Fresh milk is rich in nutrients and can be used for baking and cooking, making it a staple in many households. If you often consume milk, you may be interested in knowing how to properly store it. Typically, milk has a short shelf life when refrigerated, lasting only a few days. Here, we will introduce a method that allows you to freeze milk for several months.
When milk is frozen, it expands. If you store milk in plastic bottles, make sure to leave 1 to 2 inches of space between the milk and the bottle cap to allow for expansion before freezing. Glass and paper packaging are prone to cracking when frozen directly, but you can transfer the milk to other containers, such as ice cube trays.
Freezing milk into small cubes in ice cube trays helps it thaw quickly. Additionally, when making iced coffee, smoothies, or other cold drinks that require milk, these frozen milk cubes can be conveniently used as needed. For precise measurements, you can use a measuring spoon to fill milk into containers before freezing.
The steps to freeze milk are not complicated, but there are details to pay attention to:
1. Before freezing, ensure that the milk has not gone bad.
2. Milk consists mainly of water, fat, protein, and lactose. Cream is suspended in tiny particles in milk, and after prolonged freezing, the texture might separate.
3. The higher the fat content in milk, the more noticeable the separation after thawing. Therefore, low-fat and skim milk are better suited for freezing compared to whole milk.
4. Shake the container when thawing milk that shows separation to help in emulsifying.
5. Milk should be stored in a sealed container to prevent absorbing odors. If the containers like ice cube trays do not have lids, apart from using plastic wrap for isolation, transferring the frozen milk cubes to freezer-safe plastic bags is also an option.
6. Plant-based milk alternatives such as almond milk, oat milk, and soy milk can also be frozen. After freezing, these dairy products may have a slightly grainy texture but are still suitable for making smoothies and cooking.
Leaving milk at room temperature poses a risk of spoilage, so it is safest to slowly thaw milk in the refrigerator. Need to thaw milk quickly? Submerge the sealed packaging of milk in cold water, changing the water periodically until the ice melts.