quiltingshorttimer

My DH always did the grocery shopping (since pregnant with 38 yo DD cause I'd get nauseous just smelling the meat counter) and I'd make up a list, pull coupons and off he'd go. With Covid and his risk factors its on me now. Since our county does not mandate masks (despite a State college having done a study and showing that masks make a big difference in Covid #) I drive to the next county over and shop in stores there. It was a hassle this summer as I'd take coolers and have them bag frozens together. my biggest problem is that I'm not accustomed to the stores so have to always do a big of back tracking. And no one seems to carry corn meal mush which the DH loves for breakfast. I'm too unorganized to order online, plus we live too far from any store to go several times a week. I go every 3 weeks,we freeze lots of stuff, including milk. Nice thing about other stores is that they have better produce than in our local store.

Fizzle

I have never frozen milk. Does it change it when you thaw it back out?
Any hints?

Iceblossom

I grew up in Alaska anyway, and my mother was paid monthly, so we typically bought all our supplies for the month at one large volume shopping trip.

We used the 2 quart size (rectangular) waxed cardboard type packaging. The freezing will make it swell a bit, so don't know by personal experience if gallon plastic jugs have enough expansion space. After it thaws, shake well and you might periodically shake before pouring. The freezing interferes some with the homogenization (the balancing of the fat particles) and so you do get some cream rising to the top.

edit: If you have a Dollar store near you, the shelf stable milk cartons are great to have in the pantry. Don't know about drinking it, but it's fine in my coffee Shelf stable milk was introduced back in the 70s, and while I was leary at first am fine with it now.

janiebakes

We sometimes freeze gallon jugs of milk after pouring out a small amount to allow for expansion. Was surprised at how long it takes to thaw. Put it in the fridge to thaw about 3 days before you need it. Give it a good hard shake before using. Was fine for coffee, drinking and making yogurt. We lived in Spain for a bit and they had no milk in the cooler, just the shelf stable boxes. Shopped around brands until we had a favorite for drinking.

Onebyone

I buy whole milk powder not instant powdered milk. It's good on cereal and perfect for cooking and baking. The trick is getting it very cold before using for taste. My kids never knew the difference since I made it the gallon milk jug and they used it cereal or making chocolate milk. It has a long shelf life. It sure was handy when we were out of milk during an ice storm. I wouldn't use it if fresh milk was available as it cost more but great for always having whole milk on hand. We are not low fat or 2% type of milk people.

quiltingshorttimer

I've been doing it since April and got directions from my friend who is retired home extensionist. She said your best bet is 1% milk as it thaws best, takes a longgg time to thaw so I bring up a couple of days before I need. Shake it up as it thaws so the milk fats blend. Also leave some space in the top of the container for it to expand while freezing. I will add that it looks a little yellowish when frozen because because the milk fat to separates so it's weak looking. Fine when defrosted and shook up. I typically will have some frozen for about 2.5 weeks.

would add that we also freeze (real) butter, cheeses and "fake" eggs too.

Onebyone

I freeze salted butter. I have found a package of butter in the freezer older then a year and it was fine. The unopened package was in a freezer zip lock bag. I freeze yeast and hard cheeses. Any food can be frozen so I freeze and then see how it is after thawing.

cashs_mom

Stores usually do that so that you have to walk around looking for what you want and they hope you will buy other things you see. I find it so annoying as I'm not a person who wanders thru stores shopping. I know what I want. I go in and get it and get out. I hate it when I have to search to find what I want. Its another reason I shop at Sprouts instead of one the mega grocery stores. They rarely move things around and even if they do, the store is small and easy to find things in. Also, miracle of miracles, the employees know where things are!

pocoellie

Our two locally owned grocery stores might rearrange a couple things but it's rare, which is good because I hate change. LOL

Peckish

I hate grocery shopping and love the online shopping and curbside pickup. I can shop in the evenings while watching tv with hubby, and pick up my order in the morning. I have been very pleased with my produce orders! I get very specific and they have fulfilled my order to a T. I once asked for 2 avocados, one slightly soft to the touch right at the stem, one hard to the touch at the stem, and they came exactly as ordered. Bananas, same thing, they gave me exactly what I requested.