# Is there any reason not to freeze milk? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 1, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-not-to-freeze-milk/498312 "2009-06-01T03:03:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-not-to-freeze-milk/498312/1 "2009-06-01T03:03:35Z")
Today my son and I each came home with a gallon of milk. Normally we have to race to drink one gallon before it expires. Can I just freeze the spare? I recall from my youth in Michigan that milk expands 10% when it freezes, so I will allow for that. But will it separate or spoil anyway somehow? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-not-to-freeze-milk/498312/2 "2009-06-01T03:27:27Z")
It will separate, but be otherwise perfectly drinkable. Personally, I think milk that has been frozen is nasty but it’s a texture thing; the taste is fine and it’s perfectly safe. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-not-to-freeze-milk/498312/3 "2009-06-01T03:32:03Z")
You might want to open the jug and pour a bit out then recap it, to allow for expansion when the milk freezes. I was listening to a NPR “Talk of the Nation” podcast in which someone was talking about cost-saving measures and how he’d burst a number of plastic jugs of milk by not doing this on his first freezing attempt. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-not-to-freeze-milk/498312/4 "2009-06-01T03:38:51Z")
I freeze milk all the time (whole and skim), to cut down on how often I need to go to the supermarket. I have no problem with it. It may separate slightly (oddly, this seems to be more of a problem with skim milk than whole), but giving it a good shake before drinking mixes it again. Thawing it out slowly seems to cause less separation problems. I have no problem freezing it as it comes in the half-gallon plastic jugs I buy. The expansion due to freezing is not enough to pop the cap off. This perhaps could be a problem with a different style of cap. I don’t know how well freezing a cardboard carton would work. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-not-to-freeze-milk/498312/5 "2009-06-01T03:42:59Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I don’t know how well freezing a cardboard carton would work. My grandmother used to freeze them. I don’t recall any problems; the cartons would bulge, naturally, but never burst. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-not-to-freeze-milk/498312/6 "2009-06-01T04:22:03Z")
If I were stuck with an extra gallon of milk, I’d make a big ass batch of instant pudding and freeze some of that. ---
**Author:** ![fifty-six](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fifty-six](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fifty-six)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-not-to-freeze-milk/498312/7 "2009-06-01T04:33:20Z")
Milk freezes just fine. I have worked on ships and seen hundreds of gallons frozen and never a burst or break. That does not mean it wont happen I have just never seen it. As for separation I have only done it with whole milk and a but of a shake is all is anything is even needed. I never drank a glass but there was never a complaint. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-not-to-freeze-milk/498312/8 "2009-06-01T05:34:40Z")
Milk is cheap. I’d use this happy accident as an excuse to make a dish that calls for a lot of milk in order to use it up. Perhaps a cream based soup or a pudding as mentioned above. Maybe make a giant batch of sawmill/sausage gravy and have biscuits and gravy for breakfast twice this week. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-not-to-freeze-milk/498312/9 "2009-06-01T06:49:06Z")
As other posters said, I found once the milk freezes, the water part seperates and it’s hard to get it all back together again. Whole, 2% or skim, it all is hard to put back together 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-not-to-freeze-milk/498312/10 "2009-06-01T13:39:11Z")
My grandmother always used to freeze it. I think it has something gross about it ever after, but that’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-reason-not-to-freeze-milk/498312/11 "2009-06-01T13:58:00Z")
The first time I froze milk, the yellow color it turned made me wonder about things, but the white comes back when you thaw it out. Never had a problem with taste, texture, or separation, but I’m a fiddler. I shake milk up before freezing and I’m always checking up on thawing milk–shaking it up and down and side to side, swirling it around, etc.