Using Powdered Soy Milk

NOW Foods Organic Soy Milk Powder, 20-oz

I realize that many folks eat soy products. But if you do, I wanted to share my experience with a product.

I discovered this soy milk in April 2020. It was one of those foods I could order online to have shipped to my home. And it was a food that was shelf stable and I could add to my emergency pantry. I ordered 4 bags through a natural foods/supplement online store, using a first time buyer discount coupon, At that time, with a couple of discounts, I was paying the equivalent of $1.03 for a quart of reconstituted soy milk. That was an amazing price. I just recently finished off the fourth bag. I had kept the bags in my cold storage room and even at 22 months past the sell-by date the last spoonful tasted just as fresh as when I opened the first bag.

In placing another order, I went through a different online vitamin/supplement store, getting another first time buyer discount code plus free shipping. As with absolutely everything else, the price had increased substantially since 2020. Now, even with discounts, my price for a reconstituted quart is $1.56. For a shelf-stable soy milk, that's still a pretty good price for my area.

What I like about this powdered soy milk:

• it's made with organic, non-GMO soybeans
• it contains no added sugar, no gums, no thickeners -- it's just organic soy milk powder. This is very important for me as gums and thickeners (like carrageenan) make me physically sick.
• with no added sugar, I can use it in savory sauces, like cheese sauce, without adding sweetness
• because it's powdered, I don't have to worry about wasting any, or an open quart spoiling before I can use it
• I make as little or much as I need at any one time. It mixes with water easily. 
• less wasteful packaging. It comes in a durable, resealable ziplock bag that I wash and reuse for other foods when empty. 

Each 20 oz bag makes 30 8-oz servings, if made with 4 tablespoons of powder. I often use 3 tablespoons per 8-oz serving, meaning my yield of servings is more like 40 per bag. However, I do my calculations for price per reconstituted quart based on the 4 tablespoon serving size, as the protein content in 4 tablespoons approximates what's found in 8-oz of liquid soy milk or cow's milk.

I primarily use this in my lunch smoothies, adding the powder and water separately to the blender, saving the step of mixing the two together. But I've also used this in muffins, cakes and cupcakes, custard-based pies (like pumpkin), rice pudding, cornstarch pudding, cheese sauce, white sauce, peanut butter protein balls, and any recipe that would normally call for milk that I make for my family that I also want to enjoy. (If I'm making something for my family that I don't think I'll eat, I just use the regular cow's milk -- that's cheaper.)

Drawbacks to powdered soy milk:

• there's a lot of settling in reconstituted product after standing for several hours
• the taste for drinking is okay. It's not bad, it's just unsweetened and unflavored. If I wanted to drink a glass of this soy milk, I'd add vanilla extract plus sugar or honey to improve the drinking flavor. But I find it to be fine when reconstituted and poured over cereal, cream of wheat, or oatmeal, sometimes with a pinch of sugar added.
• it's not a good substitute for coffee creamer. Like every other soy milk I've tried, it curdles in hot coffee. And I don't feel like it lightened my coffee or gave it much creaminess.

I have wanted to share my experience with powdered soy milk for a while, as not a lot of people know a powdered version of soy milk exists. For someone who already uses soy milk, this product might meet a need.

My Deck Trough Planters

Detroit Red and Crosby Egyptian beets in this trough

Live and Learn asked about my trough planters, so here's the deets.

I have 4 of these planters, all the same size and color. I bought them in 2009. They're made of a UV stable plastic that has held up very well. At the time I bought them, they were available in white and dark brown. I chose white. But in my mossy, messy climate, I sometimes wish I'd chosen the dark brown. I haven't yet cleaned the outside this year. While they look dingy right now, they'll clean up pretty well when I power wash the deck this next week.

Their dimensions are 16 inches high, 39 inches long, and 17 inches front to back.  I've successfully grown leafy greens as well as root crops, such as turnips, beets, and carrots. The height seems to be enough for these veggies. This year I have Swiss chard, beets, turnips, and a mixed trough of perennial herbs (rosemary, lavender, thyme).

With the vegetable-only troughs, every year in spring, I remove about 4 gallons of soil and replenish it with 4 gallons of compost/garden soil blend plus a handful of fertilizer appropriate for the particular plant. With the perennial herb trough, I only amend the soil in years that I'm replacing plants (which would be this spring). The herbs I grow in this trough tend to like well-drained soil and and can tolerate poor soil.

I initially bought these troughs for a combo of herbs and flowers to add color and life to the long, narrow deck. Then I discovered some veggies actually did better when up and off the ground, and could be planted sooner in the season, as our deck is on the south side of the house and catches heat better in spring than the garden.

My deck garden grown in troughs and pots is pitiful compared to one famous "secret" garden in Seattle. At Pike Place Market there's a patio garden that grows vegetables, herbs and flowers in troughs and pots, primarily serving a food bank located in the market. Most folks that visit the market never see this garden. You have to follow several corridors to find your way onto the patio. But when you come through the doorway, a colorful invitation into an urban garden masterpiece greets the viewer.

The garden uses a variety of planters, pots, and raised beds. I find their use of livestock watering troughs to be charming -- something so rural in a place so urban. Most of the vegetables are grown in these galvanized planters.

In spring, volunteers come together to plant seeds and tiny starts. They may look somewhat bare in early April. But by late May, the planters are overflowing with greens, herbs, peas, beans, the beginnings of some summer squash, cucumbers, and developing tomatoes. The garden is available to the public to visit. If you find yourself in downtown Seattle some day, ask the fish throwers, "which way to the urban garden?"