I'm not sure if I should put this here or in the Food forum, so please move if necessary.

We had an unopened gallon of milk in the back of the fridge, went to pull it out to use Tuesday and it was frozen solid.  We left it on the counter with the lid off (expansion) for 1/2 an hour to start to thaw, turned down the fridge a bit and put it back in there.  Now there's a solid chunk of ice water in the middle with all of the (cream I guess??) liquid in the bottom of the jug.  Can I salvage this in any way, other than giving it to the cats as a treat? With the cost of milk, the thought of wasting a whole gallon of milk just kills me.

Frozen milk takes awhile to completely thaw. I would let it finish thawing then smell and sample it to be sure it's still good.

Thanks Brandy! I'll give that a shot.  I didn't want to leave it out too long, I was afraid what might have already thawed would start to turn since its a full gallon.

If you don't think it will last long enough to drink, make lots of recipes calling for milk. :) I usually make pudding (boxed kind), pancakes, mac & cheese (homemade) etc. when I have milk I need to use when it is starting to go. I have a friend who takes a "milk bath" and puts milk in her bath water for soft skin. But that just doesn't sound good to me, lol.

Your cat will love you for getting a special treat, too!

 Milk baths are fantastic especially when used with lavender scented goat's milk and oatmeal soap. I don't use fluid milk for this though. I use powdered.