Shelf Stable Dairy Products for Camping

One of my favorite discoveries for camping happened during a stocking-up moment during the pandemic shortages.  

I'm European by birth, and some of my earliest childhood memories include my grandmother pulling a quart of shelf-stable milk out of the pantry and serving room temperature in a tall glass.  Then the milk would go back on the shelf until next time someone wanted some or until it was empty.  Not exactly one of my fondest memories, as I was already used to cold American milk...

Nevertheless, shelf stable milk was one of the first things for which I searched when the pandemic hit.  I wondered if America even had shelf-stable milk, aside from the shelf-stable plant milks I saw in most grocery stores.

Yes, yes they do.   I found those single serving Carnation half and halfs (halves??) - Amazon - and canned Mexican table cream (crema) - Target -for my coffee.  I found Horizon Organic single serving milk cartons - Target - in strawberry, chocolate, 2%, and whole milk.  And best of all, I found that shelf stable milk is not repulsive when it's served cold.

This is not stuff I would use every day, mind you, just because I find the packaging on most of it to be very wasteful (I do not think Tetra packs can be recycled).  However, for camping, it is great.  The individual creamers don't need to be kept cold at all, and the individual milk cartons can be put in the cooler a few hours before you want to drink them cold, which saves on cooler space for the rest of the stuff.

And if you're cool with room temp milk, like a lot of my European relatives, then the cooler isn't even necessary! 

         Below are products I recommend.  If you buy through the link, I receive a small percent of the price at no cost to you.