Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Cheap Milk

The rising price of milk is a hot topic amongst frugal folk. Dawn at Frugal for Life and Amy at The Motherload both share advice about freezing milk for future use. I noticed that even Aldi's yogurt prices have risen, too.

I buy half gallons of milk during Kroger's 4/$5 sales. Once in a while, the manager will mark down those with today's sell-by date to 99 cents. That's $2 a gallon, or the price of Aldi powdered milk. Half-gallons are much easier to fit in the freezer above my refrigerator. If I don't have room, I immediately make homemade pudding pops or yogurt.

12 comments:

Gena said...

I have tried freezing milk. I know you have to shake it when you thaw it, but does it really taste the same? Hubby is VERY picky and weird about food. The kids won't care.

Just wondering...

Anonymous said...

I've heard it does taste different. :-/

When I get Gogurts at a good price, I'm tossing them in the freezer to get them to last longer, plus the kids enjoy eating them frozen. :-)

Anonymous said...

I just froze milk not too long ago. My son, who has a history of being picky AND is and avid milk drinker, and my husband, who is not wild about frozen stuff, both said it tasted fine.

Shannon said...

The half-gallons thaw a lot faster, too. The trick is to make sure the milk is thawed and shake it up. Otherwise the milk thaws in stages and you wind up having "thin" milk and then "creamier" milk, which may not be good to everyone.

Dawn said...

How much do you 'knock off the top' before you freeze it?
That way you don't have a milky mess in the freezer.

Meredith said...

As long as you shake it, the milk tastes fine. Better than fine, actually, if you like your milk ice cold, as I do.

It's easiest to shake well if you remove a glass full of milk before freezing.

Anonymous said...

I often freeze milk when I can get it on sale. I also mix powdered milk with whole milk to make a 2% for drinking. My grandsons never complain when I give them powdered milk if I mix a little chocolate into it. Sometimes a grandma has to do these little tricks to get enough milk into the little ones. Neither of my boys are big milk drinkers. Roxie

Amy said...

Thanks so much for linking to the article, Meredith! I really appreciate it!

We actually don't pour any milk off of the top of our jug. I am sure that the shaking probably goes better, but it has been easier for us to just to put it right in the freezer. That little bubble on the side of the gallon will just pop out and it resembles a tumor on the gallon :) Our son thinks it looks funny :) This will pop back in when it completely thaws.

Vicky said...

I guess I never thought about freezing milk, but I should definitely start since our little girl will be drinking milk on/around her first birthday (or whenever she decides to wean .... :) ). One thing we do around here, though, is to freeze orange juice. If you find a good sale on the cartons of OJ, you can freeze those as-is. They're a great shape to put in the freezer, and there's no difference in taste once thawed. Thawing takes quite a while (about a day) so plan accordingly for that. I got this tip from my mother-in-law and it was so handy to have yummy OJ when there was none on sale.

Anonymous said...

Costco milk prices are always half that of the local grocery stores and since my husband works there and gets his membership for free it is very cost effective for us.

Cyndi L.

3boysmama said...

I have no idea about the price of milk since we are dairy-free. But, do they sell a shelf-stable milk here? I know in England they did (when i lived there 10 years ago). I buy soy and rice milk that is shelf stable, so I can buy a huge box of milk from Costco and it lasts me a month or so.

Anonymous said...

Please share your pudding pop recipe!