Milk. It’s a staple in almost every household, a basic ingredient in almost every refrigerator.
But have you seen the prices? They keep going up! I cringe when my children pour extra milk on their cereal and don’t drink it. (Don’t worry, I’m working on that habit!)
We use a lot of milk, not just to drink, but in cooking. Since we’ve moved to the country, it’s hard to keep milk on hand. You don’t just run to the store to pick up a gallon. A trip to any store is a well-planned event.
In the past I would keep dry milk on hand to mix up and use in baking, but the price of dry milk keeps going up as well. It’s no longer the bargain it used to be.
I also watch the price of evaporated milk and stock up when it’s on sale. It tastes fine in cooking or baking. It even adds a creamier texture to mashed potatoes without all the extra fat from cream. But even the sale price has been higher lately.
My friend Kristin recently told me of another option, freezing milk. I was skeptical at first, but have found that it really does work.
She just puts the entire 2 gallon jug in the freezer. It freezes and stays good until you need it. It does take a few days to thaw completely, but works wonderfully well in any cooking you need to do.
Skim and 1% work the best. My children even used it on their cereal and drank it at meal times. They never knew the difference. If you freeze whole milk or 2% , it is okay to cook with, but it doesn’t taste quite the same.
Now I watch the milk whenever I’m in town and always pick up the jugs that are reduced for quick sale. They get put in the freezer as soon as I get home and are ready to take out and thaw whenever I need them!
So this Thrifty Lady learned a very good lesson, two actually. The first is always be willing to examine a new thrifty idea and the second is, periodically reexamine your own thrifty ideas. Prices change, your needs change, and what has always worked before may not always work in the future.




