With prices on the rise across the country, many people are looking at ways to save money. One great way to to do this is to take advantage of sales on everyday staples and storing them for when the price goes up. One everyday staple that fluctuates a lot but doesn’t last long is milk. Often when the price drops low people begin to ask “Can you freeze milk?” Freezing milk is a great way to get up to six months of storage time out of this daily staple.
Can you freeze milk?
ye you can freeze milk both in large quantities and in smaller portions depending on your need. When you find milk on clearance that is good for just a few more days freezing milk allows you to take advantage of the sale and stock up. When the price drops below $1 a gallon I will grab up to a dozen gallons of milk depending on my current freezer space.
How to freeze milk
Freezing milk is easy. Lower fat varieties freeze the best but any verity can be frozen if properly mixed after you thaw it because the fat has a tendency to separate when freezing.
When you get home from the store you have several options for freezing your milk.
Freezing milk in the original container.
The original gallon and half-gallon plastic jugs are designed perfectly for freezing. They will expand at the indents in the jug when the milk freezes. this will keep you from having a mess when the milk expands. If you have enough time to use the entire container from the date of sale to the expiration then this is the easiest and most efficient way for you to freeze your milk.
Freezing milk in smaller containers
A lot of the time we find the best deals on milk when they only have a day or two left before they expire. When this is the case I like to split the milk into smaller easier to thaw and use containers. I save water bottles that do not touch anyone’s mouth for this use. When we pour the water into a cup the bottle goes into a bag for processing milk and other freezable liquids into small 16 ox containers before they are rinsed and tossed into the recycling bin.
The trick to this is to leave room in the bottle and give the sides a squeeze to allow expansion of the milk when it freezes. Write how many days the milk is good for right on the bottle so you have no guessing ahead of you when you thaw the milk.
Freezing milk in single servings.
At one point I had been a bit over-optimistic in my ability to pump breastmilk for my babies. I stocked up on 2 of the big 100 count boxes of breastmilk freezer bags and ended up not using a good 90% of them. I was stuck with a bunch of 8 oz freezer bags and no idea how to use them. Eventually, I realized that they could be used for freezing single servings of milk, juice, soups, and other liquids that can be quickly thawed. Breastmilk freeze bags are perfect for freezing milk that only has a day or so left before going bad. These milk packs can be tossed into lunch boxes and will act as an ice pack while being thawed by lunchtime. these make the perfect single serving packages for much less than the cost of buying small boxed milk.
How to thaw frozen milk
Thawing frozen milk is easy. Place in the refrigerator for slow thawing best for small containers or gallons that you will not need to use for a few days.
If you need to use the milk quickly you can thaw it faster by placing the jug into your dish strainer and placing a fan on it to circulate air around the gallon jug. this will thaw it within a couple of hours but is not recommended on a hot day where you are more likely to spoil the milk.
More food you can freeze?
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