We've all seen those little tubs of half-and-half that restaurants
serve with coffee. I'm trying to find a source to buy some of these
containing MILK, not half-and-half, to use in my tea at work. Right
now I buy a half-pint of milk on my way to work each morning and end
up wasting what's unused at the end of the day, which is usually at
least half. We don't have a fridge in our office. Does anyone know of
a source where I can buy these little containers of milk in bulk?

On Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:39:25 -0800, Fran wrote:

We've all seen those little tubs of half-and-half that restaurants serve
with coffee. I'm trying to find a source to buy some of these
containing MILK, not half-and-half, to use in my tea at work. Right now
I buy a half-pint of milk on my way to work each morning and end up
wasting what's unused at the end of the day, which is usually at least
half. We don't have a fridge in our office. Does anyone know of a
source where I can buy these little containers of milk in bulk?

Why not just get an appropriate bottle and put in about a quarter of a
pint of milk in the mornings? If there's any left at the end of the day
you can take it home with you. Saves wastage of milk and, more notably,
the huge amount of packaging associated with those little tubs. It will
probably be a lot cheaper as well.

Just use the bottle that comes with today's purchase of a half pint! Take
it home with you at the end of the day, wash it out, half re-fill it and
use it tomorrow morning!

Joss

I vote the "reuse and refill" route as well. I remember looking for
similar containers of milk a while back, but really had no luck. It's
better to buy yourself a quality container and fill it. That way, you
can choose EXACTLY what kind of milk you want.

It may also be worthwhile to invest in a very small fridge, like this
(http://www.smithgear.com/bebe-mf104.html). Not that exact one (since
that seems a bit pricey), but something like that that's unobtrusive
and fits the bill. You can also put other beverages in here, too, or
leftover food, if you need.

If you can't do that, you might want to just do a well-insulated lunch
cooler. Either way, you don't want to just let your milk sit out all
day if you can help it.


On Dec 8, 4:44 am, Joss Wright wrote:
On Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:39:25 -0800, Fran wrote:
We've all seen those little tubs of half-and-half that restaurants serve
with coffee. I'm trying to find a source to buy some of these
containing MILK, not half-and-half, to use in my tea at work. Right now
I buy a half-pint of milk on my way to work each morning and end up
wasting what's unused at the end of the day, which is usually at least
half. We don't have a fridge in our office. Does anyone know of a
source where I can buy these little containers of milk in bulk?

Why not just get an appropriate bottle and put in about a quarter of a
pint of milk in the mornings? If there's any left at the end of the day
you can take it home with you. Saves wastage of milk and, more notably,
the huge amount of packaging associated with those little tubs. It will
probably be a lot cheaper as well.

Just use the bottle that comes with today's purchase of a half pint! Take
it home with you at the end of the day, wash it out, half re-fill it and
use it tomorrow morning!

Joss

On Dec 8, 11:45 am, " wrote:
I vote the "reuse and refill" route as well. I remember looking for
similar containers of milk a while back, but really had no luck. It's
better to buy yourself a quality container and fill it. That way, you
can choose EXACTLY what kind of milk you want.

It may also be worthwhile to invest in a very small fridge, like this
(http://www.smithgear.com/bebe-mf104.html). Not that exact one (since
that seems a bit pricey), but something like that that's unobtrusive
and fits the bill. You can also put other beverages in here, too, or
leftover food, if you need.

If you can't do that, you might want to just do a well-insulated lunch
cooler. Either way, you don't want to just let your milk sit out all
day if you can help it.

On Dec 8, 4:44 am, Joss Wright wrote:

On Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:39:25 -0800, Fran wrote:
We've all seen those little tubs of half-and-half that restaurants serve
with coffee. I'm trying to find a source to buy some of these
containing MILK, not half-and-half, to use in my tea at work. Right now
I buy a half-pint of milk on my way to work each morning and end up
wasting what's unused at the end of the day, which is usually at least
half. We don't have a fridge in our office. Does anyone know of a
source where I can buy these little containers of milk in bulk?

Why not just get an appropriate bottle and put in about a quarter of a
pint of milk in the mornings? If there's any left at the end of the day
you can take it home with you. Saves wastage of milk and, more notably,
the huge amount of packaging associated with those little tubs. It will
probably be a lot cheaper as well.

Just use the bottle that comes with today's purchase of a half pint! Take
it home with you at the end of the day, wash it out, half re-fill it and
use it tomorrow morning!

Joss

I used to bring some milk from home with me, but have gotten out of
the habit -- usually because I'm in too much of a hurry to get out the
door to remember it most days. And then there's judging the amount
I'll need. Sometimes I get in an extra cup or two, which requires
more milk. If I don't use it, it gets wasted, because as I said
before, there is no refrigerator. We're not allowed to bring in our
own refrigerators.

Years ago an Au Bon Pain restaurant that I used to go to from time to
time had the little tubs of milk along side the little tubs of half-
and-half, so you could help yourself to whichever you wanted. I have
not seen those little tubs in years. Now Au Bon Pain just has milk
and cream in thermal jugs.

why not just put a day's worth of milk into an INSULATED THERMOS? in this
day and age, you can find all sorts, sizes, colors etc etc.
just my $.02...

"Joss Wright" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 07 Dec 2007 11:39:25 -0800, Fran wrote:

We've all seen those little tubs of half-and-half that restaurants serve
with coffee. I'm trying to find a source to buy some of these
containing MILK, not half-and-half, to use in my tea at work. Right now
I buy a half-pint of milk on my way to work each morning and end up
wasting what's unused at the end of the day, which is usually at least
half. We don't have a fridge in our office. Does anyone know of a
source where I can buy these little containers of milk in bulk?

Why not just get an appropriate bottle and put in about a quarter of a
pint of milk in the mornings? If there's any left at the end of the day
you can take it home with you. Saves wastage of milk and, more notably,
the huge amount of packaging associated with those little tubs. It will
probably be a lot cheaper as well.

Just use the bottle that comes with today's purchase of a half pint! Take
it home with you at the end of the day, wash it out, half re-fill it and
use it tomorrow morning!

Joss

"Fran" wrote in message
...
On Dec 8, 11:45 am, " wrote:
I vote the "reuse and refill" route as well. I remember looking for
similar containers of milk a while back, but really had no luck. It's
better to buy yourself a quality container and fill it. That way, you
can choose EXACTLY what kind of milk you want.

I agree. There are ways for you to have your milk and drink it, too.

If you can't do that, you might want to just do a well-insulated lunch
cooler. Either way, you don't want to just let your milk sit out all
day if you can help it.

On Dec 8, 4:44 am, Joss Wright wrote:

Why not just get an appropriate bottle and put in about a quarter of a
pint of milk in the mornings? If there's any left at the end of the
day
you can take it home with you. Saves wastage of milk and, more
notably,
the huge amount of packaging associated with those little tubs. It
will
probably be a lot cheaper as well.

Just use the bottle that comes with today's purchase of a half pint!
Take
it home with you at the end of the day, wash it out, half re-fill it
and
use it tomorrow morning!

Joss

I used to bring some milk from home with me, but have gotten out of
the habit -- usually because I'm in too much of a hurry to get out the
door to remember it most days.

Is there any reason you're not able to pour it into a thermal container the
night before so the only thing you have to do is grab it from the
refrigerator on your way out?

And then there's judging the amount
I'll need. Sometimes I get in an extra cup or two, which requires
more milk. If I don't use it, it gets wasted, because as I said
before, there is no refrigerator. We're not allowed to bring in our
own refrigerators.

I don't see any reason for it to go to waste if you use a Thermos or prepare
a little ice chest or both. I have a 6-pack cooler that keeps ice very well
for several hours and a 12-pack cooler with which I travel. I keep milk,
margarine, cheese, mayonnaise, etc., in it using motel ice machines. In a
motel room, ice is still there and the contents still cold, 24 hours later.
Both are hard-sided. My soft-sided 6-pack expandable to 9-cans cooler
doesn't keep ice as well as my hard-sided coolers, but the contents do stay
cool enough even in the car during the summer.

There are blue ice refreezable bricks, too, so you don't have to deal with
ice cubes. If you get enough for two coolers, you can use one (set) during
the day while the other (set) is freezing for tomorrow.

Maybe you could also freeze your milk. If you freeze it half-way, you might
be able to use the unfrozen liquid while the frozen milk thawed. I used to
know a family of 6 that went through milk like it was a chugging contest.
The mother didn't want to go to the store every other day, so she bought
gallons and put all into their garage freezer but two that went into the
refrigerator. When one gallon was empty, she pulled a gallon from the
freezer and put it into the refrigerator where it defrosted while the other
gallon was being consumed. Sometimes, the milk wasn't completely thawed when
they opened the container. They all said they couldn't taste any difference
between the milk that went directly into the refrigerator and the milk that
went into the freezer, first.

You could also switch to a tea that doesn't need milk.

--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

On Dec 8, 9:31 pm, "Bluesea" wrote:


Is there any reason you're not able to pour it into a thermal container the
night before so the only thing you have to do is grab it from the
refrigerator on your way out?

No. I'll have to look around and see if I can find a suitably sized
thermos. I already bring one thermos of iced tea for my lunch. If I
can find a very small one for milk, that might work, otherwise it gets
to be too much paraphenalia to lug around.


You could also switch to a tea that doesn't need milk.

Heretic! VBG

This would probably work nicely, though I'm a little afraid that my
colleagues wouldn't believe that it was MILK I was adding to my tea.
VBG

http://www.instawares.com/stainless-...508set.0.7.htm

"Fran" wrote in message
...
On Dec 8, 9:31 pm, "Bluesea" wrote:

Is there any reason you're not able to pour it into a thermal container
the
night before so the only thing you have to do is grab it from the
refrigerator on your way out?

No. I'll have to look around and see if I can find a suitably sized
thermos. I already bring one thermos of iced tea for my lunch. If I
can find a very small one for milk, that might work, otherwise it gets
to be too much paraphenalia to lug around.

LOL - You'll have to get a tote just as I put tea things together in a small
bag for my tea kit for road trips.

You could also switch to a tea that doesn't need milk.

Heretic! VBG

Yes, I can be mean that way, sometimes .

--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

If you don't mind buying the half-pints and just don't like throwing
out leftover milk, you could drink what's left before you go home for
the day.

Alan

"Fran" wrote in message
...
On Dec 8, 9:31 pm, "Bluesea" wrote:

You could also switch to a tea that doesn't need milk.

Heretic! VBG

I was looking through my tea journal for another reason and found a note for
one tea about needing to add milk when the steep was increased by 30
seconds. Maybe your tea is like that, too, where your decreasing the steep
time by 15-30 seconds makes it taste good without your having to add milk.

Just an idea.

--
~~Bluesea~~
Spam is great in musubi but not in email.
Please take out the trash before sending a direct reply.

I KNOW! Dry whole milk. I bought a can of Nido (by Nestle) at a Middle
Eastern market and it's pretty good. Not like that nasty non-fat milk
powder or non-dairy creamer. In fact, even reconstituted with water it
tastes pretty good. I just sprinkle some in my tea and it dissolves
right away.

http://www.amazon.com/Nestle-Nido-In.../dp/B00032B982

On Dec 13, 6:56 pm, Alan wrote:
I KNOW! Dry whole milk. I bought a can of Nido (by Nestle) at a Middle
Eastern market and it's pretty good. Not like that nasty non-fat milk
powder or non-dairy creamer. In fact, even reconstituted with water it
tastes pretty good. I just sprinkle some in my tea and it dissolves
right away.

http://www.amazon.com/Nestle-Nido-In.../dp/B00032B982

Reconstituted milk powder used to be the standard practice in factory
tea rooms (for hourly QC tasting of the manufacture) on boondocks tea
estates making gutsy teas that required milk for tasting. I think the
last place I had tea so made was in Rwanda in 2004, but I always keep
a tin at hand in my office in case the refrigerated milk runs out
before the end of the day.

Nigel at Teacraft

On Dec 14, 3:50 am, Nigel wrote:
On Dec 13, 6:56 pm, Alan wrote:

I KNOW! Dry whole milk. I bought a can of Nido (by Nestle) at a Middle
Eastern market and it's pretty good. Not like that nasty non-fat milk
powder or non-dairy creamer. In fact, even reconstituted with water it
tastes pretty good. I just sprinkle some in my tea and it dissolves
right away.

http://www.amazon.com/Nestle-Nido-In.../dp/B00032B982

Reconstituted milk powder used to be the standard practice in factory
tea rooms (for hourly QC tasting of the manufacture) on boondocks tea
estates making gutsy teas that required milk for tasting. I think the
last place I had tea so made was in Rwanda in 2004, but I always keep
a tin at hand in my office in case the refrigerated milk runs out
before the end of the day.

Nigel at Teacraft

Thank you both. I've tried the nonfat dry milk in the past, and while
it is better than nothing, it doesn't always dissolve completely.
I've never seen dry whole milk. I shall have to give it a try. Has
anyone ever seen it in a supermarket -- or is my best bet just to
order this Nido product online?