Re-refrigerating Beverages

Maybe I should know this, but I don't... coming off of total paranoia about formula and not re-refrigerating, I am realizing I don't know what the guidelines are!

My boys will drink a bit here and a bit there, but not a whole lot at once. I don't mind refreshing their water frequently, but their rice milk sippies are starting to make me crazy. Rice milk is $9 per gallon, so I hate to waste it. Is it safe to re-refrigerate something like that? What about a non-dairy homemade protein smoothie made of rice protein, fruit & juice? They have tons of food allergies, as many of you might know, so I have to try to get healthy stuff into them however I can-- liquid or solid!

 

I always re-refrigerate their drinks in their sippies. As long as the milk hasn't been sitting out a long time, or you are using the cup again the next day, I am sure it is fine. Well, I do it anyways.

 

I normally re-refridge for about 24hrs just about everything. So if they don't finish thier am milk sippy I just add some to it and then that night trash whatever is left. But we only do whole milk and water, not sure about rice milk, but I would bet it is the same

 

I re-refrigerate beverages too, although I'm sure food purists would say it's not a good idea. I read the back of my favorite cookbook once and it said eggs should only be kept in the refrigerator for four days, cheese for two weeks, cooked food for three days, etc. I don't follow any of those guidelines and I've been fine, so I figure that keeping milk out for an hour and then putting it back is fine. I will usually swap out the top of the sippy cup if I'm re-refrigerating. For some reason that makes me feel better, like their mouth germs can't multiply on the sippy top so they won't get sick.

 

If it's only been out of the fridge about half an hour or so, I don't see where there would be any harm in putting it back into the fridge. Like a PP I generally would start fresh the next day, but in the one day I'd just make sure the cups went back in as soon as they were done drinking.

 

We are re-frigerators too.

I never let it go for more than 18-24 hours, but I have as big of an issue with throwing out milk/food after every meal ecologically as I do financially. Foodwise, I just give out lots of small portions to avoid waste, re-refrigerating is my method for drinks. I also make sure to get it back in the frig quickly after meals if I need to re-serve it later.

 

We have always re-refrigerated their juice and milk for the rest of the day. What is left at the end of the day gets dumped when the sippies get washed.

 

I put their milk sippies back in the refrigerator after meals. They're insulated and usually only stay out for 20 minutes or so. If we take them to the park or something I dump them, but usually I just take water or get something to drink while we're out.

 

I don't know about rice milk, but A&S's milk is in & out of the fridge a few times during the day. We give them fresh milk at breakfast, and whatever they don't drink goes back in the fridge and comes back out at lunch (if we're home) and then again at dinner. We refill as necessary. At the end of the day we dump whatever's left. It's out of the fridge up to 30-45 minutes at each meal.

 

My boys have 2 sippies on the go all day - one for milk and another for watered-down juice. I just keep re-filling and re-refridgerating the same 2 sippies all day long and it works out really well. Then everything goes through the dishwasher over night. No problems at all.