Freezing Dairy Products to Stretch your Grocery Budget
Have you ever tried Freezing Dairy Products to Stretch your Grocery Budget?
While shopping with a friend one time I seen a great deal on butter and scooped up at least a dozen and put them into my cart. My friend gave me the oddest look, she had no idea that butter could be frozen.
The shock was on me when someone later told me that you could also freeze milk. That information was awesome to hear, since it seems we are running to the store for milk many times a week.
Shopping during sales and preventing perishables form spoiling are a great way to stretch your grocery budget. Did you know that many dairy products can last in the freezer, and later re-thawed in the fridge for use?
Milk
- Pasteurized homogenized milk can be frozen for up to 1 month while Non-fat and low-fat milks will freeze better than whole milk. Take note that liquids expand when frozen, so be sure to remove about 1/3 cup of the milk before placing in the freezer. When thawing, be sure to shake your milk well to remix the fats.
Butter
- Butter can last for 6-12 months in the freezer, yet Unsalted butter can lose its flavor over time so it should only be frozen for 3-6 months.
Cheese
- Hard cheese can be frozen for up to 4-6 months. They may become dry and crumbly after thawing, so they are then best used for cooking and not slicing. Myself, I shred the cheese and separate about 2 cups into each freezer bags – perfect to use for casseroles, tacos, lasagnas and pastas!
Cream Cheese
- Cream cheese can be frozen for up to 4-6 months. Since it loses a bit of the creaminess once thawed, mix well and best used for baking and cooking.
Cottage Cheese
- Cottage Cheese can be frozen for up to 1 month.
.
I always freeze shredded cheese. I didn’t know about milk. I knew about butter, but for some reason don’t do it. Thanks for the tips.
I would love to have the freezer room to freeze milk jugs, I seen a great sale of 1.49 for 4L the other day! Alas, my freezer is too full!
🙁
This is my first time heard that dairy products can be frozen. How is the taste? I will try and see if my daughter likes it. Thank you for the tips.
We also freeze yogurt. 🙂
Is the same when thawed, Monica?
I’ve bought the activia dessert yogurt when it was 50% off since it was going to expire soon and then froze it. It made for a great cool treat!!
Tammi, it’s a little crystally (is that even a word?? lol) when it thaws but if you stir it well it’s really good. However, what I usually do is spoon it into popsicle type moulds and we eat it frozen… DELICIOUS, very creamy and low in fat and calories. You could also take the single serve containers and poke a little slit in the top of each, insert a wooden popsicle stick and freeze.
I have frozen all dairy products except cottage cheese. I never even thought to freeze it, but now I will because I can buy extra when it’s on sale.
I had an accident with my fridge, it is one of those new fangled fancy gadgets that has 4 doors and two can be freezer or freezer/fridge combo while the upper half is fridge. Well a button was pushed and the bottom fridge became a freezer…freezing milk, cheeses, cottage cheese and sour cream etc.
The milk and cheese & sour cream were fine…but the cottage cheese defrosted terribly!!! maybe it was the fat content?? But it defrosted into itty bitty chunks, I ended up tossing it because I could NOT stomach it at all!!!
Cheese doesn’t even last long enough in our household to be frozen. We do however freeze butter since I only use it for baking and so always stock up when it is on sale.
we go in stages, Becky. Sometimes our cheese should be frozen it seems!
I’m with you on the butter though, best to buy on sale for future use!