shelf-stable milk

[MissMillie]

Have any of you used it for cooking or baking?

We got some from the food pantry, and I was thinking of using it to make some rice pudding.

Thoughts?

[niyad]

1. I have used it on occasion for precisely that purpose. It worked and tasted just fine.

[jmbar2]

2. Occasionally I find Gossner brand at the Dollar Store

It is always on my list as "emergency milk". The whole milk is pretty good. Horizon is pretty good too, but neither will ever replace fresh milk.

[we can do it]

3. Good to have for coffee if you run out too.

[Backseat Driver]

4. I've used the coconut/oat milk types in soup...? No problems or weird taste differences

Never have enjoyed powdered dairy milk from the box, whole or less, for anything; taste and texture are awful!

[irisblue]

5. I have used horizons whole milk for m&c

Shook the damn container hard for 3 minutes. You should be fine, low & low.

Also rice pudding... dang

[Paper Roses]

6. I've never heard of "shelf stable" milk. I have bought powdered milk and wonder if is really OK.

Since I live alone, I don't use much milk so I've recently bought the powdered stuff. Every once in a while, a recipe calls for milk and the smallest I can buy around here is a quart, it expires in short time.
Some of the recipes require buttermilk. Not buying that and it goes to waste in a week. I end up avoiding any recipes that require milk in any form. How long does this product last and how does it compare to 2%?

[MissMillie]

7. You can make your own buttermilk

It just requires adding a little bit of vinegar. I forget the proportion--I'm sure you can find that info online.

[Warpy]

8. You can increase the shelf life of powdered milk

by sealing it tightly (I use a zip baggie and squeeze the air out of it) and keep it in the freezer. Two things contribute to spoilage: oxygen and bacteria that colonize it as soon as it's opened. Freezing slows both processes to a crawl.

These days I'm using powdered oat milk in recipes. It works fine and doesn't taste funny. I was lactose intolerant by the time I turned five so I developed a heartfelt dislike of milk as a beverage, but still need to use it in cooking. Powdered oat milk works.

Shelf stable liquid cow's milk is a different animal. Once it is opened, it need to be used within a week since all the processes that affect regular milk are restarted as soon as the package/bottle is opened. It will sour just like the ordinary stuff once it is open.

The shelf stable stuff is great for people with kids who don't want to run out if there's another bout of Facebook generated hysteria that depletes the dairy case at the supermarket. The long shelf life comes from brief ultra pasteurization, something that kills all the bacteria and not just the ones that affect humans.

[Phoenix61]

9. Buttermilk freezes very well. nt

[hippywife]

10. 1 T. vinegar or lemon juice to 1 C milk

equals buttermilk, sort of. It's the acceptable substitute, just mix the above and allow to sit for 5 minutes to sour. But honestly, anything that says use buttermilk, I use just regular milk or my homemade plain Greek yogurt. If I ever have milk sour (not often these days), I still use it for things like pancake or waffle, muffin or quick bread batters.

[yellowdogintexas]

13. buttermilk keeps for weeks. Many stores carry pint size

bottles of milk and buttermilk; you just have to hunt for them .

There is also a buttermilk powder you can mix up.

I love buttermilk to drink, especially with good cornbread crumbled into it. I baked an Italian Cream Cake today which has buttermilk in the recipe; I bought the half gallon so I would have some in the house to drink

We always had it in the house when I was growing up: we used it for cornbread, biscuits, pancakes and there are so many cake recipes which use it. (if I am looking at 2 recipes for the same type of cake, I will make the one that has buttermilk)

Oh yes I almost forgot buttermilk pie!

[hippywife]

11. If I'm not mistaken...

shelf stable liquid milk is the only way cow's milk is sold in much of the rest of the world.

[yellowdogintexas]

14. definitely in Spain. That was all we saw in the grocery nt

[chowmama]

12. I've never used what's labeled as shelf-stable milk

but we go through a lot of canned evaporated milk, which is also shelf-stable.

We used to do some camping. I drink my coffee black, but DH feels it's largely a support system for a lot of coffee cream. Even in a cooler, half and half goes over in about a day. I don't like the individual packets and powders.

Unopened, evaporated lasts as long as you need and even opened, it lasts longer than you expect (in a cooler). We tried it once, found out we could use up a can before it had to be tossed, and never looked back. It's heavy, so if you backpack it isn't practical, but we didn't.

DH came to prefer the 'cooked' taste and now it's the only coffee cream he uses. We get it from the co-op a case at a time. If you need regular milk and it isn't available, you dilute it 50:50 - a trick I used more than once during the pandemic shortages. I wouldn't drink it diluted as regular milk, but for cooking, it's just fine.

I grew up on Sanilac powdered. It came with a flimsy yellow plastic jug with a loose top. You poured in the powder packet, filled it with cold water up to a mark, put the top on and shook it by hand, thereby spraying yourself and everything nearby with droplets of watery milk. They made us kids perform this task. Predictable, we'd give it about 4 shakes, shove it in the fridge and get as far away from the house as we could. It was always lumpy.

One of those lumps breaks open in your throat, it'll suck every drop of available moisture out of your entire body. I started drinking Lipton's instant tea. Didn't drink milk again until I was an adult and married a milk addict.

[yellowdogintexas]

15. do they still make the small cans of evaporated milk?

They would be very handy for camping

I once worked for a woman from Pakistan, and she kept evaporated milk in our office for coffee. That was what they used in coffee & tea when she was growing up. It's pretty good.

It is also essential in the awesome frosting for German Chocolate Cake!!

Or flan. Or Tres Leches Cake