Taking Advantage of Low Milk Prices

Very often our local grocery store will run specials on milk.  Sometimes the prices are unbelievably low, but if we only consume a certain amount of milk in a week, how can those prices really benefit us?  Well, if you have a list of recipes on hand that require milk, you can make those recipes when the prices are low and stock up on homemade dairy foods such as ice cream, cheese, and much more.  Here are a couple of recipe ideas for taking advantage of those occasional low prices.


Milk Drinks: The easiest thing to make with milk is dessert drinks.  This may sound like a no-brainer, but you may not think about making such desserts unless you have an excess of milk on hand.  Some of the milk drinks to consider are making chocolate milk by stirring in homemade chocolate syrup, making natural milk shakes by throwing some of your favorite homemade fruit syrups in the blender with milk and ice cream, or making espresso drinks such as lattes, cappuccinos, or frappes.  These dairy treats will not use up a ton of milk, but if you are making dessert for the whole family, it will be a wonderful way to make a dent in your stock pile of low priced milk.

Yogurt: Yogurt is an excellent choice of food to make if you have a lot of milk on hand.  Though homemade yogurt should be used within a week, there are plenty of things you can make with yogurt once it is made.  To name a few items, you can make Greek yogurt to eat or cook with, you can mix in some fruit syrup and throw it in your ice cream maker to make frozen yogurt, or you can strain it to make flavored cream cheese.

Gelato: There is no better way to use up milk than to make homemade gelato.  Gelato is special since it has a similar texture to ice cream, but it has a lot less fat since you can make it with whole milk and a thickener such as eggs, gelatin or corn starch in the place of heavy cream.  This means you can use a lot of milk to make a couple batches of gelato.  When the gelato is done, pour it into Popsicle molds to make pudding pops or pour it into a container.  Either way, it will last for months in the freezer.

Ice Cream:  Making ice cream is actually a runner up to making gelato since most ice cream recipes call for heavy cream or half and half in addition to milk.  So you may use a cup or so of milk if you are lucky, but ice cream can be made much quicker than gelato and maybe you have some heavy cream to use up as well.

Cheese Sauce: If you're looking to use up milk, why not make some cheese sauce to top noodles or spaghetti.  You'll use a little over a cup of milk to make this easy Alfredo sauce recipe.  In addition to Alfredo sauce, you can make cheddar sauce, four cheese sauce, or your own cheesy sauce creations in the same time you would take to open a jar of store bought cheese sauce, heat it up and pour it on your pasta.  Homemade cheese sauce is best when eaten right after making it since it may not regain its creamy texture when heated up.

Cheese: I listed Cheese last since this may take a little longer to learn how to make.  However, once you get the hang of making cheese, you can use extraordinary amounts of milk and the cheese you make will last quite a long time depending on what type you make.

Eggnog: Making your own eggnog is easy and definitely economical.  Plus, you don't have to wait for the stores to stock it.  Eggnog can be a great holiday treat but you can also make it whenever you want.  Use it for making eggnog ice-cream or steam it to make eggnog lattes and cappuccinos.

Of course there are plenty of other recipes you can make using milk, but these are recipes that store well or use up a lot of milk.  So I hope this guide will help you take advantage of those super low prices whenever your local grocery has milk on sale.