We were tending to buy either Margaret River Organic milk or Bannister Downs milk before the challenge. I love that both of these are small Western Australian farms that I am able to support. ONe of my dilemmas here is that Margaret River sell their delicious organic milk in 2 L plastic bottles.
I like to buy the Bannister Downs milk as my local supermarket regularly stocks this, and I like the thought behind their packaging. Bannister Downs have recently brought out a pasteurised only milk in glass bottles, and I was thrilled when I came across one of these at the Jude Blereau cooking demo, so after contacting the dairy I found that a local shop was stocking this. I was a little disappointed though to find that it was being sold for $4.69 for 750 mL, a 70c markup according to the dairy. My son could go though that amount of milk in one sitting so financially this isn't really an option. Another Western Australian company, Sunnydale, is selling milk in glass bottles but the same shop is selling these 1 L bottles for $4.99.
Brownes is probably the biggest collector of milk in the state. This company have been around for over 100 years and they sell milk in a variety of sizes and either plastic or cardboard. Harvey Fresh is another collector but they only seem to use plastic bottles.
I try not to buy milk from the eastern states, not because I don't want to support the farmers there, but I don't see why I should be paying transport cost across the country when we have the product here.
The big supermarket brands are not even an option after the milk war.
After years of buying low fat milk thinking that this was a better option, we are now back on to full cream milk.
So here's the dilemma.
- Do I buy milk from small farms even though their milk is in plastic?
- Do I buy milk from the big collectors because I can get it in 1 L cardboard cartons?
- Do I buy organic milk even though it in plastic?
- Do I buy pasteurised only milk in plastic?
- Do I buy milk in glass bottles even though it is $5 a litre?
What do you think about when buying milk?
Take care.
I have no idea either. I would LOVE to buy milk in glass but I didn't know it was possible here (which shop is it you're talking about, the HFS at Warwick?).
ReplyDeleteWe are currently inbetween Harvey Fresh UHT lactose-free, which of course is not in glass, and trialling the A2 milk (did a little reading on the ins and outs of it, though it couldn't hurt to try)...
The three boys go through a fair bit of milk in one day so I'm trying to figure it out too... keen to hear how you go... :)
Carine Fresh at the Carine Glades shopping centre sell two brands of milk in glass.
DeleteThere are so many options out there. I know that I want to drink the most ethical and local milk possible but need to weigh up price, homogenisation and organic.
We have been debating the same thing here at our house the past week. My preference would be organic pasteurized only milk in a glass bottle. The price would have to right though and would have to come from a local dairy. That is probably too much to ask for! Why is getting good milk so difficult?
ReplyDeleteA wonderful option but the cost is just too much. At $5 a litre, there is no way we can manage this. What are the prices like on the east coast?
DeleteSince our house cow has been dry I have been faced with the same dilemma! Made simpler because there are no glass bottle options locally, so I have just been buying the organic option, which is nearly $5 for 2L. The other day the organic milk had run out and I had to choose the most ethical of the other options, what a nightmare! They are all owned by multi-nationals who are all screwing the farmers on milk prices. Can't wait for Bella to have her calf and I can forget about all of this for another 9 months....
ReplyDeleteI am constantly amazed at how something as basic as milk can be stuffed up by so many people/companies. Too many different options and too many bits added and taken away, and as you say, 'screwing the farmers'.
DeleteI can see why you are counting down for Bella to have her calf.
I've been through exactly the same thought process. I decided to (1) start drinking less milk by making almond milk from bulk bought almonds for us to use in smoothies. I also save whey to use in cooking instead of milk. (2) each time I buy milk I buy 1 x 750ml expensive glass bottled milk and 1 x 2L milk. I want to support the glass bottles so that they stay and eventually get cheaper but buying all our milk in glass would be too expensive.
ReplyDeleteGood luck :-)
That is so great that you have come up with so many milk substitutes. We've tried almond milk but no one here seems too keen. Perhaps we will need to persevere.
DeleteI think it is a great idea that you buy some of the glass bottles and some of the plastic. I just with the 'middle man' wasn't adding so much to the price.
We try and get our milk from a local dairy farm but it is not always possible. My hubby drinks over a litre a day so we buy UHT for him and baking etc and then we buy a 2 litre pasteurised only organic milk for $5 in a plastic bottle. Just like Liz we do not have glass bottles as an option. My thought is at least the plastic bottles and UHT bottles can be recycled.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't really thought of using UHT for cooking. It's a great idea.
DeleteI wish we had a lot more local milk options here. So many of the farmers are going with the bigger companies or, unfortunately, moving off the land.
If you were using regular glue here all that yarn would be riding up and glue would be oozing out between each row. wholesale liquor bottles
ReplyDelete