Milk in NYC

[debka_notion]

I just tried to make myself a nice cup of tea with milk in it before bed, and when I poured the milk in, it was chunky. This is 4 days before the sell by date in NYC- whereas the milk I bought in Boston usually lasted quite a good while beyond that date, when I didn't use it up too fast, except once in the summer.

I don't understand New York City. Is there something about the place that causes milk to curdle?

Comments

[belu.livejournal.com]

I've actually generally found the milk around here to start going bad about a week before the date. Sour-bad, not chunky-bad, so it seems even worse down there. (Not that it's ever that good around here to begin with for like drinking straight, but until about T-1 week, it's still ok for things like cereal.)

[nuqotw.livejournal.com]

I have had this problem too. I stopped buying milk in NYC. If someone knows where to get milk that doesn't spoil so quickly, let us both know. Otherwise, I buy milk at work (Target near my office) and that stuff seems quite reasonable. I'll bring you some (after RH though).

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

That's a very generous offer. Perhaps in general I would be better off using canned milk as much as possible?

[gimmelgirl.livejournal.com]

I've never had a problem. It's usually good right up to if not a little bit past the date here. We buy our milk at the Met, right below our building.

[chinchillama.livejournal.com]

Does the US have the UHT milk? You know the stuff that's real milk but is in a box and could survive for YEARS outside of a cow?

Also, is your fridge turned cold enough? cause I know it took us awhile to sort ours out over here.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

I think it does, but the idea of that stuff scares me...

I don't know- I'd turned it down a little becuase there was a buildup of frost forming on the back of the fridge. I think maybe I should try putting the milk closer to the back and putting something else by the front?

[chinchillama.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we rearranged several times... once an egg froze! eep.

I know fridges are designed to have you put eggs and milk in the door but really the constant temp change is bad for them so play musical fridge for awhile

Good luck

Also, hope non-dairy related things in your life are going well!

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Eggs on the door? Really? I've never done that- the fridge at home has a little bin for them on a shelf, and this fridge doesn't Seem to have a specific place for eggs...

I've frozen lettuce- makes it quite useless. What happens when you freeze an egg?

Non-dairy related things are going quite well. I hope things are good with you as well. Shanah Tovah!

[chinchillama.livejournal.com]

Eggs don't deal well with freezing, so we tossed it.

Shanah Tovah!

[jessebeller.livejournal.com]

in new york city, agricultural products are generally in transit for much longer periods of time before being purchased by consumers. also, new york city vendors are a vastly less uniform (and therefore less reliable) group than is the case other places. the result is that dairy products sold in the five boroughs have earlier expiration dates, and even those are less reliable indicators, than other places.

you can cut down on the spoilage factor by purchasing dairy products from larger chain vendors who have higher standards in refrigeration equipment and use larger transcontinental shipping firms with higher standards in refrigerated shipping.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

This one was bought from a pretty darn large supermarket which is I gather a fairly respected one. Or did you mean the brand rather than the store?

Thanks for the input.

Shanah Tovah!

[jessebeller.livejournal.com]

you were right, i meant the supermarket.

i would be so bold as to say your chunky milk was a fluke.

sometimes you can dig to the back of the dairy case to get the gallons of milk that just came in this morning and have expiration dates another week down the line.

but yeah, canned milk would pretty much guarantee it wouldnt ever happen again.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Hmm- well the previous thing of milk also went bad a few days before the sell-by date (and I'm talking about the one for NYC), just not as dramatically. Maybe the two of them are a fluke. And I'm not even buying gallons- I'd heard food lasts less time in NYC, and I live basically alone, so I was only buying half-gallons...

Yeah- I wonder how long it takes for canned milk to go bad. I'm not sure I've even ever seen that happen....

[jessebeller.livejournal.com]

whoever told you that was right.

i know next to nothing about canned milk, so i cant offer much advice on that score, but you might also consider soy milk, which doesnt really begin to decay (and consequently doesnt require refrigeration) untill its been opened.

bonus point of interest: soy milk is spanish for i am milk!