Heart and Mind

Historic Post #32: The Date on the Milk Carton

So, why is this post historic? Well, it's #32, which means that the HEART AND MIND blog now has as many posts as the COFFEE CREW blog. I'm not sure if there's anything too remarkable about that, but I always see the Coffee Crew and its 32 posts when I log into blogger and at one time not so long ago, that seemed like the blog with (comparatively) a lot of entries on it. But as of today, we're all even. (We're actually one better if you don't count Rich's weak final Coffee Crew post back in October). My little blog is growing up! I still have faith that the Coffee Crew will reunite sometime soon and we'll get that blog up to speed again.

Well, this blog entry is actually something that I had written in response to a post on DK's blog. Since Paul "Paulanoma" set the trend by taking a comment on this blog and giving it in his own spin on Encyclopedia Giachettica, I'm going to do the same. DK had been talking about being the guinea pig for identifyting things like cat urine and sour milk. It made me do a little thinking of my own on the subject of rancid milk...

Let me tell you a little bit about the milk situation. With me, it's all about that date on the label. If we're at or beyond the "best purchased by" day, the milk goes down the drain. I don't play around with sour milk.

My mother constantly gave me a hard time about this when I was growing up. She'd say, "That's not the day that the milk goes sour! That's just the SELL BY date. You still can drink it for a few days after..."

WRONG!! Maybe that's the theory, but here's the skinny: on the imfamous "day," the milk probably won't kill you or make you vomit. I'll admit that it's probably 00not full-blown sour yet. However, it's well on the way by then. Milk starts losing freshness as time goes by. And let me tell you something else, if you're even within a day or two before the sell by date, it's already starting to get a little funky.

My mother always insisted it was in my head. WRONG AGAIN!! A couple of years back I was visiting for dinner and the mashed potatoes tasted a little fruity, but not in a good way. Not horrendous, but something wasn't right...

"Did you put milk in these mashed potatoes?"

"Yes, I always do."

"Excuse me for a second...," and I took a walk over to the refrigerator. A gander at the milk confirmed my suspicions. We were "post-sell-by date" all the way.

Fortunately for me, I am a cereal hound, so the milk doesn't usually last that long in my house, but if it does, I don't play around. I don't indulge myself with fancy cars & jewelry, but I can treat myself to a new gallon of milk when needed. I'll be generous with my spending on that. The old stuff goes down the drain.

posted by Steve @ 10:52 AM