Is That Years-Old Powdered Milk In Your Pantry Still Good?

Milk, as we all know, is perishable. In fact, it may be the most famously perishable food in existence: It's not for nothing that we say something that's lost its luster over time has "aged like milk". (Depending on what bacteria gets into the milk, however, it might turn into a delicious aged cheese.) So what a delight it is to have a form of milk that may not expire for months. By simply dehydrating milk until it's reduced to a powder, you can keep this valuable dairy product on your shelf for a long time without even needing to refrigerate it. Even though some form of powdered milk has been used since the days of Marco Polo, it still feels like a marvel of modernity. And even if it doesn't necessarily taste great on its own, powdered milk can be used to enrich your bread dough or desserts.

But how long is too long for powdered milk? If you've cleaned out your pantry and happened upon a container of dehydrated milk that looks like it dates back to the Clinton administration, you might be tempted to give it a try anyway. If it's powdered, it can last pretty much forever, right? Well, no: Ideally, powdered milk should be used within five years. It can last for longer on a shelf, but it depends on what kind of powdered milk it is. (We're not talking about shelf-stable milk here, incidentally: that's a whole other thing.)

If you're going to store powdered milk, it's important to get the temperature exactly right. If the powder is stored in a place that's too hot, it could expire in just three months. If it's stored someplace cool (or ideally, cold), it can last for up to three to five years or even longer. There are stores that sell powdered milk that purport to last for ten or even twenty-five years.

If you really want a powdered milk that lasts, be sure to get a nonfat variety. Fats aren't easy to keep stable without refrigeration — which is why you won't see too many tubs of butter in a survival prepper's pantry — and that, in turn, means a nonfat milk can be stored more effectively. Even so, it's important to store it properly: Make sure to keep it someplace dry and preferably airtight.