A few weeks ago I heard a market customer wondering aloud how to use up the milk in a share each week. Normally this isn’t an issue in our house, but our household size is fluctuating regularly these days and some weeks I have leftover milk on my hands. Then some weeks we use it up before the next market! So I’m not going to reduce our share size and most weeks I don’t need to increase it either.

The issue of excess milk has been dealt with before on the blog (Easy Cheeses). I thought I’d share a new recipe and post as well.

Joanna Bleasdale of Orchard House Creamery beat me to it and has graciously allowed me to share her post here. In Joanna’s words:

5 Ideas to Use Up Leftover Milk

This actually happens more frequently than people realize. Many of my customers will contact me and say “we just aren’t drinking the milk so I need to reduce.” I totally get that. One of the things that can be difficult for someone starting out with a raw milk herd share is how to effectively use most/all of their milk each week. Personally, our family drinks probably 5+ gallons per week. There are currently 4 of us in the house. My 15 month old goes through 2.5 gallons a week alone right now. My 4 year old would probably drink about the same if I would let her but she uses milk as an excuse to not eat the food I prepare for her. So her milk is now a reward for at least trying everything on her plate. (gotta mom smart, y’all) Depending on what I make for dinners and if we have chocolate syrup in the house, Ben and I can easily go through 2+ gallons between the two of us. (Dang! It’s a good thing we’re dairy farmers!)

Okay. So all that being said, if you have leftover milk each week and just really don’t know what to do with it, here are some ideas:

Yogurt!

lots of my customers make yogurt in their Instant Pots. I have not tried this yet, but I hear it’s real easy. You can also make it in the crock pot! <——this recipe I have tried with good results. Yogurt is a great option for adding a little extra probiotics to your diet. Sooo good for your tummy/gut health! Put it in smoothies, eat it with a little homemade jelly mixed in (or honey!), or use plain yogurt instead of sour cream in recipes and on tacos. (*Yogurt can be made using slightly sour milk. It will simply make the yogurt more tart)

Alfredo/white sauce

This is a great option for using up milk. Simply make a white sauce! I make these for A LOT of different recipes. You could easily make a big batch and freeze it for later. They work well in potato soup, homemade mac and cheese, broccoli/cheese soup, pasta alfredo, etc. just to name a few.

“Sour milk” pancakes

This one sounds weird. But we all know raw milk goes sour at some point. If you have milk that is too sour to drink left over, it actually makes delicious pancakes! (Think buttermilk pancakes.) Again, you can make a big batch and freeze.

Pudding

You may think you’ve eaten pudding before. “It’s that stuff in the box, right?” No. That’s NOT pudding. Real pudding made from real milk is literally one of the most delicious concoctions that has ever been invented. Don’t worry, I’ve got a great pudding recipe. It’s easy, it uses 2.5-5 cups of milk and if you freeze it, it’s basically ice cream. (think frozen custard) I can’t wait that long. I eat it hot right off the stove. Super awesome when it’s cold outside and you want something warm to stick to your bones.

Farmer’s cheese

This one is pretty simple as well. Farmer’s cheese can be so tasty on a variety of different things. Depending on if you add things into your farmer’s cheese, it could go on sweet or savory foods. Try this simple recipe. (recipe can easily be reduced)

So there you go! 5 awesome ideas to help you use up some of that leftover milk. (And stock your freezer for easy meals later!) You may find that you actually need to INCREASE your share if you use any of these!

Thanks Joanna!

I have one more recipe to add: rice pudding. It’s from another blogger’s post about how to use up extra milk as well. A single rice pudding recipe takes a quart of milk! However, it’s easily decreased or increased. You can use up that last cup of milk or your entire share. You can make it with either brown or white rice (I like white jasmine best) and either uncooked or cooked rice. The following recipe is for uncooked, but I provide an option for a single serving using leftover cooked rice and the pudding is made in the microwave.

Rice Pudding

From Kitchen Stewardship via Money Saving Mom (How to Use Up 3 Gallons of Milk in 1 Day)

• 1 cup rice (brown or white)
• 2 cups boiling water
• 4 cups milk
• 1/4-3/4 cup sugar, to taste
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1-2 Tbs butter

Boil rice in water for 15 minutes (brown rice) or 3 minutes (white). Drain off water. Add milk and bring carefully to a boil, medium heat, cover off, stirring often. Turn to low, cover and cook 60-90 minutes (brown) or 15-30 minutes (white) until pudding is thick and milk seems to have all been absorbed. Don’t stir too often during this time, but watch for scorching on the bottom of the pan. The finished product will have the consistency of a thick tapioca pudding, but it will gel up a bit after cooling. Turn off heat, then add sugar, vanilla and butter. Garnish with cinnamon.

You could easily make a double batch to knock out an entire half gallon of milk. Your family will thank you.

Options:

• Use honey and/or maple syrup in place of sugar.
• Add raisins at the end.
• Use almond extract instead of vanilla.
• Serve with fresh fruit in season.
• Rice pudding in a mug with leftover rice: https://www.today.com/recipes/5-minute-rice-pudding-mug-t69616
• Another milk pudding is posset: https://theadventurebite.com/lavender-honey-posset-easiest-entertaining-dessert-youve-never-heard/

Printable recipe here