Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Auguson Farms (Country Fresh) Nonfat Powdered Instant Milk. Class C. This took the longest of all products compared to completely dissolve, roughly 150 spoon-stirs. Even then, there was foaming and the product left "legs" on the side of the glass. It should not be mixed directly with hot water, as it will clump and separate. The mouthfeel is gritty, and the flavor is sour and acrid. I found it generally unpleasant, but one of my friends thought it was "not great but ok." Not Recommended. *In the photo: Emergency Essentials (aka Provident Pantry), Auguson Farms (aka Country Fresh), MilkMan Results of my powdered milk taste test comparison: How I tested: I did a side by side comparison with myself and a couple friends of some different powdered milks. The same amount of milk powder was used, mixed into the same amount of room temperature water. The samples were all stirred until completely dissolved. I did not use hot water, because not all products dissolve into hot water. Products were allowed to rest only a minute before sampling, because my intention is to use milk powder per serving. We also compared them with actual non-fat milk. In general all products will taste better when allowed to rest overnight and fully chilled, but the goal of this test was to reveal comparative defects. I have tried: Augason Farms, Carnation, Country Cream, Country Fresh, Emergency Essentials, MilkMan, Nestle, Nido, Organic Valley, Peak, and Provident Pantry. In general, they fall into three categories: A. Emergency Essentials (formerly Provident Pantry). This is quite tolerable and tastes as close to actual milk. It acquires a very slightly sour, burnt taste when mixed into hot water, tea, or coffee; however, it does mix easily into hot water, and overall it is palatable. This is the best powdered non-fat milk. B. MilkMan. Tentatively placed into Class B, because although it is the best low-fat powdered milk product, it has a slightly off-putting “protein” flavor (if you have ever had a protein shake, protein bar, etc. you know what I mean.) Still, it mixes easily into water. It’s quite expensive as well. For my money, I did not feel the slightly richer body was worth the “protein shake” flavor. C. Everything else. All other products suffer from various defects: sour, acrid, bilious flavors; clumping, foaming, significantly increased effort and time to dissolve in water, inability to mix directly with hot water, separation in tea or coffee, grainy mouthfeel. As a caveat, the flavor of Organic Valley is Class B, but its finicky preparation, clumping, and cost put its overall score in Class C. I also encourage people to seek out “The Great Powdered Milk Taste Test” online. It’s a good review, but it’s a bit out of date, since there have been some company mergers/name changes and it left a few products out.