To say Madeline drinks a lot of milk is like Noah, looking at the weather forecast, saying “Hmm, looks like a chance of rain.”
In other words, the understatement of the century.
Her brother was never like that when he was younger, and barely drinks it now (but gets heaps of calcium via cheese, yogurt, and other dairy items).
She has a glass in the morning. One after camp (or school). One more with dinner. And she’d have even more than that if I’d let her.
So the fact that we have shelf safe milk in our pantry should come as no surprise.
I mean, I could have a cow in the back yard and it still wouldn’t be enough.
Having shelf safe milk always ready means that I never rarely run out of milk. Because it’s sitting there, ready in a pinch. For those that might be new to the term “shelf safe milk,” it combines pasteurized milk with an ultra high temperature (UHT) and then, once placed in these special Tetra Pak cartons, the milk doesn’t need refrigeration until it’s opened.
It’s kind of a beautiful thing.
And it has saved my hide on countless occasions.
Beyond our obvious need with my five year old milk monster, it’s been the perfect thing to pack for road trips. Since it doesn’t need refrigeration until it’s opened, I just pack it alongside our snacks, saving valuable cooler space for other items. Since Madeline likes her milk on the rocks, when I put ice in the cooler, I put it into sandwich bags, so it keeps everything in the cooler cold, and when she wants to drink the milk, I can use that ice in a cup for her.
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