Oh no points down so I don't impale myself - I'm getting careless in my old age. Other day I was shaking the water off a spoon I'd just rinsed. Whacked the top off a glass that was sitting in the sink.
That used to be the case in mine until I learnt to STFU! :-)
Hah. Yesterday I had a tin (large) of paint (dulux, not the cheap stuff) be ing used as a weight to hold two pieces of wood together while the glue set , until I knocked it all off the worktop and the tin of paint split and dis gorged its contents on the kitchen floor.
After mopping up with a bucket of water with fairy and turps in, I managed to dislodge the bucket of painty turpsy water whilst emptying it in the sin k and sent the whole caboodle sloshing along the worktop.
That's just sensible; I do that too.
Owain
Oh, there definitely is! However, *her way* might not necessarily be the right way. Since I make frequent mugs of tea (brewed in the pot btw) with a dash of pasteurised, I'm responsible for a good 90% of the occasions when the milk has to be retrieved and returned to the fridge in this household.
Over the years, I've come to the conclusion that to get the longest life out of a 4 pint bottle, it's best to be gentle with it (parking it on the hinge end of the door pocket and avoid splashing droplets onto the underside of its screw top) and keep its excursion time to a bare minimum to prevent unwanted warming of milk droplets above the milk line and any that might be attached to the underside of the screw top. These areas of the container are subject to the most rapid warming up effect from ambient room air.
Whilst the bulk of the milk will nicely retain its fridge chill when the bottle is left parked on the worktop for 5 to 10 minutes[1], the same can't be said for any milk droplets residing elsewhere in the bottle and it only needs one of these droplets to turn sour or culture an unwanted bacterial colony to set the rest of the contents off.
A life extending routine (for the milk, that is!), when raiding the fridge to put a drop of milk into a mug or a cup for a brew up or a coffee, is to ready said crockery and pour as soon as possible after taking it out of the fridge and removing the top, keeping hold of said top for immediate replacement after dispensing the milk followed by an immediate and gentle return to its spot on the fridge door shelf, next to the door hinge, not forgetting to properly close the fridge door straight away. Oh, and, for added measure, close the fridge door in between retrieval and dispensing the milk (don't worry about the extra door opening/closing cycle this involves, it's surprising how swiftly the air temperature can rise in a fridge when its door has been left ajar for a mere ten seconds or so).
It's very rare that we find ourselves having to dump the unused contents before the BB date (usually selected at the time of purchase to give us a week or more before the BB date expires). In fact, we (or rather I) often manage to get anywhere from 2 to 4 days beyond the BB date before starting to detect any signs of sourness or other indication of 'badness'.
Since I brew in the pot and put the milk into the mug first, it's been my habit for many years to use that opportunity to sniff and taste the milk beforehand which provides me with an early warning system to detect the earliest signs of the milk 'going on the turn'.
Whilst my sage advice above might seem like a lot of faffing about, the routine of it is as slick as any of the more 'carefree' and cavalier milk handling systems in use by others "less obsessed". I do it not because I have to but because I *can*. :-)
[1] When I first started this policy of absolute minimum exposure to room temperature, it was more out of curiosity as to whether this could improve the chances of a bottle of milk actually managing to attain its BB date without going off. TBH, I hadn't considered what now seems to be the real issue, thinking only of the bulk temperature of the contents which, after all would only increase by a fraction of a degree for a ten to 15 minute exposure which really should have had almost no impact on its 'keeping qualities'.When I realised that my changed 'milk handling routine' was actually producing results, I had to stop and think again. Only then did it occur to me that the problem of shortened life was a consequence of the milk droplets above the 'milk line' being more rapidly warmed up by the relatively brief exposure to a room temperature environment (maybe 5 or
10 minutes at a time as opposed to ten seconds or so when I changed my routine).Once just a droplet or two of milk has begun to turn, this can act as a trigger on the bulk of the milk despite its low storage temperature if and when it subsequently mixes with it. This why it's preferable to store it upright on the door pocket shelf and avoid storing the milk on its side on a shelf. There *is* a right and a wrong way to store milk in the fridge. If the wife suggests that storage on the door pocket shelf in an upright orientation is the only correct way, then, for Gawd's sake don't argue the point with her, she's right!
I thought it was just me. ;-)
Chris
People do get killed by falling onto cutlery in a dishwasher, 2 a year I vaguely half remember. With 65 million people, that 1 in 30 million event happens.
But far more people are killed by food poisoning, so its pointy bits up here. The sharpest knives can go at the back.
NT
Lying them down on shelves is certainly wrong. Somehow they always leak.
NT
Or get a Miele with the 3rd mini cutlery tray - that solves the problem nicely :)
On 19 Jul 2015, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com grunted:
But I suspect not by being impaled on a dessert spoon, as I continually berate her...
That's yet *another* reason not to lay them down on a shelf. Piss poor fridge design issues aside, the best place is on the bottom door pocket shelf at the hinge end. The idea being to minimise disturbance as well as time spent outside of the fridge for more than is strictly necessary (a matter of less than ten seconds when pre-charging a cup or three for a quick brew up or milky coffee(s), activities that most frequently account for the milk being moved out and back into the fridge on a regular daily basis).
Why not use a small milk jug kept out? I have maybe 10+ cups of tea a day when at home. Saves the bother etc.
I did a three week stint in the hospital laundry, when on the above machines we called ourselves calender girls
And you were all hot and steamy?
Thomas Prufer
Whilst on the subject of milk cartons, is it only me that finds it increasingly difficult to grip the tab and peel off the seal? I don't really want to have to keep the pliers in the kitchen.
Chris
Nope. I hate them, too.
we were that :-)
I'd considered that but it does add an extra level of complication. Ideally, you'd use a jug that'll fit on the shelf in the fridge (do-able but it does take up additional space you might not be able to spare).
If you can spare the shelving space and the extra cleaning out of the jug (you need to be reasonably thorough in this or else it can be a waste of time) at the start of the next day, that can be just as effective, if not more so.
I was just making the point (in my typical, long winded fashion - apologies for letting it all get 'out of hand' once again) that there
*actually* is a right and a wrong way to store your "Four Pinta" milk container in a fridge. :-)
A more common problem than I thought, then. Mine doesn't even try to arrange things so that the water reaches everything, and then moans that it doesn't work properly. Seems to take great delight in putting very light plastic beakers in that are guaranteed to turn over and fill up with water and bits of dishwasher tab residue, which then pours everywhere when you pull the racks out.
I just buy 1 litre bottles of milk - each one keeps just fine after opening until it's used.
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