Homemade Low Carb Milk

[ilianacatspawn]

I also want to say thank you for the recipe. I made some up last night using nonfat dry milk, rather than the Nestle's Nido dry whole milk, and had a glass with breakfast this morning. It was delicious. I love milk and this is a great substitute.

Btw, this is my first post on the site, although I've been lurking since I started going low carb. Thanks for all the great recipes. You guys make "dieting" a real pleasure.

[metqa]

Ilianacatspawn, Your avatar looks like one of the actors from CATS Musical! That expression is just so HUMAN!
Welcome to the board!

[Jennifer Eloff]

Yes, welcome to the board, Ilianacatspawn! Carolyn's recipe is a masterpiece! She is very gifted in the kitchen. She can also usually tell by looking at a recipe whether it will be good or not. That's why she has posted some amazing recipes through the years. I put this recipe of hers on my blog as well - Carolyn kindly allowed me to do that.

[sweetdreams]

Yes, everyone here is soo friendly and nice and generous!

[AdrianaG]

Originally Posted by ravenrose

Any of you wanting Calorie Countdown milk (formerly Carb Countdown) go to the Hood website and leave them a message about where you live and that you are trying to find it. I did that and the west coast sales manager called me and was VERY helpful. He had an actual printout of current week sales at many stores in this area and was able to point me to the only two still carrying it. I would never have found it by myself!

Usually companies give you vague information about stores that carry SOME of their products, which is nearly useless, but I was very impressed by Hood!

Thanks! I have been able to buy it exactly ONCE in the last 3 months. Just sent Hood an inquiry.

[Joycelyn]

Glad to see this recipe is still around. It is probably the most helpful, creative, low carb recipe ever invented. 3 grams carbs vs. 12 grams carbs for a cup of milk is quite a savings, especially for those of us who get blood sugar spikes from the lactose in milk.

Thanks again Carolyn!

[dollkey]

I am so sorry for not reading the entire thread. I just wonder how come you mix a lot of stuff with Nido to make milk when Nido is already milk? I've had it since I was small and I love it. 2 T in hot or cold water and stir. Drink.

[crazywoman-n-wy]

Originally Posted by dollkey

I am so sorry for not reading the entire thread. I just wonder how come you mix a lot of stuff with Nido to make milk when Nido is already milk? I've had it since I was small and I love it. 2 T in hot or cold water and stir. Drink.

Because Nido (or milk) is high in carbs!!! Mixing it the way Carolyn does (and a few other recipes) lowers the carbs.

Originally Posted by Joycelyn

Glad to see this recipe is still around. It is probably the most helpful, creative, low carb recipe ever invented. 3 grams carbs vs. 12 grams carbs for a cup of milk is quite a savings, especially for those of us who get blood sugar spikes from the lactose in milk.

Thanks again Carolyn!

[CarolynF]

You guys are so nice.. I bought a nice glass container and this is the only milk we use in the house.. It is a very flexible recipe, too.

[dollkey]

Ohhh okay. I'm interested in the hot chocolate recipe. I'm gonna see if I can get non-fat dry milk instead

[ravenrose]

I finally looked at this recipe since I've seen it referenced so many times. I haven't read through the entire thread, but I well remember the flavor of instant milk. Not good.

Why aren't you all just mixing 1/4 cup fresh whole milk with the cream and sweetener/salt as desired, and enough water to make it a cup?

The 4 teaspoons of instant (same as 1 1/3 tablespoons) makes 1/4 cup of milk by the package instructions, so this would be the same "strength" without having to deal with the powdered milk flavor and having to find it and all. Whole milk is almost always available in one cup cartons, so that would make a quart of "faux milk," not so much it would spoil before you could use it up if the milk had a good date on it.

1/4 cup of whole milk has the same carbs as the powdered milk, if you assume a little rounding. It's all between 11.71 and 12.83 per cup of full carb end product milk. So the faux milk would still be in the 3 grams of carbs per cup range.

[crazywoman-n-wy]

Raven, there is so little instant milk in it, it really doesn't taste like instant milk. I don't like instant milk either. But some people DO mix it with reg milk instead of instant. You can certainly do that.
The reason that I don't, is because I don't keep reg milk on hand, and I would not use it up in time. It would be a waste for me. It would also cost me a lot more to buy the reg milk than the instant. It would be good for people who have a family and bought reg milk for them.

Edited to say: Oops I didn't manage to read you whole post before replying. (I thought I had. :blush: ) I didn't see where you talked about the small cartons. But for me, I use the milk seldom, the little carton would spoil before I used it all.
So I use the instant. I usually do use a brand that tastes better than the regular powdered milk too, and it takes less of it (I use 1/8 c of it rather than 1/4). But that's me.

[metqa]

For the same reason, I don't often buy milk. I only buy milk when I'm making yogurt and I never buy the small cartons cause they are not the best value by unit volume. It seems silly to buy milk at $2 for a half gallon when the full gallon costs $1.88. So unless I'm making yogurt and have milk left over I don't buy it.

Also I don't drink milk often enough, and don't have a need for it enough to go out and buy it just to dilute it. I often do keep cream, it is longer lasting than milk, and I already have dry milk. So when I do need a "milk " it's so easy and cheaper and more convenient to have an instant milk for those times when I don't have liquid milk available.

I recently found the little juice box milk containers, so I could use those to make it up. That's a good idea.
ETA: the little cartons of milk I found were like Parmelat. They are hermetically sealed and shelf stable. They won't go bad until you open it and are usually good for half a year or longer. They are great for camping or emergency prep.

[soon]

Needed more dry milk and I bought a box at walmart their great value brand. I was disturbed because it was over 5 bucks and only made 8 quarts. Didnt it used to be cheaper? That comes out to more than $2.50 a gallon

[metqa]

Originally Posted by soon

Needed more dry milk and I bought a box at walmart their great value brand. I was disturbed because it was over 5 bucks and only made 8 quarts. Didnt it used to be cheaper? That comes out to more than $2.50 a gallon

Whole milk was $1.88/gallon last week!
Ouch on the dry milk price!

I saw some more of those drink box Parmalat Milk containers that are shelf stable, I might just keep some of those on hand and use those to make up a faux milk. Now that I've got all this powdered stuff everywhere!!

ETA: of course the price on the drink boxes will be high per gallon also, but at least it's already liquid milk and has no funny flavors.

[dollkey]

I made one batch but used an entire packet of Splenda. It was really REALLY yummy.

ETA
Been trying to make hot chocolate but I guess my cocoa is not good enough... maybe I should get Hershey's instead.

[dcola]

wow!!! Carolyn cant wait to try this thanks

[pooticus]

Hi everyone, I know this may be a silly question but seeing the carb counts in this on page 6 of the thread suddenly started my brain rolling.

Carolyn, your hard work (and everyone who has contributed) is amazing! So please don't be offended by this question, please?!

So has anyone tried simply taking 1/2c of heavy cream and adding 1/2 cup of pure water, then shaking it up and seeing what it tastes like? I know it won't be as cost effective as this but it wouldn't have the oxidized fats in it. That's what I do for cooking all the time is just dilute cream by half and it seems to work ok. I haven't sat down and drank it as milk because I don't generally drink milk. But that would only have 3 carbs per cup if you did it that way?

Just wondering from the taste test perspective! Again, hugs to all!

[crazywoman-n-wy]

pooticus, for cooking I don't even use anywhere near a 1/2&1/2 ratio of water & cream to sub for milk. I do 1/8 cup cream & the rest water for 1 cup milk. I'm pretty sure I have tasted a water/cream mixture (of different "strengths") and it isn't as good. I personally don't use the Nada (or whole milk) dry. I use the non fat, so am not dealing with the oxidized fats. The skim milk being in the Hoods is one thing that puzzled me as to how it was so low carb, since skim (low fat) milk it higher in carbs than whole. But when Carolyn came up with this recipe, I realized why. Because there is very little skim milk in it, and a lot more cream.
This just tastes more like milk than cream & water does. And.... as some others have found out, tho I don't like powdered milk, I do like this. It doesn't taste like powdered milk (to me & some others at least). I do use the larger amount of cream in mine.
Some have been just using whole milk instead of the pwd milk, which is fine if you have whole milk on had for your family. But for most of us who don't usually keep whole milk on hand, it isn't a very good option.

And it wasn't a silly question pooticus.

[pooticus]

Awesome and thanks for the information CW! I think I'm going to make up a batch of Carolyn's milk then and try it out for DH and for cooking! I appreciate the help!

[crazywoman-n-wy]

You are most welcome pooticus!

One note, it has been my findings, to add only a very small amount of sweetener to the milk. It is only needed because milk is naturally sweet, but not sweet sweet. So a touch of sweetener is good, but to actually taste like milk you don't want/need a lot. Some do like it really sweet, but then it actually tastes like sweetened milk, not "milk". Understand what I mean? Clear as mud?
Anyway start out with a very small amount, and more can be added if needed.

[sjl330]

I add one packet of Splenda and I think it's perfect. Haven't tried any other AS's.

[sjl330]

Did anybody ever have any success making yogurt from this milk? If so could you share your tweaks? I just bought a brand new Salton yogurt maker at the thrift store for $5 and want to give it a try. Thanks.

If nobody has could you point me to a thread with some successful yogurt recipes? Thanks again.

[metqa]

Originally Posted by sjl330

Did anybody ever have any success making yogurt from this milk? If so could you share your tweaks? I just bought a brand new Salton yogurt maker at the thrift store for $5 and want to give it a try. Thanks.

If nobody has could you point me to a thread with some successful yogurt recipes? Thanks again.

I don't think there is enough lactose in this faux milk to make yogurt. I tried and it came out as thin liquid. I'd stick with regular milk or carb countdown if you can find it. Just a wee bit less than a quart of milk heated till 180 degrees, then cooled to 120, and a Tablespoon of starter from Dannon or another live Cultured Plain Yogurt and Incubated for 4-8 hours. (four hours is the industries half-donkey standard, 8 hours is fully cultured real yogurt, 12 hours or longer gets really strong and tart, thats the way i like it for straining for yocheese)

[sjl330]

Thanks. I went ahead and made some out of skim milk, half & half and some powdered milk added for stability. Along with the starter. I let it incubate about 8 hours in my little maker and oh my!! it's the best yogurt I've ever had in my life!!! I was afraid this LC milk wouldn't make it right and I didn't want to ruin my first batch in my new maker. Even my DH likes it! Just plain!!

[metqa]

Whole milk is on sale here a lot, i just buy a gallon of whole milk and make four quarts, nothing added but starter. It's so easy.

[pgray1229]

I have been looking and looking for a low carb milk.. but could
not find it anywhere! Thank you so much for this recipe

[tulipsandroses]

I saw the Nido Milk Powder in Kroger today so I decided to give this a try. I like! Funny thing is I never really cared for milk and definitely did not like the Carb Countdown, but I actually like this!

[Steak_Fanatic]

This is a must try. Thanks for the post.

[laudel]

I am new to this. Why does skim milk have so many carbs?