Here's an interesting question from reader Julia! She has a collection of milk bottles and wants to put them to good use. She says:
How do you top a milk bottle?
I want to use milk bottles to store beverages in the fridge. They’re glass, the opening is large enough for reasonably easy washing, and they don’t take up too much space. The bottles are also easy to obtain; this one is from a local dairy whose products are stocked at many grocery stores here, and the bottle deposit is a mere dollar.
I’m only lacking a re-usable lid. I’m looking into silicone or rubber corks, but thus far have only found them available with a large minimum order.
Does anyone else know of a solution, and a source?
Cheers,
Julia
posted originally from: AT:Kitchen
Check out American Science and Surplus (www.sciplus.com) they tend to have corks and rubber stoppers that you can buy one at a time.
They also have tons of other cool stuff.
view Geeka's profile
I get milk delivered in glass bottles every week, and I'm in Boston. These places still exist! If you contact Crescent Ridge Dairy, they might be able to direct you to a supplier. When I got my fist delivery, they gave me two un-branded reusable caps that are easier to get off than the caps they package their milk with.
Alternatively, you could email me and beg me to send you all my caps that I've been saving for absolutely no good reason...
hipersons atttt gmail
view hipersons's profile
In case others have this idea and hipersons runs out of caps: I believe craft stores like Michaels sells corks in a reasonable quantity for a reasonable size. If you can't find the exact size, pick something slightly larger as they're not difficult to trim down.
view jamjaree's profile
I LOVE Crescent Ridge!
I live in Sharon, and we go there all the time for their fresh homemade ice cream...
And the do sell plastic lids with a spout that goes on top of the milk bottle. through the magic of google, I found a place that sells them:
http://www.localamishfarms.com/glass_milk_bottles_for_sale.htm
and here is the cap I had in mind:
http://www.localamishfarms.com/pour_spouts.htm
I used to use a Crescent Ridge milk bottle to make cold-brewed ice coffee... but I had forgotten all about these lids. Now that is a really great idea...
view lhc's profile
I buy milk in Strauss creamery bottles which are returnable. I've used many of them to store grain in my pantry. These bottles have reusable plastic caps. I can also save some and send them to you.
view SFGail's profile
My local dairy sells milk in glass bottles with a $1 deposit- however, their cost to purchase these bottles is MORE than $1 each. They lose a lot of money each year from people not returning their bottles, but they've found customers won't stand for a deposit any higher than $1. So if you're planning on keeping a lot of your glass bottles, you may want to check with the dairy first.
view Silli's profile
Good point Silli. I had assumed that the $1 deposit covered their costs, but I'll check with them!
view Juliakay's profile
Is there some reason you can't just put a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper on top with a rubber band? I know it's not an especially sexy solution, but it works quite well, is free, and (so long as you reuse the cling wrap) has basically zero impact. In my experience, cling wrap is mostly spill proof, as long as you keep the rubber band tight. Wax paper is not. I don't have kids, but I imagine it might be hard for kids to get the rubber band off by themselves.
view sarasomeone's profile
What about buying something more permanent? That same science place has flasks that you could turn upside down inside the milk bottle. this one should fit fine...
http://www.sciplus.com/singleItem.cfm/terms/12610
view soljb's profile