I am always on the lookout for ways to not go to the grocery store. Some things are fun to make, some things are worth making from scratch, and some things aren't worth it. I have found making your own sweetened condensed milk at home not to be worth it. I have looked into several different recipes. Some use powdered milk, some use regular milk, some use water.
I tried to make up a recipe that uses powdered milk thinking it would be great in my Key Lime Pie. It tasted nasty! My Key Lime Pie was ruined and I spent way too much time trying to fix the recipe. The recipe called for mixing powdered milk, boiling water, butter, and sugar in a blender for several minutes and you were supposed to have this great homemade version of sweetened condensed milk. It was the consistency of caulking and had the often times foul taste of powdered milk. The other problem is that my poor blender could barely mix the sludge. I kept adding water to see if it would make a difference and ended up adding 3 times the water the recipe asked for and it still was way too thick and tasted awful.
The next recipe I found called for just sugar and milk heated for two hours on the stove to arrive at 2 pints of yummy product. This recipe is much better and definitely has the right flavor but two hours standing over a pot stirring? I don't think so. My time is worth more than that and for the few times I use sweetened condensed milk in my recipes, I just don't think it is worth it.
I like being able to control all of the ingredients in my foods but sometimes it is easier to buy the ready made product from the store and save yourself the headache of working from scratch. So spend the $1.50 and by a can when you need it.
