I always buy skimmed milk and always make sure I have a couple of cartons of long life milk in the cupboard for emergencies but when I did my shopping recently I spotted Tesco do a powdered dried skimmed milk, I wasn't sure whether to buy it or not as it was in their value range, now I am generally a big fan of the Tesco Value range but for some reason this just didn't really appeal to me, however I decided to buy a box and give it a try although I didn't hold out too much hope for it.

Packaging
The dried skimmed milk comes in a box that just screams value, it is mainly red and white and displays the value logo on the front of the box. There's not a lot of information on the front of the box, there is a red banner across the front which informs the customer that this is dried skimmed milk with added vitamins A and D. Below this the GDA's are given for 57g made up with 568ml's (1 pint) of water.

The back of the box gives all the other information you would expect to find such as instructions to make the milk up, allergy advice, ingredients and full nutritional values. It also shows that the product is suitable for vegetarians and should not be used as an infant milk powder.
Inside the box the powder is stored in a white bag which feels slightly waxed on the inside. Its basic and not re sealable but after all this is a value product.

Allergy Advice
The allergy advice given is that this product contains milk and although it is nut free Tesco cannot guarantee is has come from a nut free factory.

The product
The milk powder is an off white gritty looking powder, a bit like sugar, and has no real smell.

Using The Milk Powder.
The powder can be added directly to a cup of tea or coffee by just adding 1 or 2 teaspoons to the cup after allowing the boiling water to cool slightly, or you can make up the milk and use as regular milk, to do this you need to put 57g or 4.5 tablespoons of the powder in a jug or bowl and gradually add 1 pint of cold water stirring all the time. I found the milk powder soon dissolved leaving no lumps at all. It looks just like ordinary skimmed milk, not watery at all. It has a nice milky taste

My Opinion
I have used the powder in both ways and find it works very well although I do prefer to make it up with water and use it like regular milk simply because when added to tea or coffee like this it cools it slightly. Made up the skimmed milk powder tastes very good, its not thin and watery and has a nice milky taste which is quite creamy, I use it on my cereal in the mornings and its very nice. I also use it in cooking where milk is required and have had no problems at all. Once made up the powdered milk, in my opinion, is just like regular milk.

If you use skimmed milk then I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Value Milk Powder, its a great stand by to have in the cupboard and has a nice long date on it of just over 12 months, although once opened it needs to be used within 6 weeks. Its very good value for money at just £1.15 for a 454g box, this gives you approximately 8 pints of milk at roughly 15p a pint, each pint of milk made up has 210 calories. I was originally unsure about this product but now I have tried it I will definitely be using it again.