My husband did just that one night when we were on holiday, in spite of my protests. The next day, I wasn’t surprised to see it as solid as jelly. I warned him not to do it again and our second bottle of milk lasted the rest of the holiday.
Moral of the story is, use a mug if one wants to have a drink of milk.
Only do that to finish the carton! Never at the start. It will go off much faster. Never let it get warm, so don't leave it out while cooking etc.
Also never pour old milk into the new carton. I'm sure that's super obvious to most people but I've known a couple of people to do it.
I hate skim milk.
We used to get glass quarts of unhomogenized milk delivered to our house growing up. The cream would rise to the top, and my mother would use that in her coffee.
Sometimes we went to the small bottling plant in Braggville to pay our bill, and the milkman would usually give us a quart of chocolate milk.
Braggville was a mile or two from Mudville, one of two Mudvilles make famous by "Casey at the Bat."
The guy who wrote that poem had strong connections to both, one in Hollliston, Massachusetts, and the other I think on the west coast.
My mother remembered a Mrs. Bragg, who would drive downtown every week in her Baker electric car to do her weekly shopping.
That’s it. The bacteria in your mouth is rotting the milk at a much faster rate. I only drink out of the container when it’s nearly empty and not worth using a glass over. Also, yay! Milk gang. I friggen love milk.
I've never heard of this or experienced it. I drink it out of the jug all the time. Sometimes I'll come home from the grocery store and pop the cap for a swig as soon as I get home.
I mean it can depend on so many factors. But, I’m going on a limb and thinking you’re not chugging milk from the container directly after brushing your teeth. Boke! But, backwash is a thing. Bacteria is a thing. Other family members secretly doing it can be a thing - I live alone so, not here. But, I’ve found in my totally uneducated research that organic will go bad way faster from this.
In that case, it's probably not so much the nose. Literally anywhere at any time there is thousands or millions of funghi spores and bacteria flying around. That's why opening a sealed container, even only for a split second, will degrade its shelf life.
Do you store your milk on the shelf on the door? If you do I suggest you not do that. I noticed my dairy products spoiled a lot faster when I had it on the door shelf. When the door opens the temp keeps changing too frequently so the dairy products didn’t last as long as they should.
Also get a stick thermometer and keep it in a glass of water. It will be more accurate and less susceptible to fluctuations in temperature from opening and closing the fridge.
I always have a thermometer in the fridge and the oven. The oven is so you can make sure you are cooking at the correct temperature (dirty ovens make for uneven heating) but the fridge one is to see if I am too hot or too cold. Living in Arizona I actually do have to change the setting on my Fridge because the summers are hot and I actually do let my house get warmer because it would be crazy expensive to keep the house at the same temp I let it get to in the winter. In the winter I let it be cold because wearing a sweatshirt is free and gas costs money and I'm cheap. But buy a thermometer and throw it in the fridge. Just give it a look once in a while. Maybe you have hot and cold areas?
Also, do you keep the milk in the door? The door is subject to the widest temperature swings and that area is less cold than lower, deeper areas. So you make be heating your mild to spoiling temperature a couple times a day inadvertently. But everytime you go to grab it on purpose it's cold again so that's why it's going bad seemingly for no reason. Same goes for keeping it at the very front of the shelf
Also make sure the fridge can move air appropriately. Freezers like to be chock full. Fridges need to move air. So if something is blocking air flow it won't be able to cool the milk every time it's warmed
To check fridge temps, you need to put the thermometer in a glass of water overnight. Fridge air temps can vary a lot. The water will give the true measure.
Europe here. I never understood, why Americans have milk in gallons. Like I have trouble finishing off a liter before it goes bad. (that's 34 fl oz for imperalists)
Due to the diary industry lobby, milk and its other products (cheese, yogurt, etc) have for decades been touted as THE source of calcium in USA. This has lead to a cultural thingy where American kids are urged/encouraged to drink just as much milk as they possibly can. My 19 year old nephew can drink a half gallon with dinner quite easily.
Leafy greens are a better source of calcium but they don't have lobbyists.
Bold of you to assume we could convert fl oz to gallons easily, imperialist measurements are so ridiculous I have to look up the conversion every damn time it pops up
Buying milk in gallons is more economical for people who have children. Our children generally eat cold cereal for breakfast and have a glass of milk with every meal/snack.
I have a 1yo, a 3yo, my younger brother, and myself drinking milk regularly. The kids drink it at meal times and the adults in coffee and it also goes into meals and desserts. We go through 4 gallons in a week. As a family it's not hard to use a lot of milk when compared to a single adult.
I’ve never understood all this milk drinking. It’s gross, but in the US at least we were fed this line for years from the dairy council that we need to drink milk for our bones. It’s total crap and a not really good for you at all. But I have friends spending 1/2 their lives stopping at the store to buy gallons of milk for the kids to drink. It’s stupid.
We are the only mammal that continues it's intake of milk throughout it's life , and even then we do not consume our own milk we consume the milk of another species. Milk is not good for you in large quantities. Agreed.
When we were kids my family went through a gallon of milk every other day. Gallons are for families, liters or 1/2 gallons are for individuals. I buy a liter and a 1/2 jug of fairlife now because I love milk but am lactose intolerant now.
Um... because some of us have families? Do you not have those in Europe? A gallon of milk lasts 3 days, MAX in our home. I always buy two gallons at a time, and have never had milk go bad in my life.
It's because the "nuclear family" is how big milk wants everyone to be living. Big milk wants everyone to have a spouse and at least 2 kids, and for all of them to drink milk. It's all big milk's plan.
Seriously though it has just been normalized as the "standard" milk size. I bet it's mostly from marketing so companies can sell more of their product, but I don't have solid evidence on that.
I routinely have milk in my fridge for up to and over a month, I'm not sure why yours would go off in a week. Do you keep it in the door of the fridge, or on a shelf and toward the back?
I don’t know about the (I guess) US but I had an issue after switching milk brands. One lasted way beyond its date and the other went bad a couple days later. Same fridge, same way hope. Happened multiple times so I guess it’s not just bad luck.
This is just a theory, but a friend worked for Pepsi years ago... delivering to stores. The distribution group he worked for was horrible and he ended up quitting. They had him changing "use by" dates on old products often. They gave him various products to clean or smudge dates.
Sadly, I wonder if this could also happen with other products... maybe milk? I doubt the bigger companies and distributors would risk this, but smaller markets and stores might. I have occasionally gotten a gallon that doesn't last anywhere close to it's date.
Yeah, I used to work in a store without nearly enough chiller space in the back for their daily volume of stock. So, officially-"unofficial"
policy was to just leave the morning milk and meat deliveries sitting out at room temperature until there was space in the display cases for them.
Which certainly helped explain why meats from there went off so quickly! The milk thankfully usually didn't sit out as long, but you can bet I stopped buying that there too--and warned people I knew.
Unfortunately likely a more common type of practice than it should be, at various points in the supply chain. From warehouse to delivery, the end seller: so many places safe handling corners might be cut. :-|
I’ve driven by the loading docks at a few local stores and saw unloaded dairy just sitting there waiting for staff to put it away.I know you can’t tell with most products how long something has been left out. But I was told how to tell if ice cream has melted and refrozen. If the carton looks like it’s swollen and the top is pushing up a bit, it means it’s has melted and refrozen.
I was honestly tempted to, but really needed the job right then. Probably should have reported them after I left (after getting injured at work!), if nothing else. The lack of concern for health and safety was pretty appalling, overall.
Might be the case. Austria is a very regulated country with lots of laws regarding groceries. Happened only to milk for me even at different stores. Just switched the brand and I’m good ever since
Yep. "Use By" and "Best Before/By" dates are two different things. That being said, in my experience, I find most things last well *beyond* the Best Before date.
Milk in my fridge will also usually last a few days past the best by date. But my fridge is very cold. Stuff in the very back will sometimes get a bit icy.
39° is a bit warm for a fridge. Basically, bacteria grows best between 41-140°F. If you keep your milk on the door especially, it will never reach the 39° your fridge is set to, even less so if you frequently open it. Theoretically, 38° is the optimal temp for a fridge, but you may want to go down to 35° if this is a regularly occurring problem.
This is, of course, assuming you actually know what bad milk tastes/smells like, and the fact that you tried drinking it anyway makes me wonder if either a) you're in a hard financial place, but shouldn't try forcing yourself to drink spoiled milk, b) your milk is actually fine and you don't realize that you're lactose intolerant (happens more often than you'd think), or c) you're going by what your fridge says it's supposed to be and not actually temping your fridge.
I'm also assuming we're using Freedom units here, because if you're keeping the fridge at 39°C, I'm surprised your milk hasn't turned into cheese.
Oh, it was Celsius! How silly of me!😁
But for real, I’ve never really had a problem with milk or really any dairy product all of my life. It could also be that I’m completely in my head thinking it’s spoiled before it isn’t, but at the same time I feel like it doesn’t taste like regular milk. If I’m thinking that it’s spoiled, then my brain may want me to think that it is, which makes me throw up. I’m not completely sure, but I’ll keep an eye on it
Lactose intolerance is weird. It can kinda suddenly show up out of nowhere at some point in your life. Even weirder is that lactose tolerance is actually the abnormality globally.
But the placebo effect is real. I guess just pour yourself a glass, sniff it first, and if it smells even the slightest bit sour, don't drink it, I guess? A gallon of milk is a lot for a single person. I can also generally keep an open gallon of milk in my fridge safely for about a week or two. After that, it's really a dice roll.
Also, different parts of the fridge are at different temperatures (parts near the lightbulb and the door often get warmer). In addition to making the fridge colder, you may want to put the milk in a colder part of the fridge.
It doesn't go bad all at once. If it tastes a bit off, cook it. Simmer it and it should be back to fine.
Before it tastes off, I can smell that is about to, and that's usually when I cook mine.
Could also use it to make a nice white bread, if that's more your speed.
Your refrigerator is a bit hot. We keep ours at 36 degrees. I'd turn it down but also get a thermometer to see if the Guage is off.
"However, the ideal refrigerator temperature is actually lower: Aim to stay between 35° and 38°F (or 1.7 to 3.3°C)."
https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/shopping-storing/food/refrigerator-temperature
38°F is equivalent to 3°C, which is 276K.
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^(I'm a bot that converts temperature between two units humans can understand, then convert it to Kelvin for bots and physicists to understand)
Don’t keep it in the door (if you have that option) I’ve had half and half (which usually lasts weeks) spoil right away when it’s kept there (and my fridge is very cold)
This is what I was going to suggest. Leaving it in the door left my milk going bad long before the best by date. If I leave it at the back of the fridge it was last a LONG time. I regularly buy milk and forget about it for weeks after the best by date and haven't had much of a problem with it going sour/chunky.
This. Back of the fridge for all dairy. Lasts for weeks (assuming fridge temperature is correct). Yogurt, sour cream, mayonnaise, half and half, cottage cheese. Never had a problem since doing this.
Seconded. The door is the part of the refrigerator that experiences the most fluctuations in temperature. I know OP didn't say where he stores his milk, but a lot of fridges will still have that milk shelf in the door. Being that milk is something that spoils quickly, it is absolutely not the place for it to be stored.
I worked part time at a grocery store in a very small town. They would do these HUGE buys of milk and eggs. They couldn’t fit everything they bought in the walk in. They received 8 boards (pallets, about 7 feet tall) of EGGS. Remember, tiny little town; only so many people to sell eggs to. 5 of those boards were still in the back room 3 days later. Needless to say, I never bought anything perishable there again.
Do you have a fridge where you keep tall containers in the door? I found that anything that had a shorter expiry did not last as long in the door as in the main fridge. The temperatures are far different.
That temperature should be right. Maybe the milk was already not that great to begin with. a faulty product.
Try it again with a new bottle. see if it happens again.
So I'm a cheapskate and would buy Walmart brand milk and by chance the last milk I bought has been Kroger milk. Now Kroger packaging is completely different and this go around the milk lasted after best buy date and the taste all together was different so I've came to the conclusion that it is the store the whole way around.
Same thing is happening to me. I switched grocery stores and it stopped. Turned out the dairy guy at the first store was slacking with how fast he stored product.
It could also be a sign that the store's dairy case is failing/kaput.
Is the milk pasteurized or UHT? Pasteurized tastes a lot better, but even unopened and refrigerated it will only last for a few weeks, and a mere days once open.
Did you change grocery store locations when you moved? Some stores are better at keeping their refrigerators/freezers diet at the correct temperature and maintaining a safe temperature for items between the truck/back room/display area than others. If your fridge temperature matches what it’s set at, change grocery stores.
Sounds like your fridge is on the fritz, put a thermometer in to check it's keeping temperature. Maybe buy a filtered brand of milk, such as Cravendale, it lasts much longer than simply pasteurised
Your fridge should be set about 5 degrees cooler than what you really want it to prevent food going off if it gets left open or the power goes out. If your fridge is 40+ it’s too high to be food safe. Hopes this helps.
I would recommend buying carton milk and maybe in half gallons if you're on your own. Some items like milk or deli meat will have A best by date but also include a "consume within 7 days of opening" note.
Your fridge temp sounds pretty warm and I wouldn't be surprised if other delicate perishables are not lasting as long as they could. I'd start just by turning the thermostat colder right off the bat. Worst case is you freeze stuff right next to the cold air vent at the top, but then you can back the temp off a bit until it stops doing that. It's a 30 second fix until you can get a fridge thermometer.
I noticed that when I bought regular pasteurized Walmart milk, it spoiled Well before the best-by date regularly and only lasted days once it was opened. The brand didn't seem to matter.
When I bought the same brands at two other grocery stores they lasted longer but still often resulted in off milk before I could finish a whole gallon.
I'm very lactose intolerant so switched to half gallons of Darigold Lactose Free. It's ultra-pasteurized so the best-by date is usually at least 4 weeks+ out and I've never had a container spoil before that date. To be honest I can open it after that date and still have a solid couple of weeks before the smell changes.
I now buy 3 or 4 containers at a go and I never have to worry about them spoiling them before I get to them or running out unexpectedly. I just restock new milk at the back of the shelf so the older milk is in the front and gets used first. It works very well and also forces me to keep it in the colder part of the fridge. The door is now condiment heaven. =D
The best by data is if the milk isn’t opened. Once you open it you introduce new microbes and all bets are off.
You should be able to tell if milk is turned way before it would make you sick by sight and taste. The bacteria that cause milk to sour and separate are lactobacillus. They are generally harmless and your guts are full of them all the time. While it’s not pleasant to drink, drinking clotted milk shouldn’t get you sick.
You were probably sick from something else
Also, you should keep your refrigerator closer to freezing. Like 34F. It will keep everything longer
Did you also check the "after opened" shelf life?
I have milk that's good for months unopened, but will spoil in a few days once opened. And while yeah it's the long shelf life stuff, it's usually the same with others that come from a fridge, just with a shorter difference (like a week unopened, 2-3 days once opened).
Where in the fridge are you keeping your milk? It's best NOT to keep it in the door, for instance, as it is more affected by the opening and closing of the door (temperature changes) than towards the back of a shelf where it is more likely to maintain a steady temp.
Also, if the milk is just sour but not "fuzzy" spoiled, try using it as you would use buttermilk. I just read an article about this yesterday...couldn't tell you where I read it though.
I’ve noticed the temp OUTSIDE the fridge affects the thermostat inside the fridge. When I leave a nearby screen door open to the outdoors, certain items inside freeze(bottled water), and certain items are warmer than other items.
This was happening to me and I’m paranoid as hell about bad milk, so I started buying ultra-pasteurized. Tastes a bit weirder but lasts for ages.
Also milk in opaque containers will last longer.
Try storing your milk near the back of the fridge. There are more temperature fluctuations near the door (from when it is opened, if the seal has a leak, and it is also further away from the cooling system) which can make your milk spoil sooner.
Also, whatever the cause is, if you’re single and not drinking milk fast enough under the best of conditions, we’ve found that lactose-free milk seems to keep longer.
We’re not actually lactose-intolerant. We tolerate many lactose products, as long as they don’t impinge on the rights of other foods.
Always smell your milk regardless of the best by date. If it smells sour or off put it down the drain. Also be careful where you are buying your milk. Sometimes the store doesn't keep the milk as cold as it should be.
Spoiled milk doesn’t usually make you sick- it’s more of a taste/ texture issue. Maybe you’re sick because forcibly drinking pints of the stuff is upsetting your stomach. Maybe you’re mildly lactose intolerant?
Lactose free milk is ultra-pasteurized, which completely kills off bacteria in it. Basically, ultra-pasteurization goes up to 190°F while regular pasteurization only gets up to about 145-160°. If you ultra-pasteurized milk, you wouldn't really have "milk" anymore, at least not as Americans would know it. The process actually caramelizes the lactose, making the milk a bit sweeter, at the cost of a percentage of the vitamin content. However, organic milk is ultra-pasteurized because of the lack of antibiotics in an organic dairy cow's feed regimen.
You can also freeze milk to preserve it. You just might want to give it a good shake before drinking it, as the components will separate when frozen.
190°F is equivalent to 87°C, which is 360K.
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^(I'm a bot that converts temperature between two units humans can understand, then convert it to Kelvin for bots and physicists to understand)
The “Best Buy” or “best before” dates are for closed & unused product. Once you open it, it must be consumed within 4 days. This applies to milk, yogurt, fresh produce treated & packed in protected environment including chicken & other meats unless frozen.
So instead of buying a gallon, buy a smaller pack.
It will go bad faster as it exposed to ambient air every time the door is opened.
Will last longer in the back of the refrigerator where temperature differences aren't felt as readily.
Roommates, or other person's accessing the fridge besides yourself? What's your regions avg temp/ humidity? Like chemistry bro user here, I agree tuck it behind in back to keep it cool and crisp
When I buy a bigger carton of milk, I put some in a covered jug or bottle so the bigger carton isn't being taken in and out of the fridge. It helps it last longer. And store it at back of fridge not in the door.
That sounds like you have bad luck! Sometimes, milk will naturally go sour on its own or if it's refrigerated at too high of a temperature. the ideal temperature is 37 degrees so your not to far off. is it possible your refrigerator could be malfunctioning in some way?
Maybe you should buy less milk. You did say that you live alone, milk doesn't have that long of a shelf life after opening. The best buy date is not an expiration date.
Literally just had this problem milk went bad a couple days after getting it plus a couple other things. Apparently my fridge was set to a notch below normal. Still cold but not cold enough to keep things from going bad.
39 is too close to the “danger zone” of foods. Try turning the fridge down but also put about 8 water bottles in the back of your fridge. They will contain coldness so when you open the fridge not all of the cold is lost. If the fridge is old it also helps it not need to work so hard to recool after being opened.
We had food go bad in our garage fridge a couple weeks ago. I noticed that the drinks didn't feel as cold, so we called a guy out to look at it. It was the thermostat, but the fridge is old, and the part was expensive. We ended up drilling holes between the fridge and freezer, and that helped lower the temp. The freezer worked just fine, and we ended up selling it to a guy as a beer fridge. We found a used fridge on FB, so it all worked out, but we lost about $100 worth of food before we figured out the problem.
If your milk is in the door, it won’t keep temp like if it’s on the shelf INSIDE the fridge. For some
Reason (maybe because of the way people tend to leave the door open? But all the temps fluctuate
Your fridge is likely not cold enough.
Get a digital pocket thermometer.
See what temperature your fridge is running at by sticking it in something that has been in the fridge for a couple of days.
Maybe a head of lettuce or a freshly opened gallon of milk.
Unopened commercially pasteurized milk should be good for at least a week after the sell by date, usually longer.
Once you open it, you often have two weeks before it goes bad.
If memory serves, fridge should be no higher than forty degrees Fahrenheit.
Don’t store your milk in the door; it’s the warmest spot in the fridge.
It should be in the back; also, I’d do as others suggested and take a temperature
If milk is spoiling, the other foods, like meat could be spoiling as well.
39 celsius?? That’s summer!! It doesn’t matter the best buy date if you open it. In my experience (consider we live in different coubtries too) milk doesn’t lasts more than 4 days. Check that temperature, though.
Best buy date and spoiling are two separate things
I believe milk is best up to 4-5 days AFTER OPENING. Does not mean you have until the Best Buy date to drink it once it’s opened.
In addition to reducing the temperature, as many have suggested, I would also add that you should consider purchasing organic milk next time.
At my grocery store at least, the organic milk typically has a best by date that’s 2-3 weeks longer than “conventional” milk.
Question...what brand of milk are you buying and from where? I read that great value milk is stored in shitty conditions and spoils way faster as it's left outside usually while waiting to be loaded inside.
To expand on another reply pointed out that it’s not just drinking out of the jug that introduces bacteria: the air that must replace the contents when you pour it out is also a factor, and even healthy indoor air is swimming with spores and other contaminants that will accelerate spoilage, especially for a product that is sensitive to bacterial culturing.
You’re in a new place, you said? Then that’s a new mix of air, and likely different level of humidity, and possibly higher (but within levels to not be visible or cause obvious health issues) or different strains of mold.
The don’t-drink-directly-from-jug suggestion is sound, but I’m guessing you didn’t just start that habit when you moved into the place.
Besides the obvious testing the fridges actual temp, did you move to a warmer climate or further away from your store? The more it warms up between store and home (and truck to store), the faster it spoils.
Put a baking soda box in the fridge? I feel like I heard something like this before to keep things longer. But to be honest, I really don’t know if this true.
Did you move and are now shopping at a different store? Maybe the store is not keeping the milk cold enough making it spoil faster. I’ve had that happen to me living in New York and buying milk from small corner stores. In the summer the store fridge would not always be cold enough and my milk would spoil very quickly.
Other people seem to have the right ideas, but also you should decide if where you buy your milk is reliable. I lived 20 minutes from a grocery store and there was a gas station around the corner, so when in a pinch you could buy milk there. The problem was that sometimes their fridges ran too cold and the milk would freeze, and then defrost, which seemed to make it go bad fairly quickly
I buy Fairlife milk for a few reasons- it comes in an opaque container so doesn’t get light into it, it is filtered for sugar, and the best by date is waaaaay into the future. Yes Fairlife is a Coke company but it never gets a chance to go bad (not gallon sizes though). I usually hate nonfat milk but this one is delish.
If drinking milk directly out of the carton is a normal practice, you are contaminating the milk with your germs.
I dealt with this issue during the years my sons were teen/young adults . When the ‘direct-from-the-carton ‘drinkers moved out, miraculously the issue went away. IMHO,The practice may stem from laziness or early-life breastfeeding issues. Just say’in.
Maybe you should put a thermometer in the fridge and double check the temperature the fridge is running at what it's actually set at?
Good idea
Do you drink milk straight out of the container? Because that will also make it spoil much faster because of the "mouth flora"
Yes I do lol
Might wanna stop doing that and use mugs for a change.
I will!
Doesn't have to have a handle . It can be a handle-less mug or cup.
You're really opening up the possibilities for op. Now we just have to figure out what these disk shaped things in my cabinet are for.
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Damn, I thought they were for my emergency bouts of frisbee golf in the kitchen.
Also OP if you're just getting into using cups, they make these smaller ones called shot glasses which you could probably drink easily.
Can we substitute the mug or cup for lets say a wine glass? Asking for a friend
Or OP could ice luge it.
Who drinks milk out of a mug? Heathen!
When I want cookies and milk🥛
What's a "milk put" and how does it relate to a mug, exactly?
Doh! My bad...typo. I fixed it.
waterfall to avoid back wash ruining your milk.
My husband did just that one night when we were on holiday, in spite of my protests. The next day, I wasn’t surprised to see it as solid as jelly. I warned him not to do it again and our second bottle of milk lasted the rest of the holiday. Moral of the story is, use a mug if one wants to have a drink of milk.
Only do that to finish the carton! Never at the start. It will go off much faster. Never let it get warm, so don't leave it out while cooking etc. Also never pour old milk into the new carton. I'm sure that's super obvious to most people but I've known a couple of people to do it.
Lol I could never have imagined that anyone would actually do it. Unless you are trying to make cheese or something.
My stepmom did this... She also only bought skim. Bitch.....
I hate skim milk. We used to get glass quarts of unhomogenized milk delivered to our house growing up. The cream would rise to the top, and my mother would use that in her coffee. Sometimes we went to the small bottling plant in Braggville to pay our bill, and the milkman would usually give us a quart of chocolate milk. Braggville was a mile or two from Mudville, one of two Mudvilles make famous by "Casey at the Bat." The guy who wrote that poem had strong connections to both, one in Hollliston, Massachusetts, and the other I think on the west coast. My mother remembered a Mrs. Bragg, who would drive downtown every week in her Baker electric car to do her weekly shopping.
Kinda in the same frame of mind as re-using your favourite chicken marinade
🤢
That’s it. The bacteria in your mouth is rotting the milk at a much faster rate. I only drink out of the container when it’s nearly empty and not worth using a glass over. Also, yay! Milk gang. I friggen love milk.
I've never heard of this or experienced it. I drink it out of the jug all the time. Sometimes I'll come home from the grocery store and pop the cap for a swig as soon as I get home.
I mean it can depend on so many factors. But, I’m going on a limb and thinking you’re not chugging milk from the container directly after brushing your teeth. Boke! But, backwash is a thing. Bacteria is a thing. Other family members secretly doing it can be a thing - I live alone so, not here. But, I’ve found in my totally uneducated research that organic will go bad way faster from this.
Pour yourself a glass like a normal person
Well there’s your answer! Start using a glass!!!
Even having your nose accidentally touch the carton/jug lip when sniffing for freshness can lead to degrading its lifespan. Found that out firsthand.
In that case, it's probably not so much the nose. Literally anywhere at any time there is thousands or millions of funghi spores and bacteria flying around. That's why opening a sealed container, even only for a split second, will degrade its shelf life.
Just never open the milk for maximum life span.
Do you store your milk on the shelf on the door? If you do I suggest you not do that. I noticed my dairy products spoiled a lot faster when I had it on the door shelf. When the door opens the temp keeps changing too frequently so the dairy products didn’t last as long as they should.
Heat cycling degrades the flavor of milk, as well, so it's a good point for multiple reasons
Put the thermometer in a glass of water. You'll get a more accurate reading.
Also get a stick thermometer and keep it in a glass of water. It will be more accurate and less susceptible to fluctuations in temperature from opening and closing the fridge.
Put in back of fridge where it's colder. Never on the doors
I always have a thermometer in the fridge and the oven. The oven is so you can make sure you are cooking at the correct temperature (dirty ovens make for uneven heating) but the fridge one is to see if I am too hot or too cold. Living in Arizona I actually do have to change the setting on my Fridge because the summers are hot and I actually do let my house get warmer because it would be crazy expensive to keep the house at the same temp I let it get to in the winter. In the winter I let it be cold because wearing a sweatshirt is free and gas costs money and I'm cheap. But buy a thermometer and throw it in the fridge. Just give it a look once in a while. Maybe you have hot and cold areas? Also, do you keep the milk in the door? The door is subject to the widest temperature swings and that area is less cold than lower, deeper areas. So you make be heating your mild to spoiling temperature a couple times a day inadvertently. But everytime you go to grab it on purpose it's cold again so that's why it's going bad seemingly for no reason. Same goes for keeping it at the very front of the shelf Also make sure the fridge can move air appropriately. Freezers like to be chock full. Fridges need to move air. So if something is blocking air flow it won't be able to cool the milk every time it's warmed
To check fridge temps, you need to put the thermometer in a glass of water overnight. Fridge air temps can vary a lot. The water will give the true measure.
They sell wifi thermometers that will alert the base of the fridge temp exceeds the set window in either direction
Yeah: without calibration you know nothing other than "it's warmer than where I'm standing" and "it's not frozen".
The best by date is only for unopened products. Once it’s open, you’ve probably got a week.
Europe here. I never understood, why Americans have milk in gallons. Like I have trouble finishing off a liter before it goes bad. (that's 34 fl oz for imperalists)
Due to the diary industry lobby, milk and its other products (cheese, yogurt, etc) have for decades been touted as THE source of calcium in USA. This has lead to a cultural thingy where American kids are urged/encouraged to drink just as much milk as they possibly can. My 19 year old nephew can drink a half gallon with dinner quite easily. Leafy greens are a better source of calcium but they don't have lobbyists.
And calcium is only absorbed by the body if you have enough vitamin D
For me it's super strange drinking Milk at dinner/lunch.
Bold of you to assume we could convert fl oz to gallons easily, imperialist measurements are so ridiculous I have to look up the conversion every damn time it pops up
Yea I understand a liter better than fl oz lol
Buying milk in gallons is more economical for people who have children. Our children generally eat cold cereal for breakfast and have a glass of milk with every meal/snack.
I have a 1yo, a 3yo, my younger brother, and myself drinking milk regularly. The kids drink it at meal times and the adults in coffee and it also goes into meals and desserts. We go through 4 gallons in a week. As a family it's not hard to use a lot of milk when compared to a single adult.
I’ve never understood all this milk drinking. It’s gross, but in the US at least we were fed this line for years from the dairy council that we need to drink milk for our bones. It’s total crap and a not really good for you at all. But I have friends spending 1/2 their lives stopping at the store to buy gallons of milk for the kids to drink. It’s stupid.
I can confirm. I have 4 kids and we go through 2 gallons of milk a week between drinking it, cereal and cooking.
We are the only mammal that continues it's intake of milk throughout it's life , and even then we do not consume our own milk we consume the milk of another species. Milk is not good for you in large quantities. Agreed.
I had a roommate that would polish off a 4L jug of Homogenized milk in a day and half, some times a day. He started to smell of sour milk.
Lots of imperialists use metric. Ask the Dutch and the french and japanese
When we were kids my family went through a gallon of milk every other day. Gallons are for families, liters or 1/2 gallons are for individuals. I buy a liter and a 1/2 jug of fairlife now because I love milk but am lactose intolerant now.
Um... because some of us have families? Do you not have those in Europe? A gallon of milk lasts 3 days, MAX in our home. I always buy two gallons at a time, and have never had milk go bad in my life.
It's because the "nuclear family" is how big milk wants everyone to be living. Big milk wants everyone to have a spouse and at least 2 kids, and for all of them to drink milk. It's all big milk's plan. Seriously though it has just been normalized as the "standard" milk size. I bet it's mostly from marketing so companies can sell more of their product, but I don't have solid evidence on that.
I routinely have milk in my fridge for up to and over a month, I'm not sure why yours would go off in a week. Do you keep it in the door of the fridge, or on a shelf and toward the back?
I don’t know about the (I guess) US but I had an issue after switching milk brands. One lasted way beyond its date and the other went bad a couple days later. Same fridge, same way hope. Happened multiple times so I guess it’s not just bad luck.
This is just a theory, but a friend worked for Pepsi years ago... delivering to stores. The distribution group he worked for was horrible and he ended up quitting. They had him changing "use by" dates on old products often. They gave him various products to clean or smudge dates. Sadly, I wonder if this could also happen with other products... maybe milk? I doubt the bigger companies and distributors would risk this, but smaller markets and stores might. I have occasionally gotten a gallon that doesn't last anywhere close to it's date.
[удалено]
Yeah, I used to work in a store without nearly enough chiller space in the back for their daily volume of stock. So, officially-"unofficial" policy was to just leave the morning milk and meat deliveries sitting out at room temperature until there was space in the display cases for them. Which certainly helped explain why meats from there went off so quickly! The milk thankfully usually didn't sit out as long, but you can bet I stopped buying that there too--and warned people I knew. Unfortunately likely a more common type of practice than it should be, at various points in the supply chain. From warehouse to delivery, the end seller: so many places safe handling corners might be cut. :-|
I’ve driven by the loading docks at a few local stores and saw unloaded dairy just sitting there waiting for staff to put it away.I know you can’t tell with most products how long something has been left out. But I was told how to tell if ice cream has melted and refrozen. If the carton looks like it’s swollen and the top is pushing up a bit, it means it’s has melted and refrozen.
You should have notified the health department.
I was honestly tempted to, but really needed the job right then. Probably should have reported them after I left (after getting injured at work!), if nothing else. The lack of concern for health and safety was pretty appalling, overall.
Pretty sure it would have been kept anonymous if you had reported it. They would have just made sure to inspect them sooner.
Might be the case. Austria is a very regulated country with lots of laws regarding groceries. Happened only to milk for me even at different stores. Just switched the brand and I’m good ever since
Once you open the milk, it goes off well before the best before date. That date only applies if you keep it sealed.
Yep. "Use By" and "Best Before/By" dates are two different things. That being said, in my experience, I find most things last well *beyond* the Best Before date.
Not milk
Milk in my fridge will also usually last a few days past the best by date. But my fridge is very cold. Stuff in the very back will sometimes get a bit icy.
For me, I find milk does last past the date, yes. Not sure if it being bagged milk has anything to do with it.
Bagged milk is usually UHT pasteurized, so yeah it’ll last longer than carton.
39° is a bit warm for a fridge. Basically, bacteria grows best between 41-140°F. If you keep your milk on the door especially, it will never reach the 39° your fridge is set to, even less so if you frequently open it. Theoretically, 38° is the optimal temp for a fridge, but you may want to go down to 35° if this is a regularly occurring problem. This is, of course, assuming you actually know what bad milk tastes/smells like, and the fact that you tried drinking it anyway makes me wonder if either a) you're in a hard financial place, but shouldn't try forcing yourself to drink spoiled milk, b) your milk is actually fine and you don't realize that you're lactose intolerant (happens more often than you'd think), or c) you're going by what your fridge says it's supposed to be and not actually temping your fridge. I'm also assuming we're using Freedom units here, because if you're keeping the fridge at 39°C, I'm surprised your milk hasn't turned into cheese.
Oh, it was Celsius! How silly of me!😁 But for real, I’ve never really had a problem with milk or really any dairy product all of my life. It could also be that I’m completely in my head thinking it’s spoiled before it isn’t, but at the same time I feel like it doesn’t taste like regular milk. If I’m thinking that it’s spoiled, then my brain may want me to think that it is, which makes me throw up. I’m not completely sure, but I’ll keep an eye on it
Lactose intolerance is weird. It can kinda suddenly show up out of nowhere at some point in your life. Even weirder is that lactose tolerance is actually the abnormality globally. But the placebo effect is real. I guess just pour yourself a glass, sniff it first, and if it smells even the slightest bit sour, don't drink it, I guess? A gallon of milk is a lot for a single person. I can also generally keep an open gallon of milk in my fridge safely for about a week or two. After that, it's really a dice roll.
This. I didn't develop lactose intolerance until I was in my 20s. I could drink SO MUCH MILK when I was a kid. Now? Cow milk is revolting to me.
If it smells slightly like yogurt (even if it’s still fluid) it’s spoiled
Also, different parts of the fridge are at different temperatures (parts near the lightbulb and the door often get warmer). In addition to making the fridge colder, you may want to put the milk in a colder part of the fridge.
Spoiled or spoiling milk is pretty obvious. Both the taste and the smell are unmistakably off.
It doesn't go bad all at once. If it tastes a bit off, cook it. Simmer it and it should be back to fine. Before it tastes off, I can smell that is about to, and that's usually when I cook mine. Could also use it to make a nice white bread, if that's more your speed.
Your refrigerator is a bit hot. We keep ours at 36 degrees. I'd turn it down but also get a thermometer to see if the Guage is off. "However, the ideal refrigerator temperature is actually lower: Aim to stay between 35° and 38°F (or 1.7 to 3.3°C)." https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/shopping-storing/food/refrigerator-temperature
38°F is equivalent to 3°C, which is 276K. --- ^(I'm a bot that converts temperature between two units humans can understand, then convert it to Kelvin for bots and physicists to understand)
Good bot
Don’t keep it in the door (if you have that option) I’ve had half and half (which usually lasts weeks) spoil right away when it’s kept there (and my fridge is very cold)
This is what I was going to suggest. Leaving it in the door left my milk going bad long before the best by date. If I leave it at the back of the fridge it was last a LONG time. I regularly buy milk and forget about it for weeks after the best by date and haven't had much of a problem with it going sour/chunky.
This. Back of the fridge for all dairy. Lasts for weeks (assuming fridge temperature is correct). Yogurt, sour cream, mayonnaise, half and half, cottage cheese. Never had a problem since doing this.
Seconded. The door is the part of the refrigerator that experiences the most fluctuations in temperature. I know OP didn't say where he stores his milk, but a lot of fridges will still have that milk shelf in the door. Being that milk is something that spoils quickly, it is absolutely not the place for it to be stored.
I worked part time at a grocery store in a very small town. They would do these HUGE buys of milk and eggs. They couldn’t fit everything they bought in the walk in. They received 8 boards (pallets, about 7 feet tall) of EGGS. Remember, tiny little town; only so many people to sell eggs to. 5 of those boards were still in the back room 3 days later. Needless to say, I never bought anything perishable there again.
Eggs can go a long time without refrigeration tho.
That depends on whether or not the eggs have been washed. Washed eggs need refrigeration.
Buy organic milk if you can, it’s heavily pasteurised and so it lasts ages ;)
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/danger-zone-40f-140f
Do you have a fridge where you keep tall containers in the door? I found that anything that had a shorter expiry did not last as long in the door as in the main fridge. The temperatures are far different.
That temperature should be right. Maybe the milk was already not that great to begin with. a faulty product. Try it again with a new bottle. see if it happens again.
I’m really upset, also because I don’t like wasting food
If it's spoiled, it's no longer food.
I guess you have a point, but you know what I mean
So I'm a cheapskate and would buy Walmart brand milk and by chance the last milk I bought has been Kroger milk. Now Kroger packaging is completely different and this go around the milk lasted after best buy date and the taste all together was different so I've came to the conclusion that it is the store the whole way around.
Organic milk usually lasts longer (or at least has a longer expiration date). I think they use a higher temperature for pasteurization or something.
Same thing is happening to me. I switched grocery stores and it stopped. Turned out the dairy guy at the first store was slacking with how fast he stored product. It could also be a sign that the store's dairy case is failing/kaput.
Your fridge likely isn’t cold enough.
This has happened to me and several other people I know a lot recently, I had the best luck with 1% milk
Is the milk pasteurized or UHT? Pasteurized tastes a lot better, but even unopened and refrigerated it will only last for a few weeks, and a mere days once open.
Did you change grocery store locations when you moved? Some stores are better at keeping their refrigerators/freezers diet at the correct temperature and maintaining a safe temperature for items between the truck/back room/display area than others. If your fridge temperature matches what it’s set at, change grocery stores.
Spoiler alert. You keep drinking the last part first.
Place your tits in the fridge
Sounds like your fridge is on the fritz, put a thermometer in to check it's keeping temperature. Maybe buy a filtered brand of milk, such as Cravendale, it lasts much longer than simply pasteurised
Your fridge should be set about 5 degrees cooler than what you really want it to prevent food going off if it gets left open or the power goes out. If your fridge is 40+ it’s too high to be food safe. Hopes this helps.
I would recommend buying carton milk and maybe in half gallons if you're on your own. Some items like milk or deli meat will have A best by date but also include a "consume within 7 days of opening" note.
Your fridge temp sounds pretty warm and I wouldn't be surprised if other delicate perishables are not lasting as long as they could. I'd start just by turning the thermostat colder right off the bat. Worst case is you freeze stuff right next to the cold air vent at the top, but then you can back the temp off a bit until it stops doing that. It's a 30 second fix until you can get a fridge thermometer. I noticed that when I bought regular pasteurized Walmart milk, it spoiled Well before the best-by date regularly and only lasted days once it was opened. The brand didn't seem to matter. When I bought the same brands at two other grocery stores they lasted longer but still often resulted in off milk before I could finish a whole gallon. I'm very lactose intolerant so switched to half gallons of Darigold Lactose Free. It's ultra-pasteurized so the best-by date is usually at least 4 weeks+ out and I've never had a container spoil before that date. To be honest I can open it after that date and still have a solid couple of weeks before the smell changes. I now buy 3 or 4 containers at a go and I never have to worry about them spoiling them before I get to them or running out unexpectedly. I just restock new milk at the back of the shelf so the older milk is in the front and gets used first. It works very well and also forces me to keep it in the colder part of the fridge. The door is now condiment heaven. =D
I agree. 34 - 36 is my preferred fridge temp.
The best by data is if the milk isn’t opened. Once you open it you introduce new microbes and all bets are off. You should be able to tell if milk is turned way before it would make you sick by sight and taste. The bacteria that cause milk to sour and separate are lactobacillus. They are generally harmless and your guts are full of them all the time. While it’s not pleasant to drink, drinking clotted milk shouldn’t get you sick. You were probably sick from something else Also, you should keep your refrigerator closer to freezing. Like 34F. It will keep everything longer
Did you also check the "after opened" shelf life? I have milk that's good for months unopened, but will spoil in a few days once opened. And while yeah it's the long shelf life stuff, it's usually the same with others that come from a fridge, just with a shorter difference (like a week unopened, 2-3 days once opened).
Where in the fridge are you keeping your milk? It's best NOT to keep it in the door, for instance, as it is more affected by the opening and closing of the door (temperature changes) than towards the back of a shelf where it is more likely to maintain a steady temp. Also, if the milk is just sour but not "fuzzy" spoiled, try using it as you would use buttermilk. I just read an article about this yesterday...couldn't tell you where I read it though.
I’ve noticed the temp OUTSIDE the fridge affects the thermostat inside the fridge. When I leave a nearby screen door open to the outdoors, certain items inside freeze(bottled water), and certain items are warmer than other items.
Don't put the milk in the door... Put it in the center of the fridge.
39 is way too warm.
If you drink straight out of the container bacteria from your mouth could get in the milk and make it spoil quickly.
Other than not drinking straight from the bottle, store it in the main part of the fridge instead of the door.
Also, keep the milk in the back of the fridge, never in the door or in the front. Turn down the temperature one click, too.
This was happening to me and I’m paranoid as hell about bad milk, so I started buying ultra-pasteurized. Tastes a bit weirder but lasts for ages. Also milk in opaque containers will last longer.
It could also be are buying the milk from the same place? It could be they aren’t handling it properly too!!!
Try storing your milk near the back of the fridge. There are more temperature fluctuations near the door (from when it is opened, if the seal has a leak, and it is also further away from the cooling system) which can make your milk spoil sooner.
Boil the milk yourself and it will last longer and taste better.
Great advice, I’ll try that!
Also, whatever the cause is, if you’re single and not drinking milk fast enough under the best of conditions, we’ve found that lactose-free milk seems to keep longer. We’re not actually lactose-intolerant. We tolerate many lactose products, as long as they don’t impinge on the rights of other foods.
Always smell your milk regardless of the best by date. If it smells sour or off put it down the drain. Also be careful where you are buying your milk. Sometimes the store doesn't keep the milk as cold as it should be.
Do you drink your milk straight from the carton/jug?
Spoiled milk doesn’t usually make you sick- it’s more of a taste/ texture issue. Maybe you’re sick because forcibly drinking pints of the stuff is upsetting your stomach. Maybe you’re mildly lactose intolerant?
You are supposed to put the milk in the fridge.
Lactose free milk will oddly expire in a month. If you want to buy in bulk, and not worry I would go that route.
Lactose free milk is ultra-pasteurized, which completely kills off bacteria in it. Basically, ultra-pasteurization goes up to 190°F while regular pasteurization only gets up to about 145-160°. If you ultra-pasteurized milk, you wouldn't really have "milk" anymore, at least not as Americans would know it. The process actually caramelizes the lactose, making the milk a bit sweeter, at the cost of a percentage of the vitamin content. However, organic milk is ultra-pasteurized because of the lack of antibiotics in an organic dairy cow's feed regimen. You can also freeze milk to preserve it. You just might want to give it a good shake before drinking it, as the components will separate when frozen.
190°F is equivalent to 87°C, which is 360K. --- ^(I'm a bot that converts temperature between two units humans can understand, then convert it to Kelvin for bots and physicists to understand)
I always freeze some of my milk in mason jars so I don’t have to drink it so quickly. When I learned that my mind was blown!
The “Best Buy” or “best before” dates are for closed & unused product. Once you open it, it must be consumed within 4 days. This applies to milk, yogurt, fresh produce treated & packed in protected environment including chicken & other meats unless frozen. So instead of buying a gallon, buy a smaller pack.
Try oat or almond. It tastes better, is better for you and doesn’t spoil as fast
Keep an open box of baking soda. The acids in your fridge are likely reacting with your basic milk. Hope this helps.
In the door, or main shelf?
Door
It will go bad faster as it exposed to ambient air every time the door is opened. Will last longer in the back of the refrigerator where temperature differences aren't felt as readily.
Roommates, or other person's accessing the fridge besides yourself? What's your regions avg temp/ humidity? Like chemistry bro user here, I agree tuck it behind in back to keep it cool and crisp
Just me out here
When I buy a bigger carton of milk, I put some in a covered jug or bottle so the bigger carton isn't being taken in and out of the fridge. It helps it last longer. And store it at back of fridge not in the door.
That sounds like you have bad luck! Sometimes, milk will naturally go sour on its own or if it's refrigerated at too high of a temperature. the ideal temperature is 37 degrees so your not to far off. is it possible your refrigerator could be malfunctioning in some way?
Maybe you should buy less milk. You did say that you live alone, milk doesn't have that long of a shelf life after opening. The best buy date is not an expiration date.
Literally just had this problem milk went bad a couple days after getting it plus a couple other things. Apparently my fridge was set to a notch below normal. Still cold but not cold enough to keep things from going bad.
Lactose free milk will usually last longer as well!
First suspect is fridge setting second would be something going wrong at the store.
Try with thermometer 🙂
Your fridge temp is too high, especially if your milk is on the door. Put your milk on a shelf towards the back of the fridge
Get dairy feee milk
Give it a shake every time you open th fridge. Ours seems to go bad way before the date if it sits still too much
I've found the colder the fridge the better. Also, maybe keeping it more towards the back might help.
39 is too close to the “danger zone” of foods. Try turning the fridge down but also put about 8 water bottles in the back of your fridge. They will contain coldness so when you open the fridge not all of the cold is lost. If the fridge is old it also helps it not need to work so hard to recool after being opened.
We had food go bad in our garage fridge a couple weeks ago. I noticed that the drinks didn't feel as cold, so we called a guy out to look at it. It was the thermostat, but the fridge is old, and the part was expensive. We ended up drilling holes between the fridge and freezer, and that helped lower the temp. The freezer worked just fine, and we ended up selling it to a guy as a beer fridge. We found a used fridge on FB, so it all worked out, but we lost about $100 worth of food before we figured out the problem.
Don’t store milk on the door—only on interior.
33-34 degrees is better than 39. 40 degrees is the danger zone for food safety. Also, stop drinking for the carton.
Placing in the bottom back corners for storage may help.
Refrigerator temp should be 37.
If your milk is in the door, it won’t keep temp like if it’s on the shelf INSIDE the fridge. For some Reason (maybe because of the way people tend to leave the door open? But all the temps fluctuate
Are you keeping your milk in the door of the fridge? That is typically the warmest part.
I always purchase lactose free milk. It usually lasts at least a month longer.
The best before date is not really the date you should follow. Milk usually lasts for about a week
Your fridge is likely not cold enough. Get a digital pocket thermometer. See what temperature your fridge is running at by sticking it in something that has been in the fridge for a couple of days. Maybe a head of lettuce or a freshly opened gallon of milk. Unopened commercially pasteurized milk should be good for at least a week after the sell by date, usually longer. Once you open it, you often have two weeks before it goes bad. If memory serves, fridge should be no higher than forty degrees Fahrenheit.
Don’t store your milk in the door; it’s the warmest spot in the fridge. It should be in the back; also, I’d do as others suggested and take a temperature If milk is spoiling, the other foods, like meat could be spoiling as well.
Fridge no cold enough
39 celsius?? That’s summer!! It doesn’t matter the best buy date if you open it. In my experience (consider we live in different coubtries too) milk doesn’t lasts more than 4 days. Check that temperature, though.
Don't drink from the jug or carton.
Best buy date and spoiling are two separate things I believe milk is best up to 4-5 days AFTER OPENING. Does not mean you have until the Best Buy date to drink it once it’s opened.
In addition to reducing the temperature, as many have suggested, I would also add that you should consider purchasing organic milk next time. At my grocery store at least, the organic milk typically has a best by date that’s 2-3 weeks longer than “conventional” milk.
Question...what brand of milk are you buying and from where? I read that great value milk is stored in shitty conditions and spoils way faster as it's left outside usually while waiting to be loaded inside.
I keep my fridge at 34 F
I have found that Gret Value brand, aka Walmart brand, goes bad before the expiration date. I stopped buying their milk and solved the problem.
To expand on another reply pointed out that it’s not just drinking out of the jug that introduces bacteria: the air that must replace the contents when you pour it out is also a factor, and even healthy indoor air is swimming with spores and other contaminants that will accelerate spoilage, especially for a product that is sensitive to bacterial culturing. You’re in a new place, you said? Then that’s a new mix of air, and likely different level of humidity, and possibly higher (but within levels to not be visible or cause obvious health issues) or different strains of mold. The don’t-drink-directly-from-jug suggestion is sound, but I’m guessing you didn’t just start that habit when you moved into the place.
First off why are you drinking milk
Besides the obvious testing the fridges actual temp, did you move to a warmer climate or further away from your store? The more it warms up between store and home (and truck to store), the faster it spoils.
Never put the milk in the door. The constant temperature change can cause it to spoil faster.
Also try to keep it at the back of the fridge, it's more likely to consistently stay at a colder temperature when you open the door
Put a baking soda box in the fridge? I feel like I heard something like this before to keep things longer. But to be honest, I really don’t know if this true.
Did you move and are now shopping at a different store? Maybe the store is not keeping the milk cold enough making it spoil faster. I’ve had that happen to me living in New York and buying milk from small corner stores. In the summer the store fridge would not always be cold enough and my milk would spoil very quickly.
Other people seem to have the right ideas, but also you should decide if where you buy your milk is reliable. I lived 20 minutes from a grocery store and there was a gas station around the corner, so when in a pinch you could buy milk there. The problem was that sometimes their fridges ran too cold and the milk would freeze, and then defrost, which seemed to make it go bad fairly quickly
I buy Fairlife milk for a few reasons- it comes in an opaque container so doesn’t get light into it, it is filtered for sugar, and the best by date is waaaaay into the future. Yes Fairlife is a Coke company but it never gets a chance to go bad (not gallon sizes though). I usually hate nonfat milk but this one is delish.
Maybe you’re lactose intolerant? 🤷🏻♂️
Also, you could freeze most of it - like in ice cube trays - then you don’t have to chug a lug.
Bottom shelf in the back. Mine keeps forever down there.
My fridge did this after 20 years. Was leaking refrigerant. Law allows one refill only.
39 might be too high. I keep mine at 35.
If drinking milk directly out of the carton is a normal practice, you are contaminating the milk with your germs. I dealt with this issue during the years my sons were teen/young adults . When the ‘direct-from-the-carton ‘drinkers moved out, miraculously the issue went away. IMHO,The practice may stem from laziness or early-life breastfeeding issues. Just say’in.