OT- How long do you keep your cow's milk?

[Marisa6826]

I always throw it out by the date on top - give or take a couple days and a sniff test ;).

Jonathan said that it's good for an entire WEEK past the sell by date.

Opinions?

-m

[McQ]

What is it with men. Everything in my house gets chucked by the sell by date. And left overs after two days.

The other day when I got home DH said do you think it's okay that I ate a sandwich with mold on it. No! But I cut the mold off. So what, still gross and I don't want to hear you belly aching that your stomach hurts.

Allison
~ mommy to Declan 3.24.03
and number 2 EDD 9.14.04

[egoldber]

Well, the date on the top is a sell by date, not a use by date. I use the milk until it smells bad, which is basically never, in our house, LOL. But I know have used milk that was two weeks after the sell by date.

[mamahill]

I agree with Beth on the sell date. We use 2% around here, so it keeps just fine and we use it before it stinks. Now I have smelled half-and-half and ended up dumping it. I just go by the smell. And if I'm not sure, I stick a finger in it and taste. I've never tasted sour milk, though - if it's sour, you'll smell it! the higher the fat content, the faster it will go bad, so I don't know how long whole milk keeps past the date.

[caleymama]

We assume it's good until it tastes or smells otherwise. We go through milk (1% and whole) pretty fast, so it's not like we're checking it weeks after the sell by date and we rarely are in a situation where it's been around for a while. I guess what I mean to say is that we don't use a hard and fast rule. (same for yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, etc.)

[amp]

I know ours only keeps for about a week, give or take a few days. I give it the smell test, but when I know it's approaching bad smell time, I usually pitch it without taking a whiff! Ewww! My DH also says we should be able to go well past the date, but I'm not comfortable with that, especially if I think it's starting to turn anyway. Better safe than sorry!

[MartiesMom2B]

I think milk smells bad all the time, so I make DH sniff it. I will throw it away one week after the sell by date though, even if it smells ok.

Sonia
Proud Mommy to Martie 4/6/03

[mamahill]

Did you know that yogurt, sour cream, and cottage cheese will keep well past the date if you store it upside down? I've eaten yogurt a month after the sell date using this method!

[caleymama]

Good to know! I heard or read somewhere (maybe here!) that yogurt is good for a while after the sell by date if it's unopened, so that we're the most liberal with. Again, though, we go through it quickly so we're rarely faced with that dilemma.

[papal]

Don't just go by the smell... often what you are smelling is the top-part of the canister which is now empty.. that might smell a bit odd.. pour some milk out into a cup and smell that... that is a real smell test. And if it smells ok, then taste it.
Ofcourse, i make dh do all the smelling and tasting because i despise milk.

[egoldber]

I have used yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. WELL WELL past the sell by date, LOL. The key is when you open it. Once you open it and expose it to the air, all the bacteria gets in and thats when it starts to go bad. But I can see how storing upside down could help that too.

HTH,

[egoldber]

That's a good point. Sometimes milk can smell a little off, but if you taste it, its fine. But there's a BIG diff between milk that smells a little off and BAD milk. Trust me. I have smelled bad milk and it is VILE!!!! There is no mistaking it!

[JElaineB]

To me it depends when it was opened. If I have a container of milk with a sell by date of today and I haven't opened it yet, I would open it and use it for another week (unless it goes bad earlier, which it shouldn't). If I have a container that has been opened a while, I will toss it on the sell by date or a day or two after at most.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[Momof3Labs]

I go by the smell, too, and have found that milk rarely goes bad by the sell-by date.

[KYBelle1102]

As someone who is EXTREMELY sensitive to the odor of spoiled anything, I take no chances. If it's not out of the fridge by the date on the top, I don't open it to check. Out it goes. Bad experience in college with my roommate who decided to leave a gallon of milk in our fridge all semester, then decided to pour it down the sink...in chunks. All you have to do is talk about sour milk and I will puke (in fact this thread is making me slightly queasy..).

Basically, if I even think something's gone bad, the entire container goes out without opening it. Gladware and Ziplock containers are the best inventions in the world. No more tossing out the good rubbermaid containers anymore...

[crl]

I pitch it when it smells--never even check the date.

[Vajrastorm]

It is gone by the sell date, sometimes I give it a grace period of a day.

I am irrationaly squeamish about these things.

[jubilee]

I throw it away on the date printed on it. I am very frugal in most things, but not this- I don't even think twice about pitching it. I can save money elsewhere. That said, we buy 2-3 gallons of milk a week and rarely throw any out.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

tell him that when bread is moldy, the "roots" of the mold spread throughout the bread, so cutting off the part he can see didn't get rid of all the mold.

eewwwww!

You can cut the moldy part off of hard cheeses, but not bread.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[C99]

>Jonathan said that it's good for an entire WEEK past the sell
>by date.

I'm with Jonathan. I drink milk that has been in the fridge for up to 1 week after its date. We get milk delivery of rBGH-free milk and it lasts for up to 2 weeks after its date. And something really funny? When I buy organic milk, it lasts forever!

[starrynight]

As long as your fridge isn't ancient and keeps things cold than it is good for 5-7 days past the date. The date is a general cover their bum thing just incase your fridge sucks LOL. I had an old fridge in an apartment once that milk didn't even last til the date, it went bad in 2-3 days yuck. Now that I have since moved and have a new fride I often keep milk up to a week after the date without problems and even could probably push it a day or two more but I'm afraid to so if there is anything left I pitch it after 7 days.