Skimmed milk query

Jeryth · 25 March 2005 at 4:22PM

Hi, is it possible and safe to make your own skimmed milk by buying ordinary and diluting it half and half with water? I tried doing it recently and it didn't smell too nice after a couple of days.

Js_Other_Half · 25 March 2005 at 5:24PM

I think the safest thing to do is dilute the full fat milk as you need it?

Ticklemouse · 25 March 2005 at 6:37PM

Skimmed milk isn't watered down full fat milk - it's full fat milk with (nearly) all the fat taken out, thus it has all the rest of the components of milk in it. SImilarly, semi-skimmed has 1/2 of the fat removed. If you water down full fat, what you get, basically, is watered down milk, so for every 2 pints you drink, you are still getting the same fat as in 1 pint, whereas 2 pints of skimmed milk = no fat + twice as much calcium etc.

There's nothing wrong with watering down your milk to make it go further, it's just not the same. (ps. if there are any milk chemists out there, please feel free to correct me)

RachelD · 25 March 2005 at 7:45PM

An elderly lady crippled with ostoporosis told me her consultant had said no-one should drink skimmed milk as it's introduction had led to the current upsurge in osteoporosis cases. No idea if there's any truth in that. But I'd like to know as I use it.

Rachel

trafalgar_2 · 25 March 2005 at 7:56PM

RachelD wrote:

An elderly lady crippled with ostoporosis told me her consultant had said no-one should drink skimmed milk as it's introduction had led to the current upsurge in osteoporosis cases. No idea if there's any truth in that. But I'd like to know as I use it.

Rachel

It's a bone-thinning condition and to have healthy bones you need certain nutrients one of the most important being calcium ,young women should have approx 800mg of calcium per day in their diet....of which skimmed milk actually has more than semi-skimmed or whole milk.....................so either the consultant was wrong or the lady misheard /misunderstood

Curry_Queen · 25 March 2005 at 8:12PM

Many people are under the assumption that whole milk is high in fat but it only actually contains around 4% fat, which is quite low compared to many other foods. Obviously semi-skimmed and skimmed has an even lower fat content but unless you need to severely restrict your fat intake then there's no reason not to buy whole milk, unless like me, you prefer the taste of semi-skimmed

Alison_B · 25 March 2005 at 8:44PM

The supermarkets do a value range of skimmed milk - about 32p per litre. The only difference I can see is that you don't get fancy pouring spouts on the value range.

crana999 · 25 March 2005 at 8:45PM

Hmm, well, even just a 250ml glass of whole milk a day would make up 13% of a woman's total recommended fat intake - which is quite a bit considering most of us eat too much fat anyway.

Ticklemouse · 25 March 2005 at 9:31PM

trafalgar wrote:

It's a bone-thinning condition and to have healthy bones you need certain nutrients one of the most important being calcium ,young women should have approx 800mg of calcium per day in their diet....of which skimmed milk actually has more than semi-skimmed or whole milk.....................so either the consultant was wrong or the lady misheard /misunderstood

This must be a misconception amongst older ladies. My mum also told me this, despite trying to convince her that if it is only the FAT that is taken out, then a whole pint of milk must therefore contain more calcium/other nutrients.

They also say that if your child is receiving enough fat in other forms in his/her diet, then at 2 they can have semi-skimmed and skimmed from age 5. Most kids do - cakes, biscuits, crisps, yogs, meat etc. I had to put DS1 back onto full-fat at nearly 3 because he is a naturally skinny child and doesn't eat too many cakes or any crisps. Both my boys are on semi and I am on skimmed only because I love it - couldn't drink a glass of anything else.

System · 25 March 2005 at 9:35PM

Surely, if you water down the milk, you not only will water down the fat, you will water down the vitamins too. The reason why your home made 'skimmed' milk went bad was probably because you would need to use sterile water.

Paul_Varjak · 25 March 2005 at 9:44PM

jeryth wrote:

Hi, is it possible and safe to make your own skimmed milk by buying ordinary and diluting it half and half with water? I tried doing it recently and it didn't smell too nice after a couple of days.

No! You can only make skimmed milk by removing the fat! Given that most milk these days is homogenised you cannot separate the fat from the milk.

You can make semi-skimmed milk by mixing equal amounts of full cream milk and skimmed milk. This may work out cheaper than buying the semi-skimmed variety.

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Skimmed milk query

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