If you go through milk like crazy like my family does, it’s an appropriate curiosity to wonder if milk can be frozen and then used later. Does it keep its original consistency after being frozen? What’s the best milk to freeze? How long can it be frozen for? Will it still taste like milk after being frozen? These are all valid concerns, and based on my experience, milk can be frozen, but you have to be wise about it.
Yes, milk can be frozen. But not all milk freezes well. Whole milk separates when it freezes far more than skim or 1% milk does, so if you’re considering freezing milk, don’t freeze whole milk as a rule.
When you DO freeze milk, you can’t just freeze a gallon on its own, or else it will explode in your freezer. An unopened gallon of milk expands enough to burst, so you have to take out about 2 cups of the milk prior to freezing so you don’t open your fridge to a milk bomb.
After freezing milk (I’ve frozen it up to a month, I believe you can go up to 3 months but I wouldn’t recommend it), you have to put it in the fridge for about a day to thaw out, so it’s not available right away. Even after it thaws, it’s chunky so you have to shake the milk vigorously to get it to blend again and for whole milk you may even have to beat it in a bowl with an egg beater to better the consistency or place it in a blender. Usually a good shaking works fine for skim milk or 1%, and if you’re lucky 2% milk.
How does it taste? I’ll be honest, if you’re using frozen milk it’s best just to cook with it. It comes out kinda gritty, even though it tastes like milk still. It just doesn’t have that creamy texture once you’ve frozen it, so it’s not the best for cereals or pouring in your coffee or for drinking straight.
The longer you freeze it, the more likely it is to get that freezer taste and start to taste like the items in your freezer. You know how an old ice cube will taste like the freezer? This is what happens if you freeze milk for a long period of time, say, over two weeks.
So is it OK to freeze milk? From my experience it comes in handy when you want to buy a bunch of milk on sale and use it for cooking later and keep you from going to the store every other day. But it’s not convenient when you have to thaw it out a day in advance and you can’t really use it for anything more than cooking. So yes, you can freeze milk, but it’s almost better just to buy milk as you use it.
