How much does your family pay for milk each month? Here at our home we go through around 7 gallons each month. Milk here has a huge price span meaning that I can get it for as low as $1.99/gallon at the right store but the average seems to be close to $4.00/gallon. That’s almost $30.00 of my grocery budget each month and needless to say? I don’t want to spend quite that much on just milk. Saving money on milk isn’t always the easiest thing to do. In fact, unless you’re just forbidding your family from drinking milk, it can be downright hard unless you find the right sale.
That is unless you get sneaky about it.
When you’re looking to stretch your grocery budget, sometimes you absolutely have to look for new ways to save. We get so caught up in typical ways to save and our routines that it can be easy to forget that the small things, like $30.00/mo on milk, can help keep us broke too. It’s because we get so used to doing things one way that we fight against any changes. That is where being sneaky to save money comes into play.
1 Sneaky Way to Save on Milk
Now I know, you’re sitting there asking what I mean about being sneaky. No, I don’t mean that you should do anything illegal or immoral. I would hope that none of you would think of that, but I felt the need to say it. What I do mean is this:
Cut your fresh milk with powdered milk.
Powdered milk, by itself, doesn’t taste the greatest. In fact, I actually refuse to drink it when it’s pure powdered milk. However, when you guy your regular milk 50/50 with powdered milk? You can not tell the difference. My Emma actually likes it more when I cut it. She says the flavor is better. I think it tastes the same so it will be a “to each his own” type of thing. When you buy the milk that you will start cutting, use whole fat milk (Vitamin D) even if you don’t currently buy it. The reason is that when you cut it with the powdered milk, it will still be a bit watered down. If you use whole fat, you’ll end up with something that tastes like 2% milk.
A good quality box of powdered milk will cost you $9-$10.00, but in each box, you’ll get quite a few gallons when you’re splitting it. In the long run, I’ve been able to knock our milk costs down by half each month and to me? That’s not anything to sneeze at when you look at the yearly costs. $15/mo times 12 months = $180.00 a year in savings. That’s $180/year that I have to stock up on meat with, to buy items to make my homemade cleaning supplies with, to build a credit on my bills and more. The best part? Even though I’ve been mixing regular milk with powdered milk for well over three years now, my daughter has never actually realized it. She just thinks that the difference in taste is because of different brands.
So how do you get started? Well first, find a brand of powdered milk that you like. Brand really won’t matter, but there are some that do have a big difference in taste. I personally tend to buy organic because I’m not keen on loads of other chemicals in my food and drink. If you’re looking to buy organic, I can’t recommend Vitacost high enough. Plus, use THIS link and they’ll give you a $10 credit good on a $30.00 purchase. Once you find one, pick up a box or two to get you started. Next, wait until you’ve emptied the gallon of milk you currently have. You will need to keep the jug making sure that you rinse it out really well once it’s empty. After it’s empty, go buy a new gallon.
Pour half of the new gallon into the empty milk jug that you saved. You now have 2 gallon jugs filled with half a gallon. Next, mix up a gallon of powdered milk and top off the 2 gallon jugs that you have half full.
Shake till your heart is content to mix!
Stash in the fridge and serve very cold.
Your taste buds (and kids) never know the difference but your wallet will!
