When a gallon of milk is just too much for our family

I didn't think this would happen so soon. I got a Woohoo kind of deal on milk last week (really, it says so right on the price tag). It was 99 cents a gallon, and I also received the senior discount, bringing my price to 89 cents. I bought 5 gallons. I froze 4 of the gallons, right away. Then we started in on the 5th gallon. In the past, the fact that the milk was 2 days just before the sell-by date wouldn't have been a problem for us. But last week, one of my kids caught a nasty cold, and doesn't drink milk with a cold. Another kid is still drinking a higher fat content milk. And, I don't drink cow's milk. So, it was up to my husband and one daughter to consume a gallon in a matter of days. I made a batch of granola, to encourage some of the family members to use up this milk. Obviously, though, we fell behind in our milk consumption. Here, we were, November 9, 4 days past the sell-by date. Time to make haste with the milk!!

So, what was I to do?

Well, how about a batch of pancakes and a small batch of vanilla pudding.

Remember all of those apples?

How about a batch of apple muffins.

Then a couple of glasses of milk poured for dinner. Notice, the glassware doesn't match;-)

And what was left, about 1  1/2 cups, was put into a container for the freezer, for future pancakes.

What else could I have done with the milk (it's skim, so it wouldn't work very well for yogurt)? This isn't an idle question, as the very same set of circumstances could exist next week, when I thaw one of the other gallons.

Pumpkin Pie Frugal Hacks: The Crust

Those refrigerated, pre-rolled commercial crusts are super popular. I have friends and family who use them and think they're great. Many of us, here, just make our own crusts from scratch.

If you don't make your own pie pastry because you've never had success with a scratch crust, try this recipe. It's never gone wrong for me. The huge bonuses with this crust is it freezes well (either in a pie plate or as a patty of dough), and the recipe makes 5 crusts-worth of pastry.

When I first stumbled across this recipe, over 25 years ago, I was curious about a couple of the ingredients. So I did some research and here's what I discovered:

• the vinegar is a tenderizing ingredient
• the sugar is a tenderizing ingredient, but also adds a hint of flavor and browning
• the egg adds a bit of lightness to the baked crust, meaning that I can substitute 1 cup of whole wheat flour for 1 of the cups of all-purpose flour and still produce a good pastry. 

Fool-Proof Pie Crust (always tender and reliable)

This recipe makes a thin pie crust. If you prefer a thicker crust or your pie plate is extra large, divide the dough into 4 portions instead of 5.

This dough is freezer-friendly. Make the dough when you have time and freeze in patties or pie plates. Then when you bake a pie, you'll have the convenience of ready-made pastry

4 cups all-purpose flour (we like whole grains, here, so I use a blend of 1 part whole wheat to 3 parts all-purpose)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1  3/4 cups shortening
1 large egg
1/2 cup cold water
1 tablespoon vinegar

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and sugar. Cut in shortening.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, beat together the egg, water, and vinegar. 

Combine the dry and liquid ingredients. Mix until the flour mixture is well-moistened.

Chill dough for 30 minutes.

Divide into 5 portions, shaping each portion into a flat, round patty. Wrap individually in plastic wrap.

This dough is very forgiving. Additional flour and handling will not toughen the baked product.

The dough will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or you can freeze it for use later. If freezing the dough, thaw it for about 1 hour at room temp or overnight in the fridge before rolling out. (When I freeze patties of dough, I put the wrapped disks of pastry dough in a large Ziploc bag. That seems to be enough freezer protection for this dough for a few months.)

When freezer space is abundant, I roll out the dough and place into pie tins before freezing. Pie crust is then ready when I am to put together a quick pie with the convenience of a commercial ready-made crust, but with the cost of homemade. 

Patties can also be rolled out flat onto a sheet of waxed paper and then wrapped around empty paper towel tubes and frozen. This works well for a ready-made top crust for a pie. Rolled-up dough thaws beautifully and is easily transferred to the top of a two-crust fruit pie or a simple crust on top of a casserole of meat and vegetable filling for a pot pie.

Ready-made, name-brand pie pastry sells for $2.46 for a two-count package at Walmart. That's $1.23 per crust. This scratch pastry costs me $2.50 or less, for about 50 cents per crust. That's less than half the price of the name-brand, ready-made crust.