Stretching dairy
Five ways to make dairy products go further
Intro
Dairy products are a staple food in many households. In addition to being tasty, they’re a good source of protein and nutrients like calcium. They can also get pricey! If you’re looking for ways to save money on dairy, check out the tips below.
5 ways to save money on dairy
1. Buy bulk dairy products on special and freeze them
Stores often sell dairy products at a steep discount when they get close to their best-before date. Most dairy products can be frozen, so these sales are a good opportunity to stock up and freeze what you can’t use right away. Check out this guide to freezing dairy products for more information. Note that freezing often changes the texture but not the flavour of dairy. Thawed dairy products are better used for cooking and baking.
2. Make your own dairy products
Finished dairy products, like cheese and yogurt, are usually more expensive than plain milk. It’s often cheaper (and more delicious!) to make these yourself. Most kinds of cheese are difficult to make or call for specialty ingredients, but soft white cheeses like paneer and labna (a good substitute for cream cheese) are fairly simple and can be made with ingredients you may already have around the house. Try out the recipes below.
3. Use evaporated or powdered milk
Evaporated milk:
Canned evaporated milk is made by slowly heating milk until about half the moisture content is evaporated from it. This process makes the milk richer and more creamy, as well as caramelizing some of the milk sugars, giving evaporated milk its off-white colour and slightly sweet taste. While it can’t be used to make whipping cream, it's a good substitute for heavy cream and half-and-half. You can also use it like normal milk by diluting it; just mix an equal amount of water and evaporated milk together, and use it in place of regular milk in recipes.
Powdered milk:
Powdered milk is usually cheaper than fresh milk and it’s also shelf-stable, making it a great buy if you have trouble getting out to the store. It’s usually kept with the dry goods in the baking aisle, not the dairy section. You can mix powdered milk with water and drink it, but not everyone likes the flavour, so it’s more commonly used in recipes and baking. Substitute it anywhere you use fresh milk or try it out in the recipes below.
4. Stretch your cheese
Cheese is pretty expensive in Canada, so you’ll want to make it go as far as possible. It’s generally cheapest to buy cheese in big bricks, rather than pre-shredded or sliced. Stronger varieties of cheese like sharp cheddar instead of mild cheddar, will have stronger flavours, so you’ll need to use less of them to get the same result. You can also turn a little bit of cheese into a lot of sauce by following this cheese sauce recipe, or adding it to a can of condensed cheddar soup.
5. Make oat milk
If milk just isn’t in the budget, but you’d like some to use in coffee or other recipes, try this milk alternative that can be made out of ingredients you might have in the pantry already!