to cook.  Every noodle was cooked through and delicious!


Easy Spinach Lasagna
1 15-oz container ricotta cheese or cottage cheese
1 10-oz frozen spinach (thawed and well drained) I used about 1 C chopped fresh spinach (canned would probably work too)
2 C mozzarella (or freeze dried mozzarella)
1 jar pasta sauce
8 uncooked lasagna noodles
1/4 C water


Mix together the ricotta/cottage cheese, spinach, and 1 C cheese.  Spread 1 C pasta sauce into the bottom of a 13x9 pan.  Layer 3 noodles across and break another noodle to fit across the short end of the pan.  Layer about 1/2 of the spinach mixture on top of the noodles, then repeat layers.  Slowly pour the water around the edges of the pan. Cover and bake at 400° for 40 minutes.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and bake uncovered for 10 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Sorry for the bad photo.  I forgot the take a picture and my daughter was about to eat the last piece and I hurried and snapped this shot.

There are many different ways to add in more veggies and spices to this basic recipe.  I added a sprinkling of onion powder and Parmesan cheese, but you could add mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, meat, tvp meat, etc.  Or use all freeze dried and dehydrated ingredients.  It would be possible with freeze dried mozzarella cheese!  I may even double the cottage cheese mixture next time and make more layers, it was kind of a shallow lasagna, but your imagination and pantry items are your limits.  I also can't wait to try this recipe in my Sun Oven. 

Prepare Today Homemade- Cottage Cheese

Making cottage cheese is one of those skills that I want to know I can accomplish before an emergency.  There are many recipes and how-to's on the web but this recipe is by far the easiest to make.  My friend Jodee sent it to me and I like this recipe because it doesn't require any weird ingredients that you wouldn't normally have on hand.  I make this recipe when I need a ricotta filling for stuffed shells, lasagna roll ups, and ravioli.  To eat this as cottage cheese I would add a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt to make it creamier. 

 Powdered milk and vinegar are all you need to make cottage cheese.

After the milk is heated you will need to drip the vinegar around the edge of the pan and I like to use a medicine dropper.  

Add 2 C of water and 3/4 C powdered milk to a pan and stir with a whisk until the milk is incorporated.  Turn the heat on to medium and stir continuously until the milk starts to steam.  

Once the milk is steaming remove the pan from the burner and gently drip 3 T vinegar around the edges of the pan.  Gently stir once or twice and let the pan sit for 1 minute.

 The milk will start to curdle immediately.  The whey is yellow in color and the cottage cheese is white.

Pour the liquid into a small colander and run hot water over it and then run cold water over the mixture until all the whey has drained off (about 1 min).  You can save the whey to put in smoothies, use as plant water, or into any baking that requires water.  

 You'll end up with about 1 C of cottage/ricotta cheese.  I use a fork to squish the remaining water out.

 This is the amount you'll get out of one batch.  The last step is to salt to taste.  I made three batches to equal about a 16oz container of cottage cheese.  I am making lasagna roll-ups for dinner tonight and that should be enough.  For a creamier cottage cheese add a small amount of sour cream or plain yogurt.

Cottage Cheese
2 C water
3/4 C powdered milk (non-instant from the cannery)
3 T vinegar (or lemon juice, vinegar is cheaper)

Combine the water and powdered milk in a pan and whisk until combined.  Turn on heat to medium and heat the milk, stirring constantly, until milk starts to steam.  Once steaming, remove from heat and slowly drip the vinegar around the edges of the pan.  Stir gently once and let sit for 1 min.  Pour into a small colander and rinse with hot water, then cold water until all the whey is gone and water runs clear, about 1 minute.  Using a fork press the remaining liquid out of curds.  Salt to taste.  Use in any recipe calling for ricotta or cottage cheese.  To eat is as cottage cheese add a small amount of sour cream or plain yogurt. 

And hey, if it doesn't work you could make some of THESE!!

Manual Washing Machines & Long-Term Dairy Storage

The title may seem odd, but that is what my life was all about the past few days.  It was a time of experimentation with food storage theories, and also a household mini-disaster where my emergency preparedness came in handy.  I took a class at Honeyville Grain last summer taught by a sister team, Afton & Jenee, and they had some interesting ideas on how to preserve eggs, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, and cottage cheese. (click HERE to see that post) I tested some of their ideas and so far so good!!  I also had a slight disaster when our washing machine died.  Of course the minute we can't do laundry all my kids were insistent they HAD to do laundry right now!  


One of the ideas that I learned in that food storage class last summer is if you store your yogurt, sour cream, and cottage cheese containers upside down in the fridge they will stay fresh for months.  I may have taken this too literally, but I wanted to make quiche for dinner the other night and it called for cottage cheese, and lo and behold look at what I found in the back corner of the fridge....

 The date I used this in our dinner was February 22, 2012....seven months after putting this container in the fridge, upside down.  And you know what?? We are all alive today to tell you that turning your containers upside down WORKS!!!  I was convinced that just because my washing machine was broken that we were all going to be up all night with food poisoning and I would have no way to wash the sheets :)  But I was almost doing a happy dance when I opened the container and smelled it and it was exactly like fresh cottage cheese from the store!!  (I also have a post on storing cheese and eggs on the shelf for next week, so stayed tuned for that one!)


Now onto the mini-disaster...my washing machine broke and we are now waiting for a new one to be delivered (in maybe a week).  I have a potty-training 3 year old who goes through 3-4 pairs of underwear a day. (she's 3 so don't worry about her being embarrassed, maybe in 10 years :)  And of course she is now out of clean underwear and I was very close to buying new ones when I remembered my manual washing machine.  

Notice the pull-up and no pants :) They were all dirty.

 I have had a manual washer in my storage room but hadn't put together the whole contraption.  Today was the day we put it together and used it!  

We first drilled a hole in a gamma lid.

See how it all fits together.

I added a few drops of detergent and the clothes.

We started with the lid on but it was actually easier to use the suction of the plunger with the lid off.  My 2 youngest LOVED this job!!

 I drained and rinsed the clothes in the same bucket and wrung them out and then we dried them in the dryer.  What really caught my attention was how much water I would need to do laundry every week.  We used a 2 liter bottle and counted how many it would take to fill the bucket to be able to do a load of laundry.

 It took four 2-liter bottles to fill the bucket half-way with enough water to wash 6 pairs of child size 4 pants. And that was only to wash, more water would be needed to rinse the clothes.  I have quite a bit of water storage but I am adding to it everyday now!!  We had fun washing the clothes in a bucket but it was actually kind of hard.  It hurt my hands to hold the plunger after awhile and after ringing out the clothes my hands were so dry from the detergent.  I am working on  making a clothes ringer out of buckets, but I had to do it with my hands.  The bucket also doesn't hold that much.  My son is 8 and it held 4 pairs of his pants and we left the lid off the bucket to move them around with the plunger.  My 12 year old did her laundry in the bath tub and used the plunger.  I actually think that was a better way to do a large load, but it was hard on her back to bend over for that long.  (Imagine my back after doing that) 

We learned so much from doing this simple task of washing our clothes in a bucket.  I can also watch for food sales and stock up on sour cream, cottage cheese, eggs, and cheese and have the knowledge to be able to store them for months, while saving my family money!!  Learning NOW before a disaster is what I think is so important!!  Don't wait for an emergency to try out your sun oven, or porta potty, or manual washer.  You'll deeply regret not learning skills now when you have the time and energy to do so.  

(Click HERE to view a previous post on washing clothes without electricity)

Recipes Using Grains

It's the end of the month and I hope you were all able to complete this month's goals of grains, school supplies and recipes containing grains. I thought I would share some recipes with you that use the ingredients from our goals this month. I am always on the lookout for new recipes and I found all of these recipes at allrecipes.com. All Recipes has a way to search the recipes by a certain ingredient at the top of their home page. I found all of these recipes by typing in the ingredient word like cornmeal, and pasta and then rice, and every recipe with those ingredients were found. (there are a lot!) These are the recipes that I found and thought would work good with food storage.

image from food.com

Low-Fat Alfredo Sauce
 8oz Fettuccine pasta cooked
1 C milk
2 T flour
1 C cottage cheese (I use low fat)
1/2 t garlic powder
3 t minced onion
salt and pepper
1/2 C Parmesan cheese
2 C cooked, diced chicken

In a food processor blend all but the chicken and pasta. Heat sauce in pan and add chicken and pasta. This recipe is a great base recipe and you can add many other spices to fit your taste buds. The sauce also doesn't get as creamy as real Alfredo sauce since it is a lighter version.

Berry Cornmeal Muffins
1 1/4 C flour
1/2 C cornmeal
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 t salt
1 T baking powder
1 C milk
1/2 C butter melted (can substitute 1/2 C white bean puree)
1 egg
1 C berries (frozen, fresh, or dehydrated)

Mix all ingredients together. If you use frozen berries you will need to dredge the berries in the flour so they don't bleed while cooking. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Let the muffins sit for 10 minutes before taking them out of the pan.

Salsa Chicken and Rice
1lb chicken cubed
taco seasoning
1 T oil
1/4 t salt and pepper
1 can chicken broth
1 8oz jar salsa (any hotness you prefer)
2 C instant rice
8oz shredded cheddar

Dip the diced chicken into the taco seasoning and brown in the oil, salt, and pepper until juices run clear. Add the broth, salsa, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn off heat and add rice. Sprinkle cheese on top and cover. Let sit 5 minutes.
(I use regular rice so I let it simmer longer and I also add 1 can of black beans and 1 can of corn. I serve this with tortillas and sometimes with tortilla chips)
August Goals:

GRAINS: 300lbs per person per year (that is a minimum amount) We added oats in Feb. and wheat in June so in Aug. we are adding pasta, rice, cereals, corn (cornmeal), and granola bars (they happen to be on sale in Aug. for school time).

cereal: 10 boxes per person per year
cornmeal: 10lbs per person per year
pasta: 40lbs per person per year
rice: 40lbs per person per year

**Remember that the amounts are only recommended amounts and you need to store what your family will use.

Non-Food Goal: Purchase school supplies to have on hand. Having extra scissors, paper, and pens will come in handy.

This month you will need to collect RECIPES that use pasta, rice, cornmeal, wheat, and oats. Keep the recipes in a box or notebook and try them out before you decided they are a keeper. This is also a great way to rotate and use your food storage.

Enjoy the journey!
Enjoy the blessings!
Feel the peace!

On a side note: I found the funniest post on why you should have a Mormon friend-Hoarder Edition. Click HERE to read the funny post. It is food storage related and lets us laugh at ourselves. :)

Powdered Milk Continued.......

Today's post comes from a friend of mine who knows everything there is to know about powdered milk. Keep an open mind as you read through the recipes and don't think that it is too difficult to make yogurt or cottage cheese. 

(information below from Jodee Packer)

There are several varieties of powdered milk (of course, there are flavored ones as well -- like chocolate!). Storage temperature is very critical in the long term keeping of powdered milks. The cooler, the longer it will keep the flavor on the palatable end (of course, using nitrogen pack/oxygen absorbers as well). Using a bucket or very large container for storage does work -- but it must be used more rapidly than that quantity in smaller containers due to exposure to oxygen upon opening. Mylar pouches or cans are ideal for most people. Keep sealed tight once opened -- moisture in the air will cause clumping. 

Regular nonfat (non-instant):

• more expensive, but you use less product
• averages about .80 cents per gallon of skim milk when reconstituted

This is the product sold by the LDS Cannery and several other companies. It is a dense dairy dehydrated milk powder that generally takes a bit of good mixing to get it to dissolve back into water without lumps -- using a blender or a whisk. It is milk that is basically spray-dried and put through one pass in the dehydration process. For the best flavor, shelf life is 3-5 years. After that, the flavor can start to definitely go down hill, although it is still usable for up to 10+ depending on storage environment. It can be used in all cooking. Do make sure it is well blended into dry ingredients when added in as a powder, or you can get powdered milk lumps. This can be sold as fortified and not fortified with vitamins A and D. Be sure and get one fortified, as these vitamins help with proper nutrient absorption.

Non-Instant Milk /Instant Store Milk

(picture from Adventures in Self Reliance)

Instant nonfat:

• cheaper to buy, but you use about twice as much in the long run

There is large crystallized versus small crystallized that is more of a powder in appearance. The product sold by the grocery stores is mostly large crystallized granules (Carnation, Smiths brand, etc.) and milk purchased this way is the most expensive per pound. In large bulk bags, like Maple Island, Country Cream, Country Pride, Best Pack, and Walton (Humboldt) brands -- these are just dehydrated like the regular, but run through the process a second time in order to make a slightly larger size of the powder than the regular -- so it is lighter and airier and thus dissolves into water more readily than the regular. For the best flavor, shelf life is 3-5 years, after that, the flavor does start to change, but just as with the regular, it still can be used for years even if the flavor is off. Can be used in all cooking. Same as with regular nonfat milk, this can be sold as fortified and not fortified with vitamins A and D. Be sure and get one fortified, as these vitamins help with proper nutrient absorption. 

Whole: This is powdered milk with the milk-fats left in and usually runs around 4% milk fat when reconstituted. Because of this fat, it has a very short shelf life -- closer to 3 years nitrogen packed. Several sources recommend storing this powder refrigerated. Maple Island does make a whole milk powdered product in addition to their nonfat products (www.maple-island.com). This would be an excellent item to have on hand with younger children or children with health concerns requiring higher caloric intake.

Whey based: Morning Moo is an example of this type of product. They use the sweet dairy whey as the base and then add in vitamins A & D to fortify the product to come up with a milk alternative drink. This is dissolved into tepid hot water and then cold water can be added. Shelf life usually runs about 5 + years based on temperature stored. It can be used in recipes that call for fluid milk except puddings, ice cream and yogurt (note: Morning Moos milk contains less fat than whole milk and will not set up in products that need fat as a thickener). Although Morning Moos milk takes hot water to mix the ingredients, a very small amount of hot water is needed, only one cup to dissolve the ingredients for 8 c of milk. During freezing temps and if you don't have ready access to warm water -- you might want to consider a solar cooker set up to warm up your water to dissolve this product.

Soy and rice based: For those allergic to milk from cows, soy based and rice based products are available. Generally, they are very expensive and hard to come by in the powdered form. It is most often readily available only in the fluid fortified form -- not the powder for making up yourself. However, it is possible to get the powdered product, but it is pricey and hard to come by. You can also just make your own milk from rice or soybeans, but it will not be fortified (directions located in several cookbooks and websites). Alternate sources for calcium intake need to be evaluated. Sources for those with allergies or concerns: Dixie's Soy Milk : 1-800-233-3668 ext. 300, www.dixiediner.com; Better Than Milk : Rice or Soy 1-800-227-2320 by Fuller Life Company; Soy Quick by Ener-G 1-800-331-5222; Trophic's Best (Tofu Delight) by the Blue Chip Group 1-801-263-6667. These can be made yourself, but again, evaluate for calcium levels and supplementation. Foods made with low fat powdered milk will have fewer calories and less cholesterol than those made from whole milk. Adding additional powdered milk to the recipe will enhance the nutritive value of the recipe without increasing fat content. So, for children struggling to eat enough calories, adding extra powdered milk in with the dry ingredients is definitely a great alternative.

Reconstituting Powdered Milk

This is a table I Use for replacing powdered milk for regular milk in my recipes.
 
*1/4 cup milk = 1/4 cup water & 1 1/2 Tablespoons Powder Milk

*1/3 cup milk = 1/3 cup water & 2 Tablespoons + 1 Tsp. Powder Milk

*1/2 cup milk = 1/2 cup water & 3 Tablespoons Powder Milk

*1 cup milk = 1 cup water & 1/3 cup Powder Milk

*1 quart milk = 3 3/4 cup water & 1 1/3 cups Powder Milk

*2 quarts milk = 7 2/3 cups water & 2 2/3 cups Powder Milk

*1 gallon milk = 15 1/2 cups water & 5 1/3 cups 

Powdered Milk
The table above will help you work out the amount of powdered milk you will need to prepare a specific measurement of liquid milk. 

Here are some tips to help the milk turn out as fresh tasting as possible: Fill your pitcher or container with half the amount of water you will be using. Measure in the appropriate amount of dry milk powder. Stir to dissolve. Fill the pitcher with the balance of the water called for above. Stir again and chill. Use cool water when possible. The powder tends to dissolve more readily in cool water. Stir the milk a lot, to dissolve the milk powder. Then let the milk sit for a little while and stir again. The protein in the milk powder blends most easily if it gets a chance to stand after mixing. Powdered milk may be used immediately after mixing if desired. For the best flavor chill the milk for at least 4 hours or overnight.


Homemade Cottage Cheese

This is the best and easiest recipe. Tastes just like the stuff you get in the store for a fraction of the cost. The best part - it only takes 5 minutes or less to make!
2 cups water
3 Tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar (vinegar is cheaper and stores better, either one is fine to use, the taste isn't affected either way)
3/4 cup dry milk powder (non-instant like from LDS cannery)
OR 1 1/2 cups instant (country pride or stuff from grocery store)
If using dry milk powder, blend water and dry milk together and heat in a saucepan until it starts to steam, stirring constantly, then remove from heat; or place in microwave and heat until it foams and rises to top of bowl. If using instant milk, bring water to a boil and remove from heat, then stir in milk with a wire whisk. DRIP juice/vinegar around the edge of the pan and gently stir, milk will immediately start to curdle, separating into curds and whey. Let rest 1 minute. Pour into a colander, rinse with HOT water, then rinse with cold water and break apart into as small of curds as you want. (do this for about 1 minute until no whey drips.) Makes about 1 1/2 cups curds. Add sour cream or yogurt to cream. Add salt to taste. Use non-instant dry milk powder for ricotta and instant for table use or when you are in a hurry.



Broccoli Soup
Serves 8 cups
3 cups broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 cups chicken broth
4 cups milk (4 C. water + 1 C Powdered milk reconstituted)
4 T cornstarch
1/2 t salt
2 pinch pepper
2 pinch thyme, ground (I skipped this and it tasted great)
1/2 cup cheese, cheddar or swiss, grated (I used about 1 cup)
Place veggies and broth in saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook until veggies are tender, about 8 minutes. Mix milk, cornstarch, salt, pepper and thyme; add to cooked vegetables. Cook, stirring constantly (or it will scorch pan), until soup is slightly thickened and mixture just begins to boil. Remove from heat, add cheese and stir until melted.

Powdered Milk Yogurt Recipe

There are many uses for yogurt beyond the obvious. Here are some of the ways we use it: mixed with granola, as a sour cream substitute, to make smoothies, to make fruity yogurt Popsicle, to make salad dressings, to make yogurt cheese, etc. Times do not reflect the incubation period.
10 min 10 min prep

SERVES 6 -8 , 1 quart

• 3 3/4 cups warm tap water
• 1 cup powdered milk (non-instant)
• 2-4 tablespoons Dannon plain yogurt (LIVE CULTURES REQUIRED)

1. Combine the warm water with the powdered milk and place in a medium saucepan. (I sometimes blend some of the water with the powdered milk in my electric blender to make it smooth or use an emulsion blender.)
2. (You could add 1/3 C sugar and 1 T vanilla extract at this point for vanilla yogurt. Try other flavorings too.).
3. Heat the milk mixture to 180 degrees or until small bubbles form on the side of the pan and the milk begins to rise up (about 5 minutes.).
4. Pour the scalded milk into a pitcher and allow to cool to 100 degrees (about 50 minutes). When the milk mixture has cooled to 100 degrees, stir in the yogurt starter (Dannon yogurt).
5. Pour the yogurt into a clean quart canning jar and cover with the lid. Wrap the jar in a towel or blanket and place in a Styrofoam cooler. Be sure it is wrapped tight without any room for air to circulate around the jars. Pack it snug. Let the yogurt incubate in the box for 9 hours.
6. Remove the jars from the hay box and place in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
7. Note: You can add a couple T of your favorite fruit jam in the bottom of the glass jars before pouring the unset yogurt mixture into the jars.
8. Save a bit of the yogurt from this batch (before adding any sugar or flavoring or it won't set) to use as the starter for your next batch - so you don’t have to buy the Dannon Yogurt again. Well, at least not for a while. Eventually you might want to start with a fresh starter as the taste will get stronger with each batch (about every third or fourth time).
9. You can buy a large container of Dannon Yogurt and freeze the unused portion in ice cube trays to use for later yogurt batches.
10. Chill.

Cream Cheese/Yogurt Cheese: Line a colander with a clean, damp piece of cloth. Pour prepared yogurt into the cloth. (Remember not to add sugar or vanilla if making sour cream or cream cheese.) Allow the yogurt to drain overnight. In the morning the remaining solids will be yogurt cheese. They can be used anywhere you would use cream cheese or thick sour cream.

With practice you can also make Ricotta or Cottage cheese and with more practice and a Rennet tablet you can make mozzarella.
**These recipes may seem time consuming and maybe even intimidating, but they are so useful. You don't want to wait for an emergency to have to learn these skills so please challenge yourself to try at least to make yogurt. I have a yogurt maker that the yogurt mixture goes in to incubate. I love it and the yogurt is so much better than store bought. (Check the instructions that come with your maker because my recipe is slightly different than the one above) If I can make yogurt then anyone can!! I am not a great cook but I figured it out and it is easier than making bread :)

January Self-Reliant Goals:

Storage Goal: Powdered Milk 16lbs PP

Non-Food Storage Goal: Bleach 1 gallon per person. This will be used for cleaning and water purification.

72-Hour Kit Goal:Gather a change of clothes including underwear and shoes for every family member. Include warm coats and boots or have them immediately accessible. Also put $20 in cash in small bills in your kits.

Enjoy the journey!
Enjoy the blessings!
Feel the peace!!