[Full disclosure - 2 cups provided to me for my kids to test drive]
Ottawa mom and engineer Gwenda Lindhorst-Ko had enough. Her son Jonathan was part of his school's milk program and it was chocolate milk he was drinking. The reason? The white milk didn't taste as good.
Now while many folks (me included) may have just immediately said, "Duh, kids like sugar", not Gwenda, and she wondered whether or not serving temperature may have something to do with it as after all, less than ice cold white milk isn't the best tasting beverage in the world. And she didn't just stop there, she decided to test her hypothesis by engineering and producing a product she's called, "myColdCup".
It's pretty easy to describe. Think a BPA free, stainless steel, 250mL thermos with a freezable insert and a kid friendly, leak proof lid. Basically you freeze the small insert and then snap it onto the inside of the lid, fill your cup with milk (or whatever beverage you want to stay cold) and away you go.
According to Gwenda it'll keep milk at lower than a fridge cold 4 degrees Celsius for 5 hours. According to my kids, "it was really cold, even at the end of the day!". Given it's meant to be carting milk around Gwenda also ensured it was wide mouthed so that it's easy to clean.
While there's definitely an outlay cost ($24.99), given the cost of home poured milk versus school based cartons, it'll pay for itself long before a school year's over.
If you're sick of your kids' school milk program choices and you're looking for an alternative, of if you just want the ability to keep your kids' (or your own) beverages cold, I'd recommend you give myColdCup a good look.
Available for purchase locally in Ottawa, or globally online via www.myColdCup.com