Tightwad Wednesday – Flushing Less Water & Dry Milk
Posted on September 26, 2007 by Melissa
Filed Under Tightwad Wednesdays
Each week, I will test out two tips from the The Complete Tightwad Gazette
Well, again we have mixed results. I suppose that is to be expected though – it wouldn’t be a challenge if it was easy. Let’s get on into it.
Bottle in the Toilet Trick
This Tightwad tip was to help lower the amount of water used for each flush which can help save money on your water bill. You place a bottle filled with rocks in your toilet tank to displace some of the water. This reduces the amount of water used in each flush.
Eric was less than thrilled that I decided to do this Tightwad tip and was very reluctant to even try it. He doesn’t like the idea of having something in the toilet that could mess up its operation or leave a mess (sand). And quite frankly, he just didn’t like the idea of less water when he flushes.
After fiddling with trying to find rocks I thought of sand or kitty litter. He felt that if the bottle somehow failed it could leak dirt or kitty litter into the tank and we would have a big mess. We have low flow toilets already so he felt limiting even more water would be too much. So we looked for other alternatives.
He suggested we try another time tested trick “if it’s yellow let it mellow…” I agreed to try this as an alternative but only when we don’t expect guests. Yellow tinged water just isn’t a good look.
He has gladly subscribed to this method now and prefers not to flush until needed. I find it tougher to deal with but I’m working on getting over my girly objections to it. I have a goal to flush 1-2 times less a day. I’ll ease into it since it is going against my nature not to flush. Even if I have trouble sticking with it, at the very least having Eric do it will help cut back on our water usage.
Through this experiment I have learned that men can be very picky about their toilets. I guess that is why if given a choice they are more likely to go for a “Ferguson” over a low flow. I would have rather stuck with doing the bottle trick but he feels strongly about conserving by not flushing. So we will go with his method to reach the same goal.
Dry Milk for Drinking
The Complete Tightwad Gazette
Rarely will you find absolutes in the pages of The Tightwad Gazette. I believe that each individual or family has their own priorities and values. Dry milk use is one exception. … It is not often that you find a food that combines economy, health, versatility, and convenience in such a perfect union. It has a place in every tightwad cupboard.
Wow. That’s pretty strong encouragement for dry milk from none other than the Frugal Zealot herself. I figured we had to give it a try. I suspected it might be a hard sell because Eric is picky about his milk and I tend to like 1% and above. Dry milk just sounds “icky”, especially for a girl in love with dairy. And my memories of it as a child were not flattering.
Amy recommends starting out with a mix of half whole milk and half dry milk then working your way up until you are drinking more dry milk. She says her family even drinks it straight and enjoys it. With milk costs at $4 a gallon I bet that helps a lot with grocery costs.
In preparation for this test I put a bottle of tap water in the freezer. Milk always tastes better when it is ice cold, right? I mixed up a glass using the directions on my box. Not bad! It doesn’t taste like my 2% but it doesn’t taste bad. Just a little different. Maybe it is an acquired taste that will take longer than my 1 week trial to appreciate. The smell reminded me a little of those instant breakfast mixes.
Eric felt it was too “milky”. Apparently he wants his milk to taste more like water and he said that the dry milk tasted more like milk than milk. Ha! Odd but I think I understand what he is saying. He gave up on it and wouldn’t try mixing it half and half for his cereal. But he will also stop drinking regular milk if it smells like anything in the jug so I must conclude that he is just too sensitive and that is ok. I’m the main milk drinker anyway so I continued the testing.
I tried the half and half mix and it was decent, almost like a skim milk. Over cereal it wasn’t bad either. However, I didn’t like the 100% dry milk over the cereal. The flavor was “off” to me and I could see a little sediment from the mix in my bowl. Really it’s not a big deal but I could tell a difference. I imagine it’s easier for people who drink skim to make the switch to 100% since they are already used to “thinner” milk.
For you folks thinking of trying dry milk I say go for it. It could really help out families that go through a lot of milk. I will definitely keep this stuff in my pantry. I don’t mind drinking it 50/50 so it will come in handy when I run low on milk. I suspect it is even better for cooking. I bet you could use it straight in many recipes and not notice a difference at all – especially in those dishes where milk is just a component.
Note: A great trick for making it more palatable is to mix it up and store it in the fridge overnight. This gives it time to fully develop and reach the best flavor. I didn’t know this when I first started drinking it and the flavor did improve over time. Just be sure to mix it well before drinking (sometimes I could see sediment).
Final Thoughts
Bottle Trick: We would rather flush less than have less water to flush with when we do flush. We feel that is a better decision for us. No bottle for us – just less flushing.
Dry Milk: I will definitely keep dry milk in my pantry and I want to continue experimenting with it in cooking. Even if you don’t like it straight up, using it for cooking could at least help conserve the regular milk for drinking. This is really worth trying and could potentially save you money.
Stay tuned for next week’s Tightwad Wednesday challenge where I will be:
- Reusing coffee grounds for multiple cups of coffee
- Making homemade Tightwad granola from the recipe on p.27
Image Source: Kevin Hutchinson
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I would agree with Eric, bottled milk tastes to thick to me and it seems to leave an aftertaste that I don’t like.
I grew up on dry milk and then got off it when I was older and finally came back to it. It did take about 2-3 weeks to get back into the habit of drinking the dry milk mix. Give it time.
Dawn, thank you for the comment! I might have to go back and try dry milk at some point, but I really prefer my skim or 1% milk that has very little milk flavor. Maybe I should just try watered down dry milk. Hrmmm…
Eric
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