"Boxed" milk shelf life

   Thought somebody might need to know this. I bought boxed milk, both "real" milk (Parmalat) and soy milk. When purchased, they had about 6 months to the expiration date. I put them in the spare refrigerator. BF has taken its sweet time getting here and the boxes are now a year past their expiration dates. I've started to use them on my cereal and they all taste perfect even though they are way out of time. I am sure that the refrigeration makes a big difference.

I use my spare frig and the freezer to keep some of my supplies and even rotate some in and out of the refrigeration to extend shelf life of multiple items.
    

It's amazing to me how long something is good after the expiration dates. We had some tortillas that were 4 months beyond the expiration and ate them and they were perfectly fine. I have experienced that with all types of food. I had some powdered milk that was close to expiring,put it in a food safe bag and viola! Good for another two years!i  

I think you can put dried milk or any dried food in half gallon canning jars with an oxygen absorber and it will be good for a LONG time.

I have purchased Parmalat in the past. Once opened it keeps much longer than regular milk in the refrigerator.  And the taste is much better than canned milk. I keep all of it in the fridge. I have never kept any on the shelf.

I agree on using many things past their expiration dates. There are exceptions, of course. And as you read, be careful in confusing sold by and used by dates. Called one company and they finally replied. Their "use by" expiration date was 6 months before the date they said the antibacteria wipes were out of date. IE on the box it had one date and their call said they were good for 2 years.

I have a lot of powdered milk in boxes on hand. If it is the large cans (more exp) I wouldn't worry at all about its shelf life. The boxes have all beeen fine, even tho use them past the experation date. But I think the idea below is good, and as soon as I can I will begin putting them into vacuum food safe bags, large amounts at a time, just for extra protection.

If you don't have a vacuum food machine, they are worth their weight in gold. And you can buy the bags online for much less than store prices. I just get rolls, seal the bottom (the side seals are already made for you, cut to size, fill, vacuum air out, and seal. Very fast. I go through by buckets of sealed foods about every 6 months to take out any seals that have failed and either redo them or eat them.

Rocky at homeemergencyusa.com

Hotair wrote: It's amazing to me how long something is good after the expiration dates. We had some tortillas that were 4 months beyond the expiration and ate them and they were perfectly fine. I have experienced that with all types of food. I had some powdered milk that was close to expiring,put it in a food safe bag and viola! Good for another two years!i

    

Someone mentioned on here about the vacuum sealers and that you could get bags real cheap on line...does anyone know where?