Making your groceries last longer

[DimondaleBergs]

Does anyone know if you can freeze heavy cream in mason jars? And, if so, for how long? Thanks

 

[Marianne]

I recently put heavy cream in a mason jar and popped it in the freezer. If your freezer doesn't have the defrost cycle, why wouldn't it last for months? Or that's my thinking anyway. It's the self cleaning cycles that shorten the life or quality of frozen food - oh, and improper wrapping, etc.

 

[baymule]

We waste very little around here. I have divided plastic plates with snap on lids that I make "frozen dinners" with the little dabs of leftovers. Vegetable trimmings goes to the chickens, other stuff to the dogs. Egg shells to the garden or compost.

These wasteful people should hang out with some of us for awhile. They might learn something.

 

[HEChicken]

We waste almost nothing here. I figure if I have to toss food in the trash, why bother spending time and money purchasing it and hauling it home - I may as well have just taken some cash and tossed THAT in the trash.

We favor casserole type dishes because we like to have leftovers in the fridge to heat up next day for lunch or what-have-you. I mostly stay cognizant of what's in there. On the rare occasion I forget about something and it gets past its prime, it goes to the dogs or the chickens. The chickens turn it into eggs or meat and the dogs protect them and our sheep/goats, plus let us know when people come down the drive, so they provide a service that is valuable to us.

I buy milk by the gallon and mostly we use the whole gallon. Occasionally milk will go sour and though the dogs were happy to have the sour milk poured on their food, I wanted to find a way for US to use it before it goes to the dogs. I discovered that sour milk makes the best pancakes (think buttermilk pancakes), so now whenever I make pancakes, someone wanders through and asks, "Milk go sour?" LOL.

 

[Denim Deb]

I need to find something to do w/sour milk. I've stopped buying gallons because I don't normally use the whole gallon quick enough and I don't remember to freeze part of it.

 

[Marianne]

I need to find something to do w/sour milk. I've stopped buying gallons because I don't normally use the whole gallon quick enough and I don't remember to freeze part of it.

Do you use your microwave? A gallon of milk in the microwave for just one minute on high will kill some of the bacteria that makes it spoil faster. That minute won't heat the milk up. It's supposed to last longer that way.
I've had milk issues here for the past year or better. You can add something acid, like lemon juice or vinegar, heat it on the stove and skim off the ricotta cheese. Save the whey for baking, of course. I freeze all my whey in ice cube trays, then pop 'em in a gallon bag. Perfect for biscuits, waffles, soaked grains, beans, you name it.
We were having a lot of ricotta for a while. DH kept coming home with more and more milk, forgetting that he bought some just a day or two before. BUT I made crepes with sweet cheese filling that was really good, and froze some of the ricotta to use in lasagna. (Thanks to all that suggested that back in the day.)

 

[frustratedearthmother]

If my raw goat milk goes 'sour' I call it clabber and eat it up! My dad said that he grew up eating clabber sprinkled with brown sugar or maple syrup. That is some GOOD stuff, but I try not to do that too often.

The dogs love it and so do the chickens... but they have to wait in line cuz clabber is good for lots of stuff. It's great in baked goods and I think it's pretty interchangeable with sour cream and yogurt. I've sliced bananas into it and sweetened that with a little stevia - man oh man!

 

[Denim Deb]

Marianne, I've been wanting to look into making some kind of cheese w/the milk, just haven't had the time to really try to figure it out. Right now, I have about half a gallon in the freezer.

 

[Marianne]

Earthmom, I'm with you!
One gallon of milk will yield about a pound of soft cheese (paneer or labneh) that stays firm - it will not melt. This is my favorite cheese making site:
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/cheese.html
I want to make hard cheese, but have yet to do it. The soft cheeses are so easy!

 

[moolie]

Milk doesn't last long enough to go sour around here--we go through 2 gallons per week. That will change drastically when the kids head off to university in the next few years, hubs and I don't use milk for much. So then we'll do more freezing, I have tons of mason jars and the plastic storage lids.

I also make yogurt each week, which hubs and I both do eat every morning at breakfast with our muesli so that uses some of it up. Should look more seriously into making cheese, but not sure there's a cost-saving there, plus we get lovely local artisan cheese at our farmer's market.

The lettuce in the mason jar thing really only works if you vacuum seal the jars--I did a test a couple of years ago and that makes a huge difference. But we've taken to growing a tray of lettuce/romaine/spinach on the kitchen windowsill year-round. The leaves are small in the darker winter months, but a tasty fresh addition to our diet