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How Long Does a Box/Carton of Ice Cream Last?


mathmarm
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Mostly it is Hubby and 2 school aged kids that are eating ice cream in our house hold and the 3 of them are clearing 1 to 1.5 cartons a week. We've never been big ice cream eaters but this year we are spending a lot on ice cream.

 

How long does a carton of Ice Cream last at your place?

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When we have ice cream in the house and DH is around, he and the kids will easily clean out a "quart" size ice cream container in two days.   To have it last a whole week would be heavenly.

 

Quart in parenthesis because the cartons have shrunk over the years.  Also, depending on the brands, it also seems like the ice cream compresses more when it is scooped (meaning more air in the ice cream), and then it doesn't stretch as far either. 

 

An average serving here is two scoops for the kids, three scoops for DH.  I seldom eat ice cream.

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We've had some get freezer burned and get thrown out here.

 

It all depends upon our whims I suppose.  If we eat it reasonably often, perhaps 2 weeks?

 

We don't eat it often and we don't eat much when we do eat it.

 

We're far more likely to eat fruit for dessert or snacks.

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We get it, the four of us eat it twice usually and it's all gone. The twice could be two days in a row or could be several days apart. Dh usually has a few bites in the middle of the night (while he's working from home at his weird job) so it's probably more than 8 servings, but not by much.

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I don't ever keep ice cream around, we just buy it to eat that day and if there's some left over, that's a bonus for me because I usually can get to it before anyone else does the next day.  Two of the three children are gone for the summer right now though, so we can get two rounds of ice cream from a container. I think the one we usually get here is 1.3 liters.

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Dh and I each eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's every week.  We have tiny baby spoons and eat it from the carton after dinner. Just a bit- a little over a quarter of a cup. 

 

Dd wants quantity so she buys what used to be half gallons and eats every week or two.  Actually she'd prefer both quantity and quality but can't afford both. And she LOVES ice cream- eats it year round, even when it's well below zero outside. 

 

Ds might eat ice cream five times a year. Pretty sure he was switched at birth. 

 

 

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I buy it once or twice during the summer. I serve using a half cup measuring cup and we own small bowls.  DH and 2 boys each get one half cup serving. It last long enough for me to find it in the back of the freezer all freezer burned because we didn't finish it.

 

We have 2 really good ice cream shops within 10 mins walking distance. If we want ice cream we will walk for it.

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As a grad student I had a quart a day habit in summers.  I lived in Canbridge, Mass where there were two competing high quality ice cream vendors: Brigham's and Bailey's almost side by side in the square, so every carton was hand packed.  Now we buy the half gallon of Haagen Daz and it lasts a while (still 64 ounces).  I got in trouble yesterday when there was none of the 28 ounce "quart" left to go on the blackberry cobbler. We went  a long while too with no ice cream, but it has been 90 degrees for 8 days in a row.  We picked about 2 gallons of blackberries today too, so we will be hitting it a little harder soon.  (We live on a 5 acre lot, where even if you whack back the berries regularly you are still overwhelmed.)  I have always owned a hand crank ice cream maker too all my life, and this reminds me I have not used it this year.  To me, there is nothing like home made hand cranked "boiled custard" (you don't let it boil) ice cream.   My mom refused to eat store bought ever, "if I am going to break my diet it has to be worth it."

 

Oh and when we buy (or make) ice cream it is always vanilla, anything else is considered adulterated with artificial flavors and often worse stuff, i.e. guar gum, etc... The only ingredients allowed are milk, cream, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  If we want it flavored we add homemade blackberry schnapps, or freshly home made chocolate syrup (just sugar, cocoa, water and maybe a little vanilla, cooked until barely beginning to thicken, but still runny, not gummy like store bought), or in the old days cointreau, before we moved to a state that taxes such luxuries exorbitantly.

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Rarely more than an evening. It doesn't much matter how many are home. Well, with just one home it will still have some the next day, but two or three or more? definitely not over night. We don't buy ice cream on a regular basis. Flavor does matter...

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DH is the only ice cream eater here.  I buy him those small individual serving size cups.  They're very expensive compared to a carton, and the ice cream quality (and flavor selection) isn't nearly as good.  But it's the only way he keeps his portions under control.  He limits himself to no more than two of those small cups per night.

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We usually only get ice cream for some special dessert or something (like if we are having pie with ice cream) and it is really uncommon for us to finish the used-to-be-a-half-gallon carton before I decide the last bit is freezer burned and toss it. This is because my husband is a salty snacker, I am lactose intolerant and my boys think that small ramekins with about 1 small scoop are bowls of ice cream.

 

Sometimes I get a pint of coconut milk ice cream when I am PMSing and that lasts until the end of my period, so maybe a week.

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We used to purchase ice cream. We have ice cream issues. We were eating too much so Mommy made a rule years ago that it could only be consumed on the weekend. So, Daddy interpreted that rule as buy as much as possible on the weekend. That's right, daddy was dishing out 4 cartons over the course of a weekend every weekend. It was insane. So, mommy bade a new rule. Mommy would buy two cartons and when it was gone that was it.

 

Then mommy was given an ice cream maker for Christmas. She really didn't want it. Her mother gave it to her because she didn't know what else to get. Mommy was going to return it. Then, she came up with a new rule: the only ice cream the family eats is home made. This is not cheaper, but it does reduce ice cream consumption. Ice cream is only made on two weekend nights. The ice cream maker makes a bit less than a quart. We eat 2 quarts per weekend.

 

Mummy's latest rule has been in place 2.5 years. We haven't purchased any ice cream in that time.

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It is a staple here, everyone except hubby eats some daily. I always have mint chip, chocolate, vanilla and one or two interesting flavors on hand. 

 

This is in the freezer part of the kitchen fridge (an upright).  In the basement upright freezer are backup of the crucial mint chip and chocolates (my son with autism alternates those day by day).  I stockup on sale, but stick to decent brands.

 

 

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It is a staple here, everyone except hubby eats some daily. I always have mint chip, chocolate, vanilla and one or two interesting flavors on hand.

Growing up ice cream was a staple. We could run out of milk eggs or bread and wait a day or two to run to the grocery. However, if we were out of ice cream, my dad went into emergency mode and immediately headed to the store. We could have a bowl everyday if we wanted. And I thought that was completely normal and what all families did.

 

Dh's family ate all ice cream until it was gone no matter how much was purchased. So, they did not eat it everyday, but when they did eat it they went berserk. In college, I realized my family ate a lot of ice cream. When I met dh, I realized my family actually had some restraint.

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Define "box/carton." Half a gallon? gallon? pint?

Those big 5 quart plastic buckets. Its in a square shape so I'm not sure if it qualifies as a bucket, carton or a box.

 

 

Oooh, the kids LOVE it when I bring home an actual bucket.  Then they get ice cream every day if they want it.

 

A bucket will last about 2/2.5 weeks this time of year, but only because DH is working out of town, so is only eating it on the weekends.  If he were home, I would say a bucket a week.  

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I can't have dairy anymore. My son and husband can finish a 1/2 gal in two nights. If the girls eat too it can go even faster. I have a great ice cream maker and used to make homemade ice cream all the time, but now I just don't think about it. I tend to forget to buy dairy at all. 

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Me? Ice cream goes on pie or maybe with cake. Or cobbler. Yum. Then it freezer burns.

 

But if we buy a flavor that everyone else likes on its own... Think Ben and Jerry's... DD and I will have a tiny bowl. DH will eat the rest that night while working.

 

DS has his own allergy friendly ice cream. I usually throw away the freezer burned dregs.

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Vanilla lasts a couple of weeks, but any "good" flavor lasts about 2 days. Tillamook is probably a local brand, Umpqua too, but they have some dangerously good flavors. They are high quality with clean ingredient lists. Some favorites:

 

Chocolate Brownie Thunder

Marionberry Pie (has bits of pie crust in it--and marionberries of course)

Chocolate Peanut Butter

Udderly Chocolate is this year's favorite--chocolate and white chocolate with little chocolate chips

 

Plus the more traditional Cookies 'n Cream and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

 

I usually buy 1 half gallon a week (and I think Tillamook and Umpqua are both still 1/2 gallon). When there's a good sale (Tillamook for $3), I might buy two. We also make ice cream several times a summer--usually vanilla but also coffee, chocolate or peak-of-season fresh strawberry or peach.

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I cannot fathom having ice cream get freezer burn. I have never seen that happen. How long does it take. If people know ice cream is there, why isn't it getting eaten? I mean, I really don't understand.

 

That's ok.  I'm having a tough time understanding how individuals can eat so much ice cream.  I had no idea... Nightly?  And large portions?  Even when we're on vacation we don't want ice cream all the time - and I consider those portions huge.

 

Ice cream is a fairly rare desire here, more common when it's hot - or, say - when there's a thread about it (just finished a SMALL bowl of mint chocolate chip - the only variety we have currently other than some Klondike bars).

 

I've no idea how long it takes to freezer burn, but each fall I get to toss some out.  I'd guess a couple of months.

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I thought this would be an expiration question.

 

It depends on the type of ice-cream. Cookies and cream... we are six, and it lasts a week. Two desserts (12 servings).

 

Salted caramel? If I buy a pint, it lasts about a week, but only because we hide it for the bigs. ;)

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That's ok.  I'm having a tough time understanding how individuals can eat so much ice cream.  I had no idea... Nightly?  And large portions?  Even when we're on vacation we don't want ice cream all the time - and I consider those portions huge.

 

Ice cream is a fairly rare desire here, more common when it's hot - or, say - when there's a thread about it (just finished a SMALL bowl of mint chocolate chip - the only variety we have currently other than some Klondike bars).

 

I've no idea how long it takes to freezer burn, but each fall I get to toss some out.  I'd guess a couple of months.

 

We simply do not each that much sugar.  Each kid gets a sugary something 3-4 times a week. 1 cookie, 1 scoop of ice cream etc.  

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We usually buy 2 different kinds, one will get finished off before it goes bad but not both, so a few weeks to go through 2 bryer's cartons.  We love ice cream but we don't tend to over-indulge (same for most deserts except cookies). 

 

 

*ETA- this is self limiting on everyone's part.  If we want to pig out on ice cream we do but for one reason or another we just don't very often.

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We rarely buy a carton (maybe 2-4 times a year). When we do, a box lasts us about one or two weeks, depending on who is eating it, if anyone remembers it is in the freezer, etc....

 

We are more likely to go by a local ice cream place & get a scoop to eat there. Not super-often, but that way it is easy for everyone to get a flavor s/he likes.

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