# Canned milk, powdered milk



## Lydia (Dec 1, 2009)

I have a box of powdered milk, but it's expiration date was back in July. It's never been opened, and it's non-fat. Should I dump it, or can I still use it? Also, I have a number of cans of evaporated milk that expired in September. I've used a couple of them lately in baking without thinking to look at the expiration date, but can I continue to do that, or is that risky?


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## beaglebiz (Aug 5, 2008)

I would use tham, and have used stuff older than that with excellent results.


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

As long as it tastes ok, it is good. I'd suggest taking the powdered milk out of the box and putting it into glass canning jars for longer life.


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## Lydia (Dec 1, 2009)

Process the powder in a glass jar, or make it into milk and process it, or just put the powder into a glass jar and throw a lid on it?


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## calliemoonbeam (Aug 7, 2007)

She probably means just put the powder in a jar with a tight lid. The box isn't airtight, and it will get stale quicker than in a jar. if you have a vacuum sealer that would be good too, but otherwise just the jar with a tight screw-on lid would help, as will keeping it out of the sunlight. Since it's nonfat, it will last a lot longer than full-fat dried milk without going rancid. If it does, you'll know by the smell as soon as you open it, and it will taste "off" if you taste it. If you're not sure, just mix up a little and take a tiny sip. It might go rancid, but it won't poison you to test a tiny sip.

I've used powdered and canned evaporated milk long past the "use by" date stamped on them. The only thing I've noticed is sometimes some of the solids in the canned milk settle to the bottom, so shake it up real good before opening it to blend it all back together again, but it looks and tastes just fine. I've used it up to two years after the date and I'm still normal...well relatively speaking, lol. :teehee:


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

The powdered milk needs to be in a dark container because light will cause it to deteriorate.


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## belladulcinea (Jun 21, 2006)

I've used the canned milk past it's date, I shake it up, then pour it into a seperate container since I only use the church key. I've only had one can that I tossed it was a year passed the date and it was, well, gloppy.


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## Lydia (Dec 1, 2009)

Great info, thanks so much!


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Yes, put dry powdered milk into the glass jars and then into a dark cupboard or put the jars into cardboard boxes to block the light.

If you will go thru the cupboard and periodically turn your cans, they will last better. Put them all in upside down and a month or so later turn all right side up, a month or two later turn upside down...........


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## Pouncer (Oct 28, 2006)

You might want to bookmark this VERY handy website, its great!

http://www.stilltasty.com/


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## MichaelK! (Oct 22, 2010)

Smell the powdered milk. If it doesn't smell rancid, it is still OK. The glass jar is oxygen proof, so anything that can go rancid (gets oxidized) will last longer in glass. Store that glass jar in a very cool, very dark place and it will last much longer than the expiration date stamped on the box.


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

One thing I've read is that the use by date is not the same as an expiration date. The use by dates and even expiration dates are often put on containers by manufactures for the simple reason it makes people toss stuff and spend money to replace it. I've noticed expiration dates on jars of honey, but honey NEVER expires. Often those dates are nothing more than a sales ploy.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

MichaelK! said:


> Smell the powdered milk. If it doesn't smell rancid, it is still OK. The glass jar is oxygen proof, so anything that can go rancid (gets oxidized) will last longer in glass. Store that glass jar in a very cool, very dark place and it will last much longer than the expiration date stamped on the box.


Yep.

Here's something I posted on another forum:

_Iâve got some food preps that are getting some age on them, and one I cracked open to try today was non-fat dry milk. The date I bought it was May, 1995. Packed in #10 can, with an O2 absorber.

Mixed according to directions, let it chill in the fridge, and it tastes fineâ¦..which is to say itâs STILL non-fat dry milk, but actually isnât bad. No nutritional analysis of course, but it would sure beat no milk in a SHTF situation.

Pigs also thought it was great stuffâ¦..fight ensued over the bowl.

Brand was Country Harvest Dairy Delight 100% Real Milk.

In addition to those #10 cans, I also have a bunch of the packets you can buy at any grocery store. The oldest I have is a case of âMid America Farmsâ, which I think came from Samâs Club, with a 1999 date on it ( my buy date ). The case has 10 boxes of 5 packets to a boxâ¦.each packet to make 1 quart.

First packet I opened, the powder was very yellowish/gold looking, and didnât smell that goodâ¦also lumpy. Clearly the seal on that packet had failed, and I figured the whole case was probably done forâ¦.but surprise, the next packet looked fineâ¦..white, still powder, no bad smellâ¦â¦so I opened enough ( 2 boxes/10packs ) to mix up a couple gallons of milk for the pigs, and the bad seemed like about 1 in 4 or 1 in 5â¦â¦not too bad a loss after 11 years, I guessâ¦â¦

After I run thru that case, the next bunch I have are 2003, and Iâm gonna use all of that up for the pigs as well, so weâll see how it turns out. The 2003 milk is a different brandâ¦.some straight off a store shelf, packets taken out of the box it came in and put in ziplock bags to save space._


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

yep, if its not tolerable pigs/chickens/calves will gladly eat it up!

I'm feeding some old George Foreman "diet drink" (fish based) to my chickens in their water and they love the nasty stuff...it was trash from the food pantry.


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## Guest (Dec 13, 2010)

I'd use it now and replace it with fresher stock. Both are probably still OK. You'll know as soon as you open them if they are not.

If you want to keep it long-term keep dry milk appropriately packaged. Canned milk just doesn't keep well when you measure it by years.


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## zant (Dec 1, 2005)

The Country Harvest Chocolate milk is incredibly good,about $3 a gal by case lots...I opened a 9yr old can and it was great...


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## Common Tator (Feb 19, 2008)

Like Alan said. Use it now and replace with new. All preps should be rotated.


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## stormaq (Oct 26, 2008)

I don't know about the powdered milk, but do keep the canned milk. If the milk is "stringy" when you pour out, don't use it.


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## Shrarvrs88 (May 8, 2010)

How does canned milk go bad? Is it make you sick bad, or just eww its got strings bed?


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## Guest (Dec 15, 2010)

Unless there was a seal failure or the can was improperly processed in the factory (possible, but unlikely) canned milk won't become unsafe to eat when it gets old. It just degrades in taste, texture, color to the point you wouldn't want to eat it.

I've had cans of condensed milk that looked like butterscotch when I opened them and made my Key lime pie look the same way. Wasn't unsafe to eat, but it sure messed up my pie! Had the cans aged a few more years it would probably have been disgusting.

Evaporated milk tends to separate and discolor. Not unsafe, but for sure unattractive.

If you need it to say good for more than a year or two at the most go with properly packaged dry milk.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

Best use for the evaporated milk that has turned yellow? Fantasy Fudge!


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## K.B. (Sep 7, 2012)

Question similar to the OP in this old thread...

I have a 5 gal bucket of non-fat powdered milk in my emergency preps that I'd like to rotate out. It's been stored in a sealed bucket with O2 absorbers in it and a test batch still tastes ok, but it's been stored for ~3 years. Seems like a good time to do something else with it...

I'm wondering if anyone here canned a "rich" batch of reconstituted powdered milk? If I could get something that came close to commercial canned (evaporated or condensed) milk, I think we could use it up within a year or two


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## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

I've always been told that it was considered unsafe to home can milk. I know that people in the past did it, though. For that reason, I tend to buy commercially canned milk, nonfat powdered milk (which I reconstituted when it was at least 4 years old and it was fine) and shelf stable liquid milk. I would freeze milk to keep it from going bad, but wouldn't really want to risk canning milk with home canning equipment.


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

We get the #10 cans non-fat milk at EE. I keep a qt. mixed up in frig for my baking/cooking needs. Easily turned into buttermilk with vinegar. I rarely drink milk but Pa does and he says it tastes ok if chocolate added, in egg nog or on cereal but really can't drink it by the glass.Mixed half and half with regular milk he says it's ok. Heard on the news that milk is gonna got up, way up d/t Farm bill not done and costs skyrocketing for dairly farmers for feed.


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## TheMartianChick (May 26, 2009)

Mutti said:


> We get the #10 cans non-fat milk at EE. I keep a qt. mixed up in frig for my baking/cooking needs. Easily turned into buttermilk with vinegar. I rarely drink milk but Pa does and he says it tastes ok if chocolate added, in egg nog or on cereal but really can't drink it by the glass.Mixed half and half with regular milk he says it's ok. Heard on the news that milk is gonna got up, way up d/t Farm bill not done and costs skyrocketing for dairly farmers for feed.


The shelf stable milk seems to help with the taste issues. We buy ours at Dollar Tree and it comes in what looks like large juiceboxes and each one contains about 32 ounces or so. The stack easily on a pantry shelf and fit into a fridge easily due to their small size. We always keep an extra chilling in the fridge in so it is always ready and cold. I don't go near real milk for drinking but hubby says that it is quite good and he uses it on cereal. I use it in recipes if there is some open in the fridge, otherwise, I just use powdered milk in recipes.We've purchased it in both 2% and full fatted milk.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

Mutti said:


> We get the #10 cans non-fat milk at EE. I keep a qt. mixed up in frig for my baking/cooking needs. Easily turned into buttermilk with vinegar. I rarely drink milk but Pa does and he says it tastes ok if chocolate added, in egg nog or on cereal but really can't drink it by the glass.Mixed half and half with regular milk he says it's ok. Heard on the news that milk is gonna got up, way up d/t Farm bill not done and costs skyrocketing for dairly farmers for feed.



I heard on the news, and from the livestock inspector, that so far THIS YEAR over 50 daries have closed in NM. At least 2 of them near here. The cost of feed and the drought put them under.


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## K.B. (Sep 7, 2012)

So i reconstituted some of the non-fat dry milk and ran it through the pressure canner after coming back across an older thread on another forum:
Home canned milk

Of course, I had to make up a batch of the caramel pudding afterwards....

Pretty good! I imagine it would be even better with fresh whole milk, but it is really rich even when made with the canned non-fat milk.


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