Hey foodies! If you're like me, you hate to waste food, and will try new ways to keep things from going bad. That's exactly what I did recently when I realized I had bought too many yogurts with a close expiration date. I eat a lot of yogurt to be sure, probably around a quart per week, so I had grabbed a few at the store without realizing that by the time I got through those quarts it would be well past the expiration. So I googled how far past the date you can use yogurt, and if you can freeze it.
The internet said yes, you can freeze yogurt, and recommended to freeze it in ice cube trays (more on why that's important in a minute, lol). But I had a whole unopened quart I wanted to keep from turning, so I put the whole thing in the freezer.
So finally I went to use that yogurt, and I kinda expected it to be an ice cream consistency? That was wrong. It was a solid block of yogurt ice. I tried putting it in the microwave to soften it, and even after being on high for over two minutes, it was still a rock except for a tiny bit of melt on the top sides. So I put it in the fridge and left it there for two days.
Only after two days could I scoop some out and it was a bit like a frostbitten ice cream consistency, lol. The top had a different texture, but underneath looked a lot better. So I used some in my protein shake.
It tastes great, and sitting in the coldest part of my fridge (because yeah, I have one of those fridges that will freeze things if you shove them too far back), it maintains that frozen yogurt consistency. I've been using it in my shakes for several days now.
So that ice cube tray advice would have meant that I could have used it right away without needing to thaw it, and instead of adding ice to my shakes, the yogurt could have been double duty ice cubes and yogurt. If you are making smoothies with yogurt too, this is something to consider!
the proof is in the protein shake
It's always worth a look to see if you can preserve food somehow if you know something will go bad otherwise.
Thanks for reading!