Yogurt has become a staple in our house, especially with an 8-month-old. That said, I’d be lying if I claimed I wasn’t enjoying it just as much myself. A bowl of thick Greek yogurt with honey from a local beekeeper (who I also have done work with) and a handful of walnuts has become a regular part of my day.

But if you’ve ever made your own yogurt or cream cheese, you know the inevitable question that follows:

What do you do with all the leftover whey?

We typically buy a gallon of whole milk from a nearby dairy farm, hands down the best milk (and ice cream) around. From about six cups of milk, we get roughly a quart of Greek yogurt and around 1½ to 2 cups of whey. Cream cheese is even more dramatic: six cups of milk can yield six cups of whey.

That adds up quickly.

Common Uses (and Their Limits)

We’ve experimented with whey lemonade, which is refreshing and surprisingly good but there’s only so much lemonade one household can drink.

Another option is using whey in the garden. Because it’s slightly acidic, whey can be applied to soil as a gentle acidifier. I’ve used it in our blueberry patches to help nudge the pH in the right direction, and it’s worked well. Still, even gardening has its limits when you’re producing whey consistently.

So the question remains: what else can we do with it?

Enter the Freeze Dryer

This is where our freeze dryer comes into play.

We recently picked up a Harvest Right medium freeze dryer, and this past weekend we’ve collected about eight cups of whey from both yogurt and cream cheese batches. On its own, that amount isn’t enough to fully replace my usual whey protein powder, but it is enough to be genuinely useful.

Once freeze-dried and powdered, the whey becomes shelf-stable and easy to use. I can add it to smoothies, pancake batter, baked goods, or pretty much anything where I want a modest protein boost without reaching for a commercial supplement.

Why This Matters

For me, this isn’t about chasing perfection or becoming fully self-sufficient overnight. It’s about reducing waste, using what we already have more intentionally, and understanding our food just a little bit better.

Milk becomes yogurt.
Yogurt becomes whey.
Whey becomes protein.