If you’re going to be away from grocery stores for more than a few days, boxed milk can be a lifesaver! It’s widely available in developing countries where there’s less refrigeration, but you can get it in many stores in the US — if you know what to look for!
I took this photo just a couple of days ago at my local Walmart Supercenter and I’ve bought boxed milk at other Walmarts across the country when we’ve taken some extended camping trips. It’s typically in the baking aisle, of all places! I’ve also seen it in various other chain groceries and even once in a convenience store along the ICW.
So what’s so great about boxed milk? Well, you’ll notice that it’s on regular shelves. It doesn’t have to be refrigerated until you open it. Unopened, it’s good at least three months — and I’ve used some that was over 6 months old with no problems.
Use it just as you would regular milk — which is what it is, except that it’s been ultrapasteurized and packaged in a TetraPak, which totally prevents air getting to it.
Back in the days before Dave developed his milk allergy, I used boxed milk 100% of the time on the boat. We used it on our morning cereal and in cooking. Dave occasionally drank a glass with a sandwich. Some people say they notice a slight difference in the taste when just drinking it; Dave didn’t. And I never noticed any difference in cooking or on my cereal.
You can store the boxes just about anywhere — we had some very shallow lockers behind the settees that were just perfect for stacking these in. They fit into lots of other small spaces — just make sure to remember where you’ve stashed them all.
Here in the US, almost all the boxed milk I’ve found has been the Parmalat brand, available in 2% and whole milk. In Mexico and Central America, there were numerous brands available and Nestle made a skim milk called Svelty.
The tops shown in the photo are the most common. You flip the plastic back and pull a foil tab off to open the box, then flip the plastic top back to close it — it sort of clicks into place. On a boat, though, that little plastic flip top can easily jostle open in the refrigerator or cooler. If you’re going to be in fairly protected conditions, you can just put a piece of duct tape over the top; I usually transferred the milk to a old clean juice bottle with a screw top.
In Mexico, we sometimes ran into boxes that were just “cut to open” and these had to be put into another bottle to store. Occasionally, we’d find boxed that had a screw cap on them — although these usually cost a little more and were harder to store since the caps protruded.
Before opening a new box, be sure to shake it up well in case any of the milk solids have settled. And then just use as you would any other milk!
The one comprehensive galley reference needed aboard every boat
We have been using boxed milk for several years on Ten-Ten. We also have them in or huricane supplies at home. We find them in Publix. We get the small single serving boxes..They are great..
We also use box milk on Tropical Hideaway. We get ours at Costco’s and you can get it in regular, chocolate and vanilla.
This is popular back home in Scotland, but I hadnt seen it here. As we dont use milk in tea of coffee we never seem to have any around when we want cereal, or when someone comes over who takes it, so thanks for reminding me about it.
Great to know more places to buy it — where I am, the single serving boxes are only chocolate and are sold next to to the NesQuik!
I should also mention that you can also get “boxed” soy milk, rice milk and almond milk — location varies, it’s often in the juice or cereal aisle but not always.
Failed to mention that the boxed milk we use is soymilk.
The boxed milk I had was in The Phillippines, and it tended to taste a little flat and slightly metallic. I don’t know if it was a regional thing or what, but it definitely didn’t taste quite like regular pasturized milk. It could have been that I was specifically looking for the difference in taste, or that I don’t drink a lot of milk anyway. I would totally use it in cooking, but if you absolutely *need* your milk, I’d say boxed still tastes better than dry (at least in my experience.)
Used box milk all the time while we were in Mexico. Svelty was pretty good.
Does anyone know if there is a distributor for cream other than the Nestle Media Crema? We don’t use milk due to health issues, but cream is ok. Would love the boxed milk idea with cream! Otherwise, I guess it is Nestle or nothing for long term storage.
Thanks.
Once in a while in Mexico and Central America, we’d run into others but not often. I remember one was from New Zealand and full cream, but don’t remember the brand name.
-Carolyn
BTW, Carolyn, I really do like the Nido Whole powdered milk you recommended..I keep it all of the time!! AND my husband mounted my new fans, and even he loves them ( and he has an aversion to fans-LOL). Thanks for all of your tips!!
All the boxes I have come with a stamped expiry date… Does it really mean anything? I have sailed from San Francisco to Fiji to Australia with these as our milk supply and they lasted a very long time even in the tropics
I grew up on UHT/boxed milk. Until I left home in the mid 90s I never knew anything else. I haven’t seen an unopened box go off, even months after the expiry date. BTW, the tetrapack’s inside makes a great waterproof notepad for passage plans etc. .
The worst that happened to us (with a couple boxes left from a previous owner that I discovered, several years after their use-by dates) was that the milk solids had settled to the bottom of the box.