Perhaps it will be helpful for some to know where I usually purchased the ingredients for the formula. It took me a little while to actually compare online companies but I was glad when I finally did for it saved me some cost in the long run.
Here is where everything came from -
www.radiantlife.com
Org. Coconut Oil, 32oz $24.95
Org. Sunflower Oil, 17oz $14.95
Org. Butter Oil (unflavored), 8.1oz $59.95
Org. Fermented Cod Liver Oil (unflavored), 8oz $43.95
Nutritional Yeast Mini Flakes, 16oz $17.45
www.amazon.com
Acerola Powder, 2/6oz $9.98
Lactose, 6/16oz pkgs. $23.54 ($3.92 each)
Natren Life Start, 2.5oz $19.31 -- (or from www.vitacost.com for $17.29)
Pure Beef Gelatin, 14oz $12.79
Health Food Store/ Whole Foods
Organic unfiltered Extra-Virgin Olive Oil - price varied
My raw pasture-fed milk and cream came from a local food co-operative of family farms.
1 Gal. Raw Goats Milk, $12.00
1 Gal. Raw Cows Milk, $7.00
1 Qt. Raw Cows Cream, $13.50
You can search here for co-ops that provide raw milk in your area: realmilk.com
And the Whey was homemade!
Blessings,
Louisa
Showing posts with label homemade formula. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homemade formula. Show all posts
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Homemade Whey
Making your own homemade whey is quite simple...
My method is as follows:
1. Fill a 1/2 gallon glass jar (rinsed out) with fresh raw milk (about 2 quarts), leaving enough room to add 2 TBS plain organic whole milk yogurt. Close with a tight fitting lid and shake gently to distribute the yogurt.
2. Let sit for 2-4 days until the milk separates into curds and whey (which looks yellowish). I found placing it on top of the fridge worked great. And 3 days is how long it took for me.
3. At this point you need a large bowl or pot and then I used a large strainer with 1/4 of a muslin type dish/tea towel laying inside. Cheese cloth may also work if the holes are small enough. Slowly pour the curds and whey into the strainer and let sit for several hours.
4. When the whey has stopped dripping (I would let it sit throughout the day) tie the ends of the tea towel to a wooden spoon to enable the rest of the liquid to drip out. Let sit several more hours or overnight.
5. Pour the clear/yellowish liquid into clean glass jars, label with the date and refrigerate. Now you have fresh homemade whey for your homemade formula and other lacto-fermented recipes!
The remaining curds can be refrigerated and eaten somewhat like cream cheese, but it has quite a tang to it which we did not prefer. But I have made delicious Rugelach with this from a recipe in Nourishing Tradtitions, by Sally Fallon.
Homemade whey lasts approx. 6 months and the "cream cheese" curds last about 3-4 weeks refrigerated.
2 quarts of raw milk make approx. 1 quart of homemade whey.
blessings,
Louisa
My method is as follows:
1. Fill a 1/2 gallon glass jar (rinsed out) with fresh raw milk (about 2 quarts), leaving enough room to add 2 TBS plain organic whole milk yogurt. Close with a tight fitting lid and shake gently to distribute the yogurt.
2. Let sit for 2-4 days until the milk separates into curds and whey (which looks yellowish). I found placing it on top of the fridge worked great. And 3 days is how long it took for me.
3. At this point you need a large bowl or pot and then I used a large strainer with 1/4 of a muslin type dish/tea towel laying inside. Cheese cloth may also work if the holes are small enough. Slowly pour the curds and whey into the strainer and let sit for several hours.
4. When the whey has stopped dripping (I would let it sit throughout the day) tie the ends of the tea towel to a wooden spoon to enable the rest of the liquid to drip out. Let sit several more hours or overnight.
5. Pour the clear/yellowish liquid into clean glass jars, label with the date and refrigerate. Now you have fresh homemade whey for your homemade formula and other lacto-fermented recipes!
The remaining curds can be refrigerated and eaten somewhat like cream cheese, but it has quite a tang to it which we did not prefer. But I have made delicious Rugelach with this from a recipe in Nourishing Tradtitions, by Sally Fallon.
Homemade whey lasts approx. 6 months and the "cream cheese" curds last about 3-4 weeks refrigerated.
2 quarts of raw milk make approx. 1 quart of homemade whey.
blessings,
Louisa
Saturday, October 8, 2011
The Homemade Formula pt. 2 - the recipe!
Following is the recipe that I used for 18 months, it is from the Weston A. Price Foundation and is also in the great book "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon.
Milk- Based Homemade Formula
2 cups whole raw milk, completely unprocessed from pasture raised cows or goats**
1/4 cup homemade liquid whey (directions to come soon!)
4 TBS lactose (NOW)
1/4 tsp. bifidobacterium infantis (Natren Life Start)
2-3 TBS raw cream, completely unprocessed from pasture raised cows
1/2 tsp. plain fermented cod liver oil (Green Pasture's)
1/4 tsp high-vitamin butter oil (Green Pasture's)
1 tsp. organic expeller pressed sunflower oil (FLORA)
1 tsp. organic extra virgin olive oil, unfiltered (from health food store)
2 tsp. small flake nutritional yeast flakes (Frontier brand only)
1 7/8 cups filtered water
2 tsp. organic extra virgin coconut oil (Radiant Life)
2 tsp. gelatin (Bernard Jensen's 100% beef)
1/4 tsp. acerola powder (NOW)
This is how I made it after a bit of trial and error:
1. Pour water into med. size pot, turn heat to medium and add the lactose, gelatin and yeast flakes; give it a good whisk then leave to heat up slowly.
2. Pour milk (if frozen* thaw first) into blender and add the: whey, bifidus, cod liver oil, sunflower oil, olive oil and acerola powder. At this point check the water mixture and if pretty warm turn off, remove from heat and add the frozen* cream, coconut oil and butter oil.
3. Return to the blender and with the lid on pulse 2-4 times. Add the warm water mixture and again pulse only very briefly (or it has a tendency to curdle) 2-3 times max.
4. At this point it is made! I almost always poured the formula directly into bottles and then placed in the fridge. The other option is to pour into a glass pitcher with a secure lid and pour as needed, but I found it hard because the oils would be all at the top. If there was 1-2 portions more than I knew she would drink over the following 24 hrs. I would pour each amount into a Lansinoh breastmilk freezer bag and place in the freezer.
5. Clean up!
It really became quite simple; I didn't even look at the recipe until everything was included (just in case I forgot something) and even though I didn't always relish the thought of making it EVERY single day it was so worth it because Eleonora thrived and loved it!
*Because I only could get my raw milk every 2 weeks I would freeze 1 weeks worth divided into 2 cup portions making it easy to thaw overnight. The same for my raw cream - I froze it in 2 TBS worth ice cube trays and when frozen I would place in a freezer ziploc bag. If I had fresh cream I would place it in the blender- not into the warm water mixture. I keep raw milk in the fridge for 1 week and raw cream for 2-3 days only, otherwise I freeze them.
** After reading up I chose to use raw goats milk for the first 1 year since it is more easily digestible and also higher in calories, I will share more details in a coming post.
I hope that these directions show just how simple it is to actually make such a nutritious formula and in the coming weeks I will share more of the why's behind the ingredients.
But coming up next is :
1.How to make homemade whey
2. The most affordable places I found to buy these ingredients
3. Why Raw milk?
Blessings,
Louisa
Milk- Based Homemade Formula
2 cups whole raw milk, completely unprocessed from pasture raised cows or goats**
1/4 cup homemade liquid whey (directions to come soon!)
4 TBS lactose (NOW)
1/4 tsp. bifidobacterium infantis (Natren Life Start)
2-3 TBS raw cream, completely unprocessed from pasture raised cows
1/2 tsp. plain fermented cod liver oil (Green Pasture's)
1/4 tsp high-vitamin butter oil (Green Pasture's)
1 tsp. organic expeller pressed sunflower oil (FLORA)
1 tsp. organic extra virgin olive oil, unfiltered (from health food store)
2 tsp. small flake nutritional yeast flakes (Frontier brand only)
1 7/8 cups filtered water
2 tsp. organic extra virgin coconut oil (Radiant Life)
2 tsp. gelatin (Bernard Jensen's 100% beef)
1/4 tsp. acerola powder (NOW)
This is how I made it after a bit of trial and error:
1. Pour water into med. size pot, turn heat to medium and add the lactose, gelatin and yeast flakes; give it a good whisk then leave to heat up slowly.
2. Pour milk (if frozen* thaw first) into blender and add the: whey, bifidus, cod liver oil, sunflower oil, olive oil and acerola powder. At this point check the water mixture and if pretty warm turn off, remove from heat and add the frozen* cream, coconut oil and butter oil.
3. Return to the blender and with the lid on pulse 2-4 times. Add the warm water mixture and again pulse only very briefly (or it has a tendency to curdle) 2-3 times max.
4. At this point it is made! I almost always poured the formula directly into bottles and then placed in the fridge. The other option is to pour into a glass pitcher with a secure lid and pour as needed, but I found it hard because the oils would be all at the top. If there was 1-2 portions more than I knew she would drink over the following 24 hrs. I would pour each amount into a Lansinoh breastmilk freezer bag and place in the freezer.
5. Clean up!
It really became quite simple; I didn't even look at the recipe until everything was included (just in case I forgot something) and even though I didn't always relish the thought of making it EVERY single day it was so worth it because Eleonora thrived and loved it!
*Because I only could get my raw milk every 2 weeks I would freeze 1 weeks worth divided into 2 cup portions making it easy to thaw overnight. The same for my raw cream - I froze it in 2 TBS worth ice cube trays and when frozen I would place in a freezer ziploc bag. If I had fresh cream I would place it in the blender- not into the warm water mixture. I keep raw milk in the fridge for 1 week and raw cream for 2-3 days only, otherwise I freeze them.
** After reading up I chose to use raw goats milk for the first 1 year since it is more easily digestible and also higher in calories, I will share more details in a coming post.
I hope that these directions show just how simple it is to actually make such a nutritious formula and in the coming weeks I will share more of the why's behind the ingredients.
But coming up next is :
1.How to make homemade whey
2. The most affordable places I found to buy these ingredients
3. Why Raw milk?
Blessings,
Louisa
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
The Homemade Formula pt. 1
Believe me, it was a real commitment to make my daughter's homemade formula.
Every day for 18 months I made a fresh batch (unless I had enough bags in the freezer to pull out and thaw), measuring, warming, mixing and blending then filling 8 bottles. Cleaning up with the realization that I would do the same thing again in the morning!
Why did I choose to go this route?
First, I knew that breastmilk was the best food for my micro-preemie, and was able to pump until she was 13 months old. For the first 9 months she was exclusively g-tube fed (a feeding tube surgically placed in her stomach) with only breastmilk, and when my milk supply began to dwindle I wanted to feed her with the best nutrient rich option I could find. I knew that many babies have thrived on raw goats milk and I had also read about a homemade infant formula that some were making. Reading about why certain ingredients were used to make it as close to human milk as possible and the testimonials from other parents who had made it convinced me that this is what I wanted to do. (I did and still do have many reservations about ready made formula powder but will save this topic for another post).
I am convinced that the nutrition Eleonora received through this formula has been a large part why she is so strong, healthy and happy now at 2 1/2 years old. Her weight gain has always been consistent and never a cause for concern for her many specialists, which other parents of preemies will know can be a hurdle.
There have been bumps in the road and changes made with the recipe but now looking back after just transitioning to plain whole raw milk (with 2 extra ingredients) I am so glad I made the commitment to make the formula and am happy to share my journey with others.
The recipe with directions will be coming soon!
Blessings,
Louisa
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