Freezed milk

[Namechanged4thi5]

I went into M&S to get milk , I gave myself 2 mins to be in and out at a quiet time and managed this. However in my rush I picked the two bottles right in front and of course they had the shorted use by dates. They both run out today. I freezed one immediately upon getting home but there is no way we can drink 4 pints of milk by tomorrow. 1 bottle is nearly empty..how long will the freezed one be safe to consume?

It will be safe to consume beyond the point at which it smells and tastes too unpleasant to consume.

If you've frozen it then when you defrost it you treat it like you would fresh milk.

Given that it's already close to its use by date it might not stay drinkable for long though.

Milk is usually fine for several days passed its use by date and doesn't have to be thrown out just because of the date on it.

You'll know when it's gone off.

Frozen milk will keep for months and months in the freezer. It'll be fine long after the other milk is gone, and as the PP said, it'll be safe to consume past the Use By date. You'll know when it's gone off (and it won't hurt you when it's tipping, either)!

Thank you for your responses. The use by date is today- I’ve taken it out of the freezer to defrost. We will need a couple of days to finish the milk hence the worry- google says to not exceed a few days even frozen as freezing doesn’t extend the use by date- hence my worry if it’ll end up in good poisoning

If it smells OK it'll be OK. Even if it smell a little bit off it'll still be OK. Milk that's really off tastes horrible. If it tastes drinkable then it is.

I have found that if you freeze milk for more than a week or so, when you defrost it, it kind of separates and isn't very nice

Time to make pancakes, scones and milkshakes then!

The kids will love you!

So you froze it earlier, but now you've taken it out again to defrost? What was the point so? Milk lasts for months in a deep freeze/chest freezer, we use frozen milk all the time.

@Namechanged4thi5

Thank you for your responses. The use by date is today- I’ve taken it out of the freezer to defrost. We will need a couple of days to finish the milk hence the worry- google says to not exceed a few days even frozen as freezing doesn’t extend the use by date- hence my worry if it’ll end up in good poisoning

Huh? What do you think the point of freezing is? Have you not frozen anything before?

So confused what you're doing.

You can freeze with no problem. You can also drunk beyond BB date as these have a huge margin. In this case, ignore stupid Google

One test for milk being is to take a little and boil it. If it doesn't separate, it's fine. If it separates, all is not lost. Boil the rest and sieve. You will get curd/ricotta like "cheese" and whey. You can throw the whey and eat the cheese on toast with honey or plain or chopped nuts. (As long as it's not too off as in green off)

google says to not exceed a few days even frozen as freezing doesn’t extend the use by date
I am confused because that's absolutely what freezing is for. It pauses hence extends the date

And as pps said, milk lasts past the date. I always get a lot of days extra from it.

@DoorMatCat yes planning to bake tomorrow to use up some milk

Sorry if my post was confusing to some - bought two bottles of milk on 13th of July -
When unpacking saw use but dates on both to be 16th of July
Kept one bottle out and immediately froze the other one
1st bottle is almost finished so took the second one out to defrost
As per dates both should be not used after today
Hence my question

Is the one which was in the freezer safe to consume over the next few days?

Is the one which was in the freezer safe to consume over the next few days?
Yes.

Honestly if it's off you will smell and taste that it's off and not want to drink it. If it smells and tastes fine, which it likely will do for a few days then it is fine.

freezing doesn’t extend the use by date
Freezing does exactly this, there's literally no other purpose to it.

Defrosted food should be consumed within 24 hours of thawing.

So why did you bother freezing it at all if it wasn't to extend the use by date?! Surely that's the whole point?

The beauty of dairy is its very obvious when it’s gone off. Just do the sniff test.

"Defrosted food should be consumed within 24 hours of thawing."

I've been using bottles of defrosted milk over several days for decades, without any ill effect whatsoever. If milk is off, you know it - it tastes vile!

@Kralia

"Defrosted food should be consumed within 24 hours of thawing."

I've been using bottles of defrosted milk over several days for decades, without any ill effect whatsoever. If milk is off, you know it - it tastes vile!

Exactly. I took a pint out of the freezer the other day that had been there for months. Didn't check the actual date on the bottle. Just used it as normal over the next few days after it had defrosted.

Have you never frozen anything before? The whole point is to extend the lifespan. I work offshore. We keep milk frozen for months. What was the point in you freezing the milk if you thought it had to be used by the date on it? This is just bizarre.

@KrisAkabusi it was google that confused me

Freezing in effect pauses time. So if it's got one day left when you put it in the freezer, it's still got one day left when you take it out. So it doesn't extend the time - you don't end up with 3 days to drink it instead of 1. But you can postpone the 1 day to say 3 weeks in the future.

Milk is safer to drink past its use by than something like meat. I usually use off milk in scones - it makes them wonderfully light and you can't taste the off-ness.

Freezed 😂

If it had 3 more days till the use by date when you froze it, then when you defrost it, it should still have (roughly) three more days of being ok.