STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

nicoley · Coach

Spoiled Milk

wicked · Coach

I just go by the smell. If it doesn't make you gag it should be okay.

Christine · Coach

If I'm unsure, I'll smell the milk first. Generally if milk is spoiled, you will know when you take a whiff!

If it smells ok, but I'm still not confident it's ok to drink, I'll look to see if the milk has separated or if there are swirls of white in it. If it looks ok, then maybe I'll pour a little glass and take a small sip.

Cricket · Gucci

Milk will definately last longer than a few days if you aren't buying it right on the "sell by" date. General rule is that it will last 7 days beyond the sell by date printed on the carton, but I always smell it first if it's after the date. Milk goes so fast in our house that it never makes it near the date, so I don't usually worry about it spoiling. Maybe you should pull a carton from the back of the cooler with a later sell by date so you can keep it longer.

ejc423 · Coach

Yeah, I always get the milk that is farthest back on the shelf. Also, around here we have ultra-pasteurized milk that stays fresh for over a month. I love it and it's made by a local dairy, so I feel good about supporting the local farmers

. So check at your grocery store. If you don't have it, ask the manager if it's possible to stock it. They usually will oblige on at least a trial basis.

laken1 · Hermes

I'm not a big milk fan -but i never drink it past the sell by date. I just can't do it! I don't like the way it smells normally so it always grosses me out.

Andrea Julia · Coach

laken1 wrote:

I'm not a big milk fan -but i never drink it past the sell by date. I just can't do it! I don't like the way it smells normally so it always grosses me out.

Same here. A nanny I once had made me drink milk that was 3 days past the sell-by date and I immediately vomited and wasn't able to drink milk at all for a long period of time.

If I were in your situation, I would buy smaller containers of milk, even if the only thing smaller was those single serving ones they have in cafeterias and stuff.

Elle · Hermes

Hmmm, milk always smells like it's gone bad to me, too . I make FH smell it to make sure!

Anyway, we buy organic milk now that's ultra-pasteurized so the sell-by date is usually about a month away. We haven't wasted any milk since, and we are cereal-only milk users.

laken1 · Hermes

LMonet wrote:

we buy organic milk now that's ultra-pasteurized so the sell-by date is usually about a month away. We haven't wasted any milk since, and we are cereal-only milk users.

hmmm, interesting. I am assuming i can find this at Whole Foods, but do they have it at a regular grocery as well? What should I be looking for - brand, code words

I just bought 1/2 gallon with a one week date on it - i guess I'll be making smoothies or something because I hate hate to throw it out - just threw out 2 open / mostly unused 1/2 gallons last week....

Elle · Hermes

In regular grocery stores, you have to go back to the dairy case and MOOOOOOOOOOO loudly until the dairy employee comes to help you. They'll know what you are looking for .

Seriously now, we buy ours at Albertsons - Organic Valley brand. Even our Walmart carries the Horizon brand . Whole foods-type places usually have a larger variety of brands.

zeitgeist4 · Gucci

http://www.bananarepublic.com/Asset_Archive/BRWeb/Assets/Product/334/334407/big/br334407-01vliv01.jpg

Sorry made a mistake!

hello kittie · BCBG

Same here I always smell and if it smells yuk I toss even if it is not expired yet!

cc · Marc Jacobs

Cricket's right, milk shouldn't go bad until a few days after the "sell by" date. However I think that usually the lower the fat content is, the faster it will go bad (e.g. whole milk will stay good for longer than skim). I've had milk go bad really quickly and it's usually been when I've bought it from a deli or a not-so-nice grocery store so I suspect it's sometimes due to the milk being kept out for too long or not properly refrigerated.

I also live alone and have trouble using a quart up by the sell by date even though I eat a lot of cereal. I started to buy the ultra-pasteurized brands but I can usually only find them in the half-gallon size and even though the sell by date is much later than regular milk, if you look at the carton it still says "use within 7 days of opening" and there is no way I can use a half-gallon of milk in a week!

Partially as a result of this and partially due to my desire to cut back on my dairy intake I switched to soy milk. It also tends to go bad around 7-10 days after opening but you can buy it in smaller boxes plus you can stock up since many kinds don't need to be refrigerated until you open them.