Can instant pudding be made without milk?

Googling this question turned up many articles claiming that instant pudding can be made with water instead of milk.

I gave it a shot just to see how different it is and... it's just not true. I expected the pudding to be a bit thinner than normal, but to my surprise it's worse than that.

It seems that something in the milk may cause a chemical reaction, because instant pudding with water failed to thicken at all, and I used one quarter cup less water than the called for milk.

So... what is it about milk that causes the pudding to thicken where water fails? And is there a suitable substitute for milk in instant pudding?

I keep pudding in my long term food storage pantry since it has an extremely long shelf life, but would like to make it with as simple ingredients as possible. Water would have been ideal.

Okay, so instant pudding can be made with water. Full disclosure - I asked my son to make the first batch, and it was incredibly thin. He may have added too much water.

Both chocolate and vanilla instant pudding worked with just water. I recommend halving the required water, and it definitely does not taste as good as milk pudding.