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D.C. Area Babies
How much $ do you spend on milk and where do you buy it?
Now that M is drinking more WCM, I realize how expensive it can be. I'm wondering if I can find some better prices. So, some questions:
1) How much milk does your family go through in a week?
2) What kind of milk do you buy? (WCM or something else? whole, 2% or skim? organic or regular?)
3) Where do you buy it from and how much do you spend per gallon/half gallon?
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Re: How much $ do you spend on milk and where do you buy it?
1) About 3/4 gallon. This includes M's consumption and we also use it in our coffee and occasional cooking.
2) Organic whole cow milk
3) I've been buying Organic Valley brand from WF for about $4.50 per half gallon.
1) We've reduced it to a gallon/week since I stopped eating cereal and switched to oatmeal for breakfast
2)Whole Organic Cow milk (everyone drinks this, I didn't feel like buying two different kinds DH and I used to drink just 1%
3) It was on sale the last two weeks at $4.97, but it's gone up to $6.79 (ouch!). Giant is $6.59 i think but it is ultra-pasteurized, I heard that takes a lot of the nutrients out.
Off to the beach
DS 7/18/2010
Handy 2.0 Due Early August
2011/2012 Races
12/17/2011 Christmas Caper 10K
2/11/2012 Have a Heart 5K
3/17/2012 DC RNR Half Marathon
4/22/2012 10M Parkway Classic
10/28/2012 Marine Corps Marathon
We go through 2-3 gallons a week.
2% organic
Wherever I'm shopping- Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Wegmans, etc.
1. Probably close to a gallon, but I buy half gallons, because sometimes we go through less and I ended up with a lot of spoiled milk
2. Was buying whole milk for DD#2 and skim deluxe for the rest of us, but now that she's 2, the dr said she can drink whatever, so we'll probably go with 1% or skim for everyone. I buy regular.
3. Safeway usually--2.59 for a half gallon.
we aren't big milk drinkers
1) probably a gallon, but only if we make oatmeal/pancakes that week (i cook my oatmeal with milk, usually a combination of sow and CM)
2) most weeks we buy a 1/2 gallon of soy milk, 1/2 gallon of 2%CM and sometimes a quart of almond milk
3) usually TJs...have no idea how much we spend but it's less than what we were paying when we did the majority of our shopping at harris teeter
C is a serious milkaholic. He commonly drinks a good 24+ oz of whole milk a day. He eats fine and keeps the same 50th percentile weight that he's always had so we're not worried, but he is a hard core milk fiend.
With that in mind:
About 1-1.5 gallons a week (I use a small amount in cooking and coffee, but it's mostly C)
Organic whole. It generally has more omegas and pedi never mentioned switching, so we haven't.
Costco or Mom's. I think MOM's organic whole is actually cheaper, but they're both a little more than $5/gallon.
ETA: Mom's might be less than $5/gallon, now that I think about it. I remember being surprised that it was cheaper than Costco.
2) What kind of milk do you buy? (WCM or something else? whole, 2% or skim? organic or regular?) Regular WCM for the LOs.
3) Where do you buy it from and how much do you spend per gallon/half gallon? Costco, and we pay $3.59/gallon, I think. All I know is that it's $0.50/gallon cheaper than Target milk and that savings alone pays for our Costco membership.
1) We drink nearly a gallon per week.
2) Organic 1%
3) I get milk at Harris Teeter - I think it's $5.50 or $6/gal for their store brand organic. I'd prefer Organic Valley, but they only sell the lactose free kind and DH won't drink that. I'd shop around for a better price, but since that's where I do all of my grocery shopping I'm not sure it's worth driving to another store to save maybe a dollar per week.
DS isn't drinking much milk yet, but DH drinks a lot. He also does most of our comparison shopping and determined that costco was the cheapest for organic (1% or 2%, can't remember) milk. We buy the one that comes with 3, 1/2 gallon cartons.
Sorry I don't know the exact price, but he compared against WF, Giant and Target.
sprout drinks less than a gallon/wk (maybe 3/4?)
organic whole milk from WF. Organic Valley by the gallon is like 5.69 or something at my store...a MUCH better buy than buying 2-ish half-gallons. And he still can drink it fast enough before it goes bad. I just have to go to the grocery every 10 days or so instead of every 7 (so, a special trip for milk usually)
1) About 3/4 gallon
2) organic 2% milk
3) Depends. We've gotten it at Giant, WF, Trader Joe's, and Target. I think WF is the most expensive ($4.50/half gallon, as you said) and Giant is also pricey--I just paid $6.69 for a gallon. I've seen 1/2 gallons at Target and Trader Joe's for $3.75 or so, so I think that's where we're going to get it from now on.
Oh--just realized this was about families, not just LOs. DH and I probably go through 1/2-3/4 gallon of skim per week, and we just get regular (non-organic) at Giant. I think it's about $3.50-$4 gallon?
TTC #2: BFP 12/17/11, m/c 1/7/12 and D&C 1/12/12
baby blog/cooking blog
We buy ours at Costco, WCM, regular. I've really grown to appreciate the space saving bottle. Sometimes we buy it at TJ's where it is $2.99 a gallon. Both stores milk are hormone free. We go through 3/4 a gallon a week with mostly just DD drinking it when she's home and me using it in coffee or pancakes. DS still won't drink it. And he's still nursing.
FWIW, we eat a lot of organic products, but mass market organic milk is not one of them. In my reading about it, there are a lot of doubters that it provides anything but more profit for the company producing it. When I lived in Falls Church, I used to get my milk weekly at the Farmers Market which was really spendy but I knew the source. We've looked into milk delivery, but it is too expensive for us right now. Just something to think about.
I didn't even know they sold it in gallons. My WF only has half-gallons and I haven't seen it anywhere else either.
We spend a ton of money on milk. All 4 of us are big milk drinkers.
1) How much milk does your family go through in a week? 3-4 gallons
2) What kind of milk do you buy? organic skim (DH and DD), organic 2% (DS) and lactose free skim (me)
3) Where do you buy it from and how much do you spend per gallon/half gallon? Wegman's is $5.50/gallon for organic and $6.30/gallon for lactose free.
DD1 9.24.06
DS 7.1.08
twins due 9.7.11 lost twin A at
DD2 4.7.12
This is also why we don't buy organic milk.
1) One gallon, every 5 days. This is mostly for the 2 kids. DH and I don't drink too much.
2) Regular whole milk
3) Safeway for $3.69 per gallon (I think). Or, if we need to re-stock quickly, 7-11 (DH's favorite store) for $4.09 a gallon.
If you're comparing nutrient value to non-organic hormone-free (BGHs creep me out) then you are probably right, but we still have other reasons to chose organic, especially when we do the bulk of our shopping at Mom's and that's the default.
P.S. Totally not trying to be a sanctimommy, merely justifying why we spend a ridiculous amount of money in groceries
I wasn't trying to throw in a wrench, when I did some reading on the subject 65% of organic milk was produced on factory farms (major label brands for it include Horizon and some Organic store brands) where the cows have no access to pasture. The Cornucopia Institute, an Organic watchdog, has a scorecard if you want to look up your brand. I just like to know if i am going to be spending a premium, that what I am buying is what I want.
1. We go thru about 1.5-2 gallons, mostly on kids
2-3. We usually buy Wegman's organic 1gal which is $5.49/gal (best non-sale price I've seen; don't think COSTCO sells Whole Milk). We buy 1 gal of whole for DS and 1 gal of 2% for DD. I cannot wait for June, when DS can start drinking 2% as well. Once in a while, I'll buy a national organic brand (Organic Valley?) b/c they have added DHA but it's pricey and only comes in 1/2 gal sizes, I believe they are over $4!
That's why we buy Organic Valley specifically. It's got an excellent rating.
But, honestly, even if it didn't we'd still buy it. We had a "milk taste test" and my husband vastly preferred OV to other milks.
WnW- You should ask your WF about gallons. They definitely make them & if you ask, perhaps they'll start stocking them.
1) We go through 2 gallons (or a little over 2) each week
2) WCM
3) Wegmans for $2.50/gal
2 years of TTC, Seeing RE Feb 09, 2 medicated TI cycles - BFNs, 3 medicated IUIs - BFNs, back to medicated TI cycles until IVF approval, IVF approved in March 2010. BFP on last medicated TI cycle.
Yep, same here. Organic Valley sources their milk from small, organic farms. I like that. I am very particular about the brands I buy. The other brand I like, which WF carries, is called Natural by Nature. I won't buy Horizon unless I'm desperate and it's the only organic milk available. I also avoid store brands (which is unfortunate, because they're cheaper) because I don't know where they get their milk. Non-organic, hormone-free milk is also probably fine. That's what they have at M's school, and I may just let him drink that at some point.
We also get a small amount of milk delivered to our house from a local farm, but it's not enough to supply all of our milk. I could increase it though.
kastle, I will ask next time I'm at my local WF, because I would love for them to start carrying gallons of Organic Valley.
Anyone know what brands Costco carries?
I don't think there's a MOMs convenient to me, but I could check out the Silver Spring or Takoma Park co-op and see what their prices are.
I'm pretty sure just their Kirkland brand (which got a 1 on the rating pp posted) and maybe Horizon.
1. Two gallons (mostly DH drinking it and sometimes me. He likes milk)
2. We are in a cow share for raw milk. We drink it as it comes out of the cow - so I guess that is whole. We also supplement with just cream off the top for coffee.
3. There's a mennonite farm in Catlett that does the share. It's $5/gallon.
our costco does sell organic whole milk in a pack of 3 half gallons for 9.99 BJ's has 2 half gallons for 5.99 of organic whole as well. that is where we buy all our milk from, we go through about a gallon a week for DS and about 1/2 a gallon of non organic skim for us
Yep, when we buy it there it's Kirkland. I didn't know it scored so poorly. Bummer. Good to know that Wegman's brand does okay. They're sometimes in our grocery rotation.
1) We go through about a gallon of 2% and a half gallon of skim. I drink skim and DH and DS drink the low-fat.
2) We only drink organic (or traditional farming method/close enough to organic) usually skim and 2%.
3) We buy it from South Mountain Creamery - weekly glass bottled deliveries on Wednesdays. A half gallon costs $3.75 (they don't have whole gallons, so I spend $7.50 per gallon) South Mountain also has a $3.50 delivery fee but I don't just buy milk from them - we get coldcuts and cheese, ground beef, bread products, and many other things.
1. Up til now, we've been lucky to use a half gallon of WMC a week. It's increasing as H is getting used to the taste as we decrease formula. I get a separate half gallon for DH and I and we use most of it before it goes bad.
2. WCM and 1%.
3. We buy Stoneyfield organic WCM for H and pay between $3.80-3.90 for a half gallon at Giant. I buy store brand 1% for us and I'll be honest I have no idea how much we pay for that!
When she starts drinking more, I may have to reconsider what I'm buying and where but for now it's just not worth an extra grocery store trip for her milk so we go with the Stoneyfield.