Guest Post by Katie from Kitchen Stewardship
Have you bumped into an incredible markdown on milk that expires tomorrow but you’re out of freezer space because you just completed a fabulous once-a-month cooking adventure with your favorite blogging mamas?
You don’t have to walk by that incredible deal for lack of freezer space!
Here are a few ideas for successfully using up a few gallons of milk in a day’s time:
1. Homemade Yogurt
I cannot say enough about the benefits, both nutritionally and financially, of making homemade yogurt. I make almost a gallon a week for my family of 3-and-a-half (you know how toddlers eat, so I can’t count her as a full serving). I figure I save at least $200/year on just this one make-from-scratch endeavor, plus my family benefits from a readily available snack choice and probiotics to boot.
Many bloggers sing the praises of making yogurt in the slow cooker, but I just can’t bring myself to wash that insert so often. My method creates zero dishes other than the jars used to hold the yogurt. You can do it with no special equipment and just a little courage; you will be growing bacteria, but don’t let that scare you!
It’s this easy:
- Heat the milk to 180 degrees.
- Let it cool to 110.
- Stir in 2 Tbs plain yogurt per quart of milk.
- Keep it in a picnic cooler with a pot of hot water for 4-16 hours.
- Done. $10 worth of yogurt for $2, and that’s if the milk is regular price.
Want to know my no-dishes secret? Here is my homemade yogurt guide, with pictures and hand-holding advice to make it ultra simple. Not sure how to use plain yogurt? Here are some ideas for yogurt recipes.
2. Cream of Vegetable Soup
You can use varying amounts of milk and chicken broth to make a cream of vegetable soup, so obviously to use up your clearance milk you will make a heavy-on-the-milk version. It’s one of my favorite soups for both palate and pocketbook.
I keep a bag in the freezer for random unfinished steamed side veggies, and when it gets half full, it’s time to make “leftover” cream of vegetable soup. It’s always a bit different!
You can use just potatoes or any veggie you have sitting in your fridge or freezer. See my cream of vegetable soup recipe for all the details.
3. Whole Grain Rice Pudding
Rice pudding is a dessert from my childhood that ranks among my very favorite. Now that I’m a mom, I love the recipe even more because it’s short on ingredients and prep time and huge on versatility.
1 cup rice
2 cups boiling water
4 cups milk
1/4-3/4 cup sugar, to taste
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 Tbs butter
Boil rice in water for 15 minutes (brown rice) or 3 minutes (white). Drain off water. Add milk and bring carefully to a boil, medium heat, cover off, stirring often. Turn to low, cover and cook 60-90 minutes (brown) or 15-30 minutes (white) until pudding is thick and milk seems to have all been absorbed. Don’t stir too often during this time, but watch for scorching on the bottom of the pan. The finished product will have the consistency of a thick tapioca pudding, but it will gel up a bit after cooling. Turn off heat, then add sugar, vanilla and butter. Garnish with cinnamon.
You could easily make a double batch to knock out an entire half gallon of milk. Your family will thank you.
4. Pancakes
Many pancake and waffle recipes call for a cup or two of milk, so this is not rocket science, but it’s definitely a way to use up the last bit of your gallons. Our family’s go-to pancake recipe involves an overnight soak, so you could really get rid of the milk before the next day if you wanted to show off your frugal skills and truly accomplish “three gallons of milk in one day.” A double batch takes 4 more cups of milk, and they last fine in the fridge for easy breakfasts throughout the week.
5. Cream of {X} Soup
If you have a smidge of room in your freezer, you can make cream of {x} soup and freeze in flat plastic bags to use in casseroles that call for cream of chicken or mushroom soup.
If not, you can make the soup right away, and it should keep for the week as you incorporate it in various meals. I made three casseroles in one hour for last month’s modified once-a-month cooking, which used 6 more cups of milk. You can find the recipe for cream of {x} soup and all three casseroles here.
Katie Kimball blogs at Kitchen Stewardship, where she offers weekly Monday Missions to help you baby step your way to balancing all God’s gifts while working in the kitchen. She wants to be the Flylady of the kitchen for you. Get the scoop on nutrition, environmentalism, budget and time management, as well as family-friendly, real food recipes and a dose of random humor. And yogurt. Lots and lots of yogurt.
What are your favorite ways to use up extra milk? Tell us in the comments!
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I make paneer, which is Indian cheese. You can use it like tofu in a lot of stir-fries or Indian dishes. Very easy to make, just heat the milk, add vinegar or lemon juice, and let the curds form, then drain them and press the curds until firm.
Great idea! I LOVE Paneer! Indian food is my fave! 🙂 -Meg, MSM Team
Bringing this out of the archives 🙂 but if no one has mentioned it, you can make your own condensed milk and it will last for weeks in the fridge.
Thanks for the tip! -Jordan, MSM Team
I use extra milk in oat scone recipes and bread. I have a multigrain bread recipe where you make a porridge with the grains first then make the bread (the recipe uses yogurt and water usually, I just substitute the same amount that would be yogurt and water with milk instead).
I use up our milk by making our little girl fruit/veggie smoothies. I know it SOUNDS gross, but she loves them and gets only pure fruit, vegetables and milk. I make several batches and freeze them in tupperware. Take out a day before you want to use it and it’s glorious for a fast-little treat!
http://frugalmommascooking.blogspot.com/search/label/Baby%20Food
Bread pudding! Great for breakfast with fruit or for dessert.
Just a little bit envious here. Milk prices in my state are tightly regulated and milk is never marked down.
Maybe it’s the same here. I have never heard of a markdown on milk.
I think your basic rice pudding recipe looks great!
Here’s a question for you, for people with allergies do you think you could use soymilk and margarine in place of milk and butter?
@niki, I could only guess, but I would think any liquid would work – is soy milk creamy? I would use coconut oil as the fat instead of margarine b/c I don’t do fake fats. It’s an easy recipe to experiment with!
🙂 Katie
I would never encourage adding transfats to any recipe–when you read the word ‘hydrogenated’ or ‘partially hydrogenated’ in the ingredient list, turn away from that product. Even if the label says ‘no trans fats’, processors are allowed to have up to a certain amount in each serving and not have to list it. Be suspicious if the serving size seem awfully small. I like the coconut idea if that is not one of the allergies. Most baking recipes can substitute applesauce or pureed prunes as the oil/fat ingredient.
I use extra milk in gravy. You can make meat gravy with bits of torn chipped beef, browned hamburger or smoked salmon or whatever you like. Then serve it over toast, cornbread, biscuits, rice, potatoes again about anything and presto—a meal.
We use our extra milk for yogurt and cheese making as well. When we make yogurt we only heat the temp. to 110 degrees. Anything above 110 kills off the good bacteria that is in raw milk. I suppose if using pasteurized milk, though… it has already been heated way past that point by the big companies to kill everything good, so it doesn’t matter to reheat it higher.
But, for anyone using raw milk, it’s best to only heat it to 110 to get the best nutrition from your yogurt. Local raw honey mixed in the yogurt with some granola and fresh fruit makes a delicious, wholesome snack. 🙂
@allyson, I actually get raw m ilk, too, but I had a terrible time getting a nice consistency in my raw yogurt b/c of the competing bacteria. It turned out like cottage cheese, gross for eating but alright for smoothies. I ended up just pasteurizing my raw milk for yogurt, b/c then it’s delicious and still better than store milk b/c of the grassfed and organic parts. If only I could afford the raw milk for yogurt! 😉 Katie
@Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship, I use raw milk for yogurt and sometimes it turns out good and sometimes watery with globs of sour “stuff” floating around. I’m trying to find a pattern to see what causes this problem. At least part of the problem seems to be caused by how warm the yogurt is kept during incubation. I use an electric heating pad wrapped over a towel around a glass jar. This insures a steady temperature. I think perhaps using too much home-made yogurt starter in a row might be a cause too. It seems like I have to buy some yogurt from the store to use as starter every few weeks.
Also, whether your yogurt is runny or not, you can try draining it overnight suspended over a bowl in a bag made of several layers of cheeseclothe. This makes Labneh, a middle eastern creation with a cream-cheese like consistancy. It’s tarter than cream-cheese, though, so adding a bit of salt or sweetner can help.
Another way to incubate the yogurt, if it’s warm and sunny outside – put it in glass jars (old mayonnaise jars work well), wrap each in a dark colored towel, and leave in the sun for 8 hours. I learned to make yogurt this way in Tanzania, and it works well in the summertime here in Dallas, but the weather needs to be at least about 80 degrees and sunny.
Thanks for the hot water in a cooler suggestion! I just bought a big tub from the store last week because I’d gotten so frustrated trying to keep my oven the right temperature when making yogurt in the winter. Can’t wait to try it!!
Yogurt, cheese and custard all are good for using milk. The instructions above show how easy it really is to make yogurt! Instead of the hot water/cooler way of incubating, I poor my correctly heated milk into a glass jar, wrap it in a towel, then wrap an electric heating pad around it. Leave the pad on overnight. No changing water or checking oven temp. In the morning you should have yogurt. Another tip, after several times of using homemade yogurt for starter, I usually have to use store bought yogurt for starter again. For some reason, in my experience, homemade yogurt doesn’t keep it’s “starter” properties after a few uses.
Here’s a super easy cheese recipe. Heat 1 gallon of milk until it is steaming and foam forms around the edges, but is not quite boiling. Stir in 1/2 cup white vinegar. The milk will seperate into curds and whey. Strain the curds. They can be salted if desired, whipped in a blender for ricotta cheese, or broken with a spoon into chunks and mixed with some cream for cottage style cheese. Use the whey in baked goods. It makes them light and fluffy, which is especially wonderful if you are using whole wheat flour.
My favorite way to use up extra anything that has an expiration on it is to donate it to either the local family services pantry or battered women’s shelter (they both have a row of fridges and freezers and 🙁 always have space now that donations are down) or I have one of my kids walk down the block till he finds someone home to bless them with it.
Especially if it is eggs, milk, fresh fruit or veg and BOGO free, we always give the second freebie up to my neighbors.
A great way to use up 1/2 gallon of milk is to make a Poormans pie. Its a deep baked custard in a pie crust in a casserole dish. Load it with what you have got. Cinnamon eggs nutmeats raisins sweet- or hash brown cheese meat & veg
Anyone ever try this with soymilk? Just wondering – my ds is lactose free and he drinks soy.
We make yogurt, but also homemade puddings. My favorite pudding recipes are those from the http://www.joyofbaking.com/ website. We LOVE the chocolate and butterscotch ones, and these also help out in using up extra eggs, which we frequently have since getting our own chickens. Yum!
Thanks for the great ideas! I also have a teenaged son that drinks LOTS of milk ~ but at times I have overbought ~ custard would be another option (if you have eggs). I find custard easy to make and my hubby LOVES custard pie. ALSO – I love to buy up butter when it is on sale and then I make my own butter spread by whipping the butter and adding canola oil (up to 1/4 c. depending on the room temp.) and putting it in a container with a lid. SO easy. I hate running out of butter!
I bought some cultures to make Fromage Blanc. The package came with five sits of cultures and cost $5.95. Each recipe need one gallon of milk and makes what is basically a live culture cream cheese. It is so good, heathier than cream cheese and cheaper.
I no longer receive your site, even though I have subscribed–why?
It’s great for homemade pudding, smoothies or custard. My mom was very frugal as we were growing up and we always teased her. Now we think she’s brilliant! She is a retired home ec. teacher and somewhere learned how to re-pasturize milk by reheating it. It makes it last several days past the expiration date. Even without re-pasturizing milk, some brands of milk can go several days past the expiration date and while others always spoil on the date.
You usually have some wiggle room on the experation date for milk. I’ve gone over a week before and it was still good.
I love to make homemade ricotta then I make homemade Ricotta cavatelli pasta and freeze it. the ricotta’s in the dough its a yummy homemade pasta recipe. here’s a link
http://www.eatingcleveland.com/2007/06/17/how-to-make-cavatelli-pasta-by-hand/
We make yogurt the same way every week. It’s been at least 10 years now! Here’s our recipe from The Tightwad Gazette:
Homemade Yogurt
Makes one quart, 4–1 cup servings
You will need:
A candy thermometer
A heating pad
One quart glass jar(s)
Ingredients:
One quart non-fat or 1% milk
1/2 cup non-fat powdered milk
2 Tablespoons plain yogurt with “live cultures”
Instructions:
Place 2 tablespoons of finished yogurt (starter) in a small glass, cup
or bowl and allow to warm to room temperature. The first time you do this, you will need to buy a small cup of plain yogurt to use as starter and it can’t have gelatin in it. Dannon is good. (Note: once you have
made a batch of homemade yogurt, freeze some in ice cube trays, then
store the cubes in zipper bags in the freezer for later use. Freezing
has no effect – just let one cube per quart of milk get to room
temperature before proceeding.) If you are making it every week, just save some from last week’s batch and use that for your starter. You can “chain-yogurt” for a long time!
Put a quart of milk in a large saucepan or double boiler. Blend in 1/2 cup of powdered milk. Heat the milk to 180 degrees F and cool it to 115 degrees F. Add a small amount of this warm milk to the starter, whisk, then add this mixture to the saucepan of milk and whisk again. Mix well. Pour this into a quart jar, screw on the lid, place on a heating pad set on “medium”, cover with a towel, and cover that with a large pot. Leave undisturbed for 8 hours. Try different settings with your heating pad until you can maintain the 115 degree temperature. That’s less than 15 minutes of hands-on time. Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.
Don’t know if anyone else said this, but marked down skim milk makes the best ricotta cheese! It’s easy to make(saw it on a good eats episode) and makes enough for about 2 meals. You can also not use lemon juice and use vinegar and it will turn into cottage cheese! Just save a little of the milk for after the cheese is done and pour over the crumbled pieces. My hubby is a cottage cheese addict and said that it was the best cottage cheese he’s ever had.
I never see milk reduced for quick sale! If its not a weekly advertised sale whole milk runs 3.99! Fortunately I have quite a few .50 off coupons and my store doubles:) On the question of foods to freeze, I did try cooked rice and it turned out fine! My husband grew up eating rice with every meal, so he is very particular of how it tastes and so forth…he didn’t say anything..(and if it wasnt ok, he would have informed me:D lol!)
Any idea on using extra chocolate milk?
wow thanks for this article 🙂 Manager markdown milk is available almost every time I go to Kroger. I get milk (sometimes it’s organic also) for $1-$1.50 per gallon jug or $.69 or less per 1/2 gallon. Usually we finish whatever I get because the dates are usually 4-5 days away but sometimes my boys will not be interested in it for a few days and I struggle to find ways to use it up without having tons of cereal and/or pudding.
I have heard of freezing milk but I have no idea how to do it. Can someone tell me? I would love to take advantage of this. Thanks Dawn
@dawn, Frozen milk will sort of separate when thawed, but it still works great for cooking or baking. To avoid some of the separation, shake your container every 30-60 minutes while the milk is freezing. Just don’t freeze a whole gallon w/o removing some for expansion. It’s easy to do! I used to freeze whole milk in ice cube trays for my son’s baby rice cereal, for example.
Katie
I love the tapioca pudding recipe at A Year of Slow Cooking: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/07/crockpot-tapioca-pudding.html
If you make a full batch it uses a half gallon of milk!
@Kirsten, My mom always makes homemade tapioca pudding when she needs to use up milk. I looovee it right when it’s done with Cool Whip on top. Definitely a comfort food for me!
Banana + vanilla + vanilla ice cream + milk = milkshakes from my past. Yum.
Fun topic and I learned alot!
Cheers!
Viveca
Or you could borrow my teenage son for the day. I’m pretty sure he could drink it – or at least it feels like he’s been drinking that much per day lately!
Aldi had milk for $1 this summer, so I made eight billion batches of homemade ricotta. Just bring the milk to a boil with a few teaspoons of salt in it, stirring often so it doesn’t scald, when it starts to froth over the top of the pan it’s time to add the lemon juice. I add about a half a cup and stir gently. Then just scoop out the curds and let them drain through a coffee filter. It makes a large amount which I divide and freeze for stuffed shells and for my favorite summer pizza, dollops of ricotta, mozzarella, sliced garlic, sliced tomatoes and fresh basil.
@SDK, Out of curiosity, what did you do with the whey? You can actually use it for lots of stuff rather than throw it out: How to Use Whey
$1 for milk is AWESOME!!
🙂 Katie
Thanks for the link, Katie. I must (sheepishly) admit I have been throwing the whey out. No more!
@SDK,
have you ever made cavatelli pasta? try it next time when you make ricotta very yummy here a recipe link.
http://www.eatingcleveland.com/2007/06/17/how-to-make-cavatelli-pasta-by-hand/
That looks heavenly.
My kids have been going through yogurt at a rapid rate lately. I think it’s time I start making it from scratch. Thank you for the instructions. I’ll be giving this a go over the next week.
I recently found milk marked down to 99c a gallon. The date was either that day or the next. I bought 4 and the milk was good over a week out.
KellyH
I as well as someone else commented on the 4-16 hours part. I just wanted to make sure I was reading that right, because of the huge difference in time. Is it better to leave it in for the longer time? And if so, do you need to change the hot water so that it stays hot? How hot–boiling or just bathwater hot?
Thanks!
@Marion, Yogurt will culture in about 4 hours, and the longer you let it go (even up to 24 hours), the more lactose is broken down. It is healthier to culture longer, but it also changes the taste a bit to make it more tart or sour, depending on how you describe it! I like about 12-hour yogurt myself. Sometimes I add hot water, sometimes I don’t, and it always turns out great. The hot water is just to keep the incubation environment between 90-110 degrees, so if you have a really good cooler, the first shot of boiling water steam will do it (the jars are next to, not inside, the cooler).
I have really detailed instructions here.
Thanks!
Katie
Crèpes! They use a lot of milk (and eggs).
I have a recipe for crepes here:
http://www.sleepypendoodle.com/index.php/2010/03/09/les-crepes/
Homemade scalloped potatoes. Recipes call for about 1/2 gallon to feed about 5 people for dinner.
Good ideas… I miss milk! My daughter has a dairy allergy and I cannot eat/drink dairy while I’m nursing.
There is no such thing as unused milk in our house, but that’s probably because I already make homemade yogurt with it :). One thing I want to try is a recipe I came across for homemade ricotta cheese – apparently it is nothing more than milk, lemon juice and salt.
@Jenni @ Life from the Roof, Yes, I have made ricotta and it is incredibly easy. It is cheaper to make than buying it usually and the results are wonderful. I like to use at least 2% for this though.
If you have a little rennet, you can make mozzarella first and then make ricotta from the whey. I have not done this particular thing before, but I understand that it is not too hard. You just need the ingredients on hand when you find the great deal on milk.
Just google homemade ricotta recipe and/or homemade mozzarella recipe and you will have all sorts of help.
@Jenni @ Life from the Roof, I had a recipe for that here too, but the post got too long! It’s so much fun to watch the milk separate into the ricotta-style cheese. You’ll love it. Heavenly Homemakers has a fabulous tutorial for mozz cheese: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/blog/how-to-make-mozzarella-cheese
Good luck!
🙂 Katie
Great post! Adding Katie’s Cream of Potato soup to my meal plan next week to use up my free 5lb bag of organic potatoes from Earth Fare!
Mary Ellen
Another thing we do when we make extra pudding is put it into popsicle trays and make pudding popsicles!
I have done this with expiring yogurt too, and the kids love the yogurt pops!
@Kristine,
I love this idea!
I am going to try this
Call me crazy, but I’ve never, ever seen reduced milk!
@Carrie, Me neither! Where are you ladies getting it??
@Emily Kay, I get reduced-price organic milk at Hyvee. They mark it down a couple days before the expiration date. It’s a great deal!
@Courtney, Kroger (in Georgia) marks their milk down when it’s about 2 days to expiration.
I love this and so am going to try the yogurt in the crock pot! thank you
I make a ‘vat’ of banana pudding for the homeless shelter once a month and I look for a markdown deal just for that. Also, macaroni and cheese or scalloped potatoes are good ways to use up milk. Mac and cheese is also a good way to use up lots of bits and ends of cheese hanging out in the fridge.
I make a ‘vat of banana pudding for the homeless shelter once a month and I look for a markdown deal just for that. Also, macaroni and cheese or scalloped potatoes are good ways to use up milk. Mac and cheese is also a good way to use up lots of bits and ends of cheese hanging out in the fridge.
Milk is usually good for up to a week after the “sell by” date. We’ve never had a problem using it up until then, and after the sell by date I do a sniff test before pouring or using it anyway.
My favorite ways to use up milk are chocolate pudding – the cooked kind and spinach quiche. And of course, macaroni and cheese. Yum!
About using Lactose free milk….if its ultra pasteurized it wont work…btdt,
I use extra milk for homemade buttermilk (use last bit of store bought cultured buttermilk to culture it), Kefir, homemade ice cream, potato soup, and lots of chocolate milk!
@Amber, Aha, a real foodie amongst us! 😉 I like hanging the yogurt for cheese, too! 🙂 Katie
@Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship,
*Gasp* I got called a foodie!! LOL I have been trying my hardest to eat real food and learning as I go XD
And oh my…greek yogurt is better than ice cream to me right now!!
Even if the milk price is protected, there is sometimes a deal on something else when you buy milk. For instance, this week I was able to get two free packages of Oreos or Chips Ahoy with each gallon of milk. Thanks for this great article & thread on what to do with all that milk!
We love homemade yogurt too but don’t do the cooler. Instead, I pour my heated milk (mixed with the yogurt starter) into a large jar and set the lid loosely on top. Put the jar in the oven, close the door, turn the light on, and leave it overnight (or 8-10 hours) – ready to eat or store in the fridge!
I’m confused on this part:
“Keep it in a picnic cooler with a pot of hot water for 4-16 hours.”
Is it in a container INSIDE the pot of hot water or are they in seperate containers side by side?
@Michelle K, The jars are next to the pot, all inside the cooler. You can see a photo and much more detailed instructions, which are very helpful, at my yogurt post: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/04/13/monday-mission-homemade-yogurt-the-easy-way/
🙂 Katie
Great ideas, but I unfortunately can’t use them :o( PA is a price protected state, and stores cannot mark down the price of milk below whatever the minimum selling price is set. My kids go through it fairly fast, so no chances of it spoiling either!
My parents do make rice pudding when their milk is starting to get old.
I have seen the signs about milk at state minimums. That explains why it is never marked down here. I thought I just wasn’t looking in the right places. Thanks for pointing that out!
@Debbie in PA, I right with you Debbie. I would love to be able to get milk cheap since we go through at least a gallon a day, but I too live in PA.
That clears things up for me. I am in PA also and after reading this post could’t figure out where people were finding milk BOGO. I never see much change in price. Thanks
@Debbie in PA,
I never knew that either. I just moved to Ohio from PA, and the last time my mom came to visit, she commented on how cheap our milk is here compared to hers. Now I know why.
How long would you keep the yogurt in your fridge if the milk says it expires the day after you buy it? Does making yogurt with it make it go longer before it spoils?
@Renee,
Great question! Culturing milk (or anything) extends its life considerably. I would keep the yogurt at least two weeks no matter how old or new my milk was. The beauty of fermentation!
Thanks, Katie
I have a post with an idea for families with small children here – http://buyonsaleandsavethedifference.blogspot.com/2010/02/freezing-milk.html
I also really like keeping those Pillsbury muffin mixes that only need milk on hand. They’re only 70ish cents when they go on sale, so it’s a great way to bake a fresh snack and use up the last bit of milk!
I’m looking forward to making the rice pudding recipe here. It sounds so yummy!
I am bookmarking this article! Great post, I know this will come in super handy down the road.
Cooked pudding is a recent favorite afternoon snack for us. You don’t even have to buy pudding mix. All you need is 2 cups of milk, 2 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1 to 2 tsp. vanilla, and 1/3 c. sugar (or 1/4 c. agave nectar or honey). We enjoyed some yesterday. You can also add coconut or cocoa powder if you like those flavors.
@Julia, Or you can use this recipe with a brown sugar substitute for butterscotch pudding. I was raised on this pudding recipe! I think it came from my great grandmother because she believed it was good for you when you were sick.
@Lana, Wow–I never knew you only needed brown sugar to make butterscotch pudding, although I knew how to make the other kinds. Thanks–I’ll be making some soon!
Making instant pudding. 2 Cups of Milk per box. I use 3 boxes.
You can freeze milk?? Where have I been? I also saw today somewhere that you can freeze orange juice. I have a chest freezer in the basement with plenty of space, so I’ll be looking for these deals now. Thanks so much. Anything else I should be aware of that might seem unusual to freeze but freezes well??
@Emily, Bananas freeze well. You can enjoy a frozen banana as a healthy alternative to ice cream, blend them in a smoothie, or freeze overripe ones for banana bread later.
Sausage gravy or plain breakfast gravy. It’s not an everyday thing because of the calorie content but it’s great to use up milk and such a treat.
@Emily, Yes, you can freeze milk, but it separates when thawed. It is still good, but the kids sometimes turn their little noses up at it. Also, cheese freezes well too. It turns crumbly when thawed, but still good. Thaw in fridge. I also freeze cream cheese.
@Katie, I’ve noticed that only non-fat milk has the separation issues, I’ve been freezing milk for years and only recently had some non-fat organic milk have the separation. I shake mine like someone said every 30 minutes or so. Works like a charm.
@Emily, Butter and margarine both freeze well – I am shocked by how many don’t know it! 🙂
@Jessica, butter/margarine? Really?? I had no idea. And I didn’t know about cream cheese either. Is the consistency of either changed when they thaw? This is good stuff!
@Emily,
If you shake the milk every 30-60 minutes or so while it’s freezing, you’ll avoid some of the separating issues. I don’t loe it for drinking, but for smoothies or cooking, it freezes great. Just don’t do a whole gallon without removing some for expansion!
I love to freeze lots of things! See my top 10 here: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/03/18/10-easy-prep-foods-youll-always-find-in-my-freezer/
You can even freeze plain yogurt for use as a starter in the future (it’s also kind of runny, not good for eating, but still cultures).
Great question!
🙂 Katie
@Emily, Thanks everyone for your tips. I’ll defintely put this info to good use.
@Emily,
We freeze almost everything: milk (I don’t even take any out for expansion as the cartons tend to give just fine- never had one explode on me), bread, tortillas, fruit (bananas, strawberries, peaches, berries), butter, cream cheese, juice, grated cheese, meat, unused soups, cooked rice, chocolate chips & candy, nuts, veggie scraps (for broth later) and probably more that I’m not thinking of! I figure most things are worth at least TRYING to see how it freezes! 🙂
Yes! Fresh ginger. Just put in a baggie in the freezer, and take out of freezer and grate when you need some. No more wizened ginger!
What extra milk? We go through about a gallon a day when my husband is home and not traveling! Ha!
Thanks for the tips though. I will keep them in mind.
Happy Friday – and St. Patrick’s Day next week!
These are great ideas. I’m single & live alone so it’s awfully hard for me to use up an entire gallon of milk – even when it’s got plenty of time before it expires. Thanks for sharing!
Anyone tried the yogurt recipe with lactose free milk? I have a ton of it because of WIC. Of course I can just get regular milk next trip. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe.
I like to make puddings, and there is a gelatin that is imported from Mexico that comes in Vanilla, Chocolate or Pistachio flavors and it uses milk instead of water. It is such a yummy treat for us!
I have a ton of nutrish milk and was wondering if I could use that for ypgurt, too.
@Stormie @TJ, I have readers ask about alternative milks often, but I really haven’t tried it. You can get a lot of things to culture, as long as there’s a sugar or starch for the bacteria to consume. I would try just one quart jar and see what happens, and if it doesn’t work, just cook with the milk. I’d love to hear if it’s a success!
🙂 Katie
Banana Smoothies using frozen bananas & milk (that’s it)
Hot Cocoa (old-fashioned way using heated milk)
Quiches