Milk: there has to be an alternative

One of my biggest challenges living alone is grocery shopping for perishables. I work at a restaurant and so I usually eat at dinner there five days a week which greatly impacts the way I buy and use my groceries. I don't crave milk and it's a rare day that I drink a glass of it just for the fun of it. But, when I go to the grocery store I can't help but buy the half-gallon container because the value is just so much better than buying a smaller size. I mean, that is until more than half the carton ends up going down my drain because it has spoiled before I could use it all. 

So, I started exploring some solutions to my milk problems. I tried going to soy milk for a month. This seemed like an ideal solution because (1) I love soy milk in my coffee and (2) it keeps almost twice as long as cows milk. But have you ever made Mac and Cheese with soy milk? It's so gross! Maybe if I had grown up eating mac and cheese made that way I wouldn't have noticed any difference, but I longed for the flavor I recognized as I reluctantly ate the weird tasting noodles in my bowl. And then I made scrambled eggs and put some soy in them (as I have done in the past with cows milk) to help them fluff up a bit. But they were inedible. Seriously. I took two bites and threw the rest away. And then I ditched the soy milk. 

Solution two came in the form of Horizon milk boxes. Think juice boxes, like in lunch boxes for kids, only with milk inside. These milk boxes have an expiration date, but they keep so much longer than the traditional cows milk. And the Hoizon milk boxes don't have to be refrigerated!! Honestly, this freaked me out a little but after a little research about their packaging and pasteurization process my mind was put to ease. The only downfall with the milk boxes is the price. They are not the most economical option for those of us on a budget, but then again, pouring dollars down the drain every two weeks or so isn't exactly a great option either. 

Solution three looks a lot like use your leftover milk in recipes that require large amounts of it and can be frozen and eaten when the mood strikes you. Stay tuned for some recipes to help you use your leftover cows milk before it goes bad.