Does being able to close the milk container keep it fresher?

[Alpo]

All milk I have bought in the last, God, 35 years or more, came in a plastic jug with a screw on cap.

 

Milk in Canada, as I understand it, comes in a plastic bag. You set the plastic bag down in your special "milk pitcher", and snip the corner of the bag off, and then pour from the pitcher. You don't pour the milk into the picture - the milk is still inside the plastic bag, and the bag is sitting in the picture.

 

I've never seen that - just had descriptions. But it seems you would not be able to close it once you have cut the corner off. The container of milk would be open inside your refrigerator.

 

Just wonder if that would make it go bad sooner, or if it would stay fresh longer, or whether it doesn't matter.

 

Anybody know?

[Cypress Sun]

 

I can't imagine leaving a container of milk open in the fridge for any length of time. Done it before, gathers too many "other" flavors.

[Rip Snorter]

In England, decades back, you bought containers of irradiated milk off a store shelf as you would canned goods.  Wonder if it is still done there.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

IRRADIATED? OMIGOD, if you drink that you'll glow in the dark and die of the unspeakable horribles!!! 

[sassnetguy50]

Yes, milk changes flavors when left open.  Observations from visits, some people put a clip on the bag, others say it gets drank before it changes.  Remember the bags have about 1 liter each, not a gallon.

[Texas Lizard]

Bring back glass bottles...It tasted better....

 

Texas Lizard

 

And it was delivered fresh...

[Rip Snorter]

If you are old enough, you can remember hearing the bottles as the Milk Man came up to the front door.

[Eyesa Horg]

Just put a half glass back in the fridge, definitely doesn't taste the same.

[Alpo]

30 minutes ago, sassnetguy50 said:

Yes, milk changes flavors when left open.  Observations from visits, some people put a clip on the bag, others say it gets drank before it changes.  Remember the bags have about 1 liter each, not a gallon.

I did not realize they were that small. I expected 2 liters, basing my expectations on drawings of the pitcher in a Canadian comic strip, and comparing it in my mind to a standard two quart Kool aid pitcher.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

When I was a kit milk came in cans, two gallon milk cans, unpasteurized.

[Alpo]

44 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said:

In England, decades back, you bought containers of irradiated milk off a store shelf as you would canned goods.  Wonder if it is still done there.

I don't know about irradiated, but they definitely still have shelf stable milk. Does not need refrigeration, good for about a year. Excellent thing to have a couple of gallons sitting in your pantry. Comes in quart boxes.

 

 

 

 

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

Here in Ontario Canada, milk is sold in bags as mentioned, usually purchased by large milk using families.

Milk is also sold in 1/2 litre, 1 litre and 2 litre, folding spout resealable containers a well as the specials with screw top like the Natrel picture above.

(Big Red and I don't use real milk anymore, due to our lactose allergies, so it's Soy or Almond "milk" for us.)

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

Something to Ponder.  When I was stationed in Germany and England during the 70s and 80s, I found "Shelf Stable" milk in just about every market.  The Ponder:  The technology for Shelf Stable Milk came from > > >  Ta Da > the US of A.  Never adopted here.  Stranger than Fiction.

[Rip Snorter]

When I saw it in the U.K. back in time, I knew it was not radioactive, but I was a little freaked by Irradiated.  I doubt it would have sold in the U.S. 

[Utah Bob #35998]

3 hours ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said:

 

Something to Ponder.  When I was stationed in Germany and England during the 70s and 80s, I found "Shelf Stable" milk in just about every market.  The Ponder:  The technology for Shelf Stable Milk came from > > >  Ta Da > the US of A.  Never adopted here.  Stranger than Fiction.

I have several cartons of shelf milk store in case of emergency. It is widely available. But it’s usually not in the dairy section of the supermarket.

[Alpo]

No it's usually on the baking aisle, with the canned milk and the powdered milk.

[Eyesa Horg]

Don't read the reviews for Walmart's Horizon brand. 

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

Which also included Almond Milk (what I drink) which is found in one supermarket with the Hot/Cold Cereal isle.  I personally won't consume ANY Walmart brand anything.  Even their proprietary Dog Food was killing dogs.

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

Back in ‘74, I spent a summer in Freeport, Bahamas as a scuba dive guide. When grocery shopping they had regular homogenized milk and reconstituted milk. I bought a gallon of regular milk in a plastic jug and discovered it turned to cottage cheese in about two days after opening. A local said that’s why everyone else bought reconstituted. Tasted funny, but was palatable. 

[Pat Riot]

[Pat Riot]

Years ago I did an experiment to prove a point to my wife and it was a fun, well, not fun little experiment for my daughter. 
I went to Von’s supermarket in SoCal. I bought two 1/2 gallon containers of milk. One in a plastic container with the screw top lid and one in those annoying coated cardboard containers that you can never close right. 

 

They both had the same expiration dates on them. We remove one glass of milk from each and sat them in back of the fridge. Every day we opened each one for 1/2 a minute to simulate removing milk from the container then put them back. On the expiration date the milk in the cardboard had a distinct funky odor. The milk in the plastic did not. 
 

The reason for the experiment? My wife always wanted to buy the milk in the laminated cardboard container and I wanted the jug because I trusted the jug to keep it fresher longer. 
I won…that battle…we don’t discuss it. 

[Ozark Huckleberry]

Since preserving freshness in the fridge depends in part on reducing air exposure as much as possible, I can see how the plastic bags would keep milk fresher longer, IF the excess air was ‘burped’ out and the bag was closed. 
 

Just sticking it back in the fridge open would be a no-go for me, both in terms of picking up tastes from the fridge and for keeping it fresh. 

[J-BAR #18287]

20 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

When I was a kit milk came in cans, two gallon milk cans, unpasteurized.

 

The complete name on the can is "Model Dairy Pueblo Colorado."  It was my grandfather's, now a decoration in the living room.

 

 

That cap is a tight seal.