You'll get no Napolean Dynamite quotes out of me

February 20, 2008 1:01 PM

Where can I buy cafeteria-style individual milk cartons?

I use milk maybe once a week, for oatmeal, cereal, or cooking/baking. I don't really ever drink, it unless there's chocolate cake involved. Because of this, I'm constantly buying half-gallons of milk (the smallest size at Harris Teeter) and then having to get rid of them half-full because I don't use them fast enough.

I had this idea- if I could get a bunch of those little one-cup milk cartons like they used to have in elementary school, I could just freeze them and thaw them out one at a time. (I know they can be frozen because half the time, they still had ice chunks in them when lunch rolled around.) They're the perfect size. But I've never seen them for sale anywhere. Can individuals buy them?

posted by showbiz_liz to food & drink (24 comments total)

Trader Joe's has shelf-stable, individual cartons of low-fat milk on its shelves. I live alone and don't drink lots and lots of milk so I have the same problem as you - a half-gallon goes to waste. Those little individual cartons from Trader Joe's are a godsend. However, I've never tried freezing them. They are packaged so that they last unopened on the shelf. Once opened, you have to refrigerate them and use them up within 7 days.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 1:06 PM on February 20, 2008

I don't know where to find the smaller cartons, but could you not achieve the same result by pouring your extra milk into some cups and freezing those?
posted by katillathehun at 1:07 PM on February 20, 2008

Grocery stores in my area sell half pint milk containers in the section beside things like whipping cream and buttermilk, usually on the top shelf - I buy them fairly frequently. Are you sure you're looking hard enough?
posted by frobozz at 1:07 PM on February 20, 2008

I get them at the grocery store.
posted by acoutu at 1:07 PM on February 20, 2008

Check a place that services office workers -- eg a convenience store near a business district. They'll often have small containers of milk and cream (apparently meant for the coffee area of the office). Certainly you can get ones smaller than 1/2 gal.
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:09 PM on February 20, 2008

Are you sure they don't sell quarts of milk? Clicking on "Online Shopping" for a couple Chapel Hill area Harris Teeter stores show they sell "Hunter Farms" milk in Quarter Gallon sizes for 2%, Skim, and Whole varieties.
posted by ALongDecember at 1:11 PM on February 20, 2008

Do you live near any college cafeterias? I see them there all the time.
posted by jerryg99 at 1:21 PM on February 20, 2008

I don't know how you feel about it, but a container of soy milk will last over a week without spoiling, even if opened.
posted by agregoli at 1:28 PM on February 20, 2008

Call your local dairy. They will often sell direct to consumers and you can probably pay a lower price than retail.
posted by parmanparman at 1:38 PM on February 20, 2008

Or dairy distro, if you live in Chapel Hill. Here are several:

Maple View Farm Milk Co
www.mapleviewfarm.com - [phone]

Sykes Dairy Inc
[phone]

Kingsmill Farm
www.kingsmillgenetics.com - [phone]

Fogleman Dairy
[phone]

Langley Dairy Farm
[phone]

Alamance Dairy Foods Traffic
[phone]

Shumaker Dairy Inc
[phone]

Koopman Dairy Inc
[phone]
posted by parmanparman at 1:40 PM on February 20, 2008

1. I see smaller containers at grocery stores frequently. I have also seen them at convenience stores.

2. Consider UHT milk, which will keep without freezing.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 1:40 PM on February 20, 2008

I'm in the same boat as you, and I've made the switch to UHT* milk. It's still real milk, and tastes/acts just like milk, but it stays for weeks. Also, it's shelf stable before you open it, so you don't even have to refrigerate it. I know that sounds weird/scary but once you get past it it is just what you're looking for.

*(Utra High Temperature Pasteurized)
posted by indiebass at 1:45 PM on February 20, 2008

Similarly to indiebass, you may want to try buying organic milk that has been ultra-pasteurized. it lasts weeks longer than the regular stuff. I was in a similar spot and buying the ultra-pasteurized organic stuff solved the problem. Most off the shelf organics are pasteurized this way.
posted by soy_renfield at 2:15 PM on February 20, 2008

I know other people have said it, but have you checked other grocery stores around town? Granted, I'm in Canada so maybe things are different here, but the small cartons are sold alongside the bigger ones.
posted by wsp at 2:33 PM on February 20, 2008

For baking, I use dehydrated soy milk powder (bottom shelf, across from the breakfast cereal, of my local Whole Foods). I don't like soy milk for cereal or drinking, but it's great for baking cookies or cakes or biscuits.

For cereal or other uncooked consumption, I use rice milk. That comes in the shelf boxes, and does last for quite a long time in the refrigerator.

I won't bore you here with the various reasons that soy/rice milk is better than cows' milk. If you're interested, you can find plenty of information around the net, or drop me a note and I'll refer you to a book or something.
posted by amtho at 3:37 PM on February 20, 2008

I had the same issue as you before I had kids, so I used juice-box-sized containers of Parmalat milk (8 oz. of UHT, shelf-stable milk). They're not hard to find because they're made for carrying in lunchboxes - they were at the regular grocery store. They'll last on a pantry shelf for months, then after you open one, put it in the fridge, and it'll last a week.
posted by Melinika at 4:00 PM on February 20, 2008

nthing Parmalat, which we like to call "bachelor milk" here at chez j_p
posted by jason's_planet at 4:41 PM on February 20, 2008

Weaver Street Market sells small plastic containers (pints?) of Maple View milk, up on the top shelf in the dairy case. I think the littlest size only comes in whole and chocolate, but they definitely do have quarts of everything.

(My office is upstairs from there, so I'm embarrassingly familiar with WSM. And the Teeter, for that matter. I am grocery-shopping spoiled.)
posted by paleography at 6:48 PM on February 20, 2008

Do you have a smart and final nearby? This sounds like the kind of thing they'd sell.
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 6:51 PM on February 20, 2008

You can order single-serve, shelf-stable milks from Amazon. Available in cow, rice, and soy.
See also.

Seconding (thirding?) the Whole Foods, if you have one near you, but you should also be able to get the single-serve Horizon milks from your friendly neighborhood Starbucks, and they might be willing to cut you a deal if you buy it in bulk.
posted by esmerelda_jenkins at 10:51 PM on February 20, 2008

Buy those Dean milk chugs. They come in different sizes and even a six-pack of super small ones.
posted by IndigoRain at 2:46 PM on February 21, 2008

I've never been to any standard grocery store (that is, not a mini-mart) that didn't have sizes smaller than half a gallon. Typically they have quart sizes and also pints and/or half pints. If Harris Teeter doesn't have these I'd be extremely surprised. That seems very odd.
posted by litlnemo at 7:53 PM on February 21, 2008

Oops, saved too soon. Anyway, around here you can find those tiny cartons at most grocery stores, and for that matter, most convenience stores. But as some have mentioned, you can call a dairy to get a better idea of who carries them.
posted by litlnemo at 7:55 PM on February 21, 2008

Update: I got the shelf-stable TJ's cartons, and they're exactly what I needed. Thanks!
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:23 AM on March 16, 2008