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Comment by lucaspiller | Hacker News Reader

> forever spoil cheese and milk

I guess the quality of the food you have in the US is very different to what we have in Europe (or we just have lots of preservatives). Fresh milk usually lasts a week (I usually get the smallest 250ml pack), where as I can have 1 litre of UHT milk last a month without any noticeable difference. Cheese... well it lasts until it's eaten, it just goes a bit hard. I've had a packet of grated parmesan in the fridge for nearly a month, and a wedge of pecorino uncovered for two months, and both are still good.

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It lasts as about the same. You can get the UHT most places i've been to, but it is not particular popular. The problem is more about purchasable quantity. 1/2 gallon (~2 liters) is the smallest "normal" size for Milk, you can definitely buy pints, and liters as well. The cost-per-unit definitely goes up below 1/2 gallon.

It is the same quality as you get in the EU. Milk lasts a week or so in the US as well. UHT is mostly unheard of in the US because people actually like the taste of milk... ;)

Someone who is buying real cheese in the US is not really in the wheelhouse for soylent, we are probably talking about a big block of mass-produced yellow cheddar here. Most likely it is being stored improperly in a ziploc bag or similar and the retained moisture is causing premature mold growth.

Cheddar, hah I think you mean 'merican cheese

Ya got me. I was going to say "Kraft Velveeta (tm) cheese food product" but thought I might have been pushing it. ;)

Cheddar is a village in Somerset in Britain :)

According to Wikipedia cheddar is the most popular cheese in the UK but not, it turns out, in the US. In the US the most popular cheese is apparently … mozzarella.

Not sure what any of this goes to prove (that Yanks eat a _lot_ of pizza?) but I guess I'm trying to say that I associate cheddar with British cheese-making in the same way I'd associate brie with French, edam and gouda with Dutch, feta with Greek, manchego with Spanish, and so on.

As a single, and lactose-intolerant, person, I've tend to search out milk that lasts a bit longer than one week, but I've still thrown quite a bit away.

I eventually switched to lactose-free milk, which lasts longer and theoretically lets me consume it more freely, but... I've thrown some of that away, too, since I just don't drink enough of it to be worth buying.

It may be worth noting that I can buy a gallon of milk for $1.79. Throwing away the spoiled remains isn't expensive for me, it just feels wasteful.

In the US here. I bought milk a week ago that expires on Nov. 26th. Nearly every gallon I buy is good for at least 1.5 months. I don't buy the cheap store-brand gallon jug. I buy the nearly-cheap organic store-brand milk cartons.

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