My family is really going through the raw dairy these days. I got the idea for this post when we – yet again – ran out of any and all raw dairy a full 24 hours before the next farm delivery. I even added a whole extra gallon to our order at last pickup and here we are out once more!
Do I run to the store and pick up a half gallon of ultrapasteurized organic milk to tide us over?
No way! Organic Valley or Horizon organic milk from the store is horrible, health-robbing stuff. I would never buy it. It is way better to go without until you are able to get more milk fresh from the farm.
We haven’t always consumed as much as we are now. It’s just that my oldest is starting puberty and drinking about a quart a day – maybe even more?
My other two kids have all of a sudden gotten into drinking it as well. I’ve always had to pretty much force them to drink their milk in the past (you know the drill – drink your milk or no bike ride after dinner or whatever).
Now they are gulping it down and asking for more.
I know this seems like a lot, but at the moment, our family of five is easily going through 4 gallons of grassfed cow milk and 2 gallons of foraging goat milk.
Per week!
Oh, I almost forgot. Add a half gallon of raw milk yogurt to that.
And 1-3 quarts of raw cream (for raw ice cream of course). Who can live without ice cream? We do a lot of milkshakes at our house.
Plus one pound of raw butter.
That’s a lot of full fat dairy for a family of five. But then again, we don’t buy any sodas, boxed breakfast cereal, and other processed foods so even though the fresh dairy is expensive, it fits within the budget.
Just my opinion, but I would go from two cars to one or move to a smaller house if necessary to afford our raw dairy. You can’t put a price on health. It is more important than any possession.
“Health is the first wealth” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
In light of how much saturated fat my family is consuming, some of you might be thinking that we surely must be a family of large people.
As it turns out, none of us has a weight problem. It’s really true – eat your whole, unprocessed fats and don’t skimp! It really does help keep you trim!
How much raw dairy does your family consume? I want to know and I’m sure others would too!
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist.com
Keria, are you close enough to a different stateline that you could find some there and bring it back home? Wow. I can’t imagine.
we drink alot of milk too, close to a gallon and a half, but that’s me and my two toddlers. My husband doesn’t like milk.
I wish I could figure out Real Food and Weight Loss. I haven’t found the “right” combo for myself. I stopped gaining weight, and after switching my diet I initially dropped 35 lbs. Then I gained 10 back and have been sitting with this same weight for about the past 8 months. I keep trying different thing with no results. Started biking (that did seem to tone my legs but I didn’t lose weight.) Went low carb but had a hard time sticking to it, went grain free, tried grains in moderation, tried “fasting” my lunch… nothing. Still the same weight. Do you have any book recommendations to point me in the right direction? I’m 85 lbs overweight, so I’m not talking the “last” five pounds that is sometimes hard to lose.
Look into the Weston A. Price Foundation.
Amanda, check out Dr. Jack Kruse’s leptin protocol:
http://jackkruse.com/the-leptin-rx-faqs/
Lots of paleo/primal/low carbers who had stalled or plateaued, including older women with or without assorted medical conditions, are reporting good results with this.
I would look at the possibility that you might be leptin resistant. Here is a link to a site written by a doctor that has lots of info about it. You can also find a lot of info on the web.
http://jackkruse.com/the-leptin-rx-faqs/. Also, have you had your thyroid tested? If you have and your doctor said it was fine, you still could have a thyroid problem. A great site about thyroid problems is stopthethyroidmadness.com.
Try looking into The Diet Solution by Isabel De los Rios. Its all about eating real food and very practical. I really enjoyed her book and “program”. I lost about 25 lbs in 3 months eating wonderful, nutritious REAL food. I highly recommend it. She isn’t necessarily onto the “traditional” aspects, like soaking flour and fermenting your food , but her focus is on whole foods /real foods/ and not processed foods.
It totally get your position Keria. My husband is from Australia and we have seriously considered moving there in the past but a BIG reason why we never have moved is because raw grassfed dairy is very hard to come by there. You can only get it from holsteins and they are mostly grainfed. Forget about raw cream and butter.
Hi Sarah and Kiera, you can actually get raw milk in Australia with a bit of sloothing… a raw dairy company called Cleopatra’s Bath Milk produces unpasteurised, grass-fed milk. The farm is based in Queensland but you can also purchase the milk in New South Wales… in QLD I believe you can get the raw butter and cream also. There is another raw dairy producer in Victoria called Aphrodite’s. Sadly both have to be marketed as beauty products for external use only, but it is raw and grass-fed. If you look up stockists of Cleopatra’s Bath Milk you will be amazed at how wide-spread it is. I believe you can even order it online. Hope this helps!
when we were on holiday in melbourne for the month of december 2009 we were gobsmacked by how expensive real food is. we found the aphrodite milk at a local health food store and was disappointed by the taste and the shelf life. it went sour after only 2 days. we paid $11 for a dozen eggs – insane! it was our good fortune to meet up with dairy farmers from fish creek so we drove a fair way to get the most amazing milk i have tasted in a while. at home in NYC we pay $7 a gallon and $4 a dozen. as a family of four we drink 3 gallons raw cow, 2 qts cow kefir, 1 quart cow yogurt, 1 pint sheep yogurt, 1.5 lbs cheese and 1/2 lb butter per week.
Sarah, we are able to source all the needs you mentioned here in Queensland.(OZ) North of Brisbane, around the Sunshine coast, Gympie, Maleny, Nambour. The dairy is all Jersey, Gernsey. Milk, butter, cream, French style cheese.
We feel very blessed to have this source.
Of course don’t tell anyone. It’s our little secret. 🙂 (Ooops!)
Hi there! I live in this region too, right in the hub of the sunshine coast and have been furiously looking for local sourced, organic raw dairy straight from the farm preferably. Do you have any way of passing me on some contacts? I promise its just for ‘bathing’.. wink wink nudge nudge say no more!
I’m from Perth, Western Australia – it’s there if you look hard enough.. let me know if you ever decide to move here!!
Aimee, if you are still looking for raw milk in Perth, please drop me a line. We have extra “bath milk” from our house cow, Annabelle. If you know anyone else who is looking, please spread the word! rubyslypprz at netscape dot net, near Midland
Cheers, Debra
Hi Debra only just saw your comment I’m in Perth and seeking raw milk do you still have some extra bath milk available ???
Would love to hear from you
Jody
How does one go about getting raw milk? I would love for my family to start drinking it but only can find organic pasteurized milk. (of course). Living in Wyoming you would think I would be able to find it, Any suggestions or info you coule pass along would be MUCH appreciated! Thank you!
Hi Megan, here is a link for sources in Wyoming:
thanks for posting today…..i was really looking forward to reading it! 🙂
My hubby, myself & 2 pre-teens go through 3 gallons each week. We make kefir from it as well & sometimes we run out. I am a homeschool mom with one family vehicle & it is worth the sacrifices to eat healthy! Thanks for the post, very encouraging!
I miss raw milk! We used to drink nothing but raw milk when we lived in Cali but then we moved to Ohio (my husband is from here) and it’s completely illegal here. No herdshares, no store-bought, no co-ops, no nothing. I am going nuts and we are considering moving just to get raw milk again!
I live in Ohio and you can get milk through cow-shares. It is not completely illegal. Granted that you may have to drive an hour or so to get it. But cow-shares exist in Ohio. Check out for places nearest to you. Good luck in finding raw milk.
It’s not illegal in Ohio. I live in central OH and have a herd share and run a buying group. I know of several ways to get raw milk. Email me.
I live in Ohio, too. I get milk at a farm in Mt. Gilead. It’s an hour drive from my home, but I share driving duties with 5 other people so it isn’t bad. Herdshares are legal in Ohio.
I live in Wayne Co., Ohio. I pay 2.00 a gallon for raw milk and 1.25 for the eggs. Sometimes, I pay them an extra .50 cents a gallon for milk. It’s worth it! Lol!!
Hello Vanessa,
I live in Canal Fulton, Ohio. Can you email me or reply where you get your milk there in Wayne Co. ? I am looking and that is an awesome price! [email protected]
Thanks!!!
angie
Vanessa can you email me the name of the farm where the herdshare is? Thanks so much. [email protected]
I’ve been guilty of buying the horizon milk after running out of my raw milk. We love milk so much in our house, I hate to go without!
Maybe you should drink homemade coconut milk when you run out of raw milk? That’s what we do! I keep frozen grated raw coconut in the freezer for when when we need milk.
Family of four, including two teenaged sons. We go through 8 gallons of milk every two weeks (not counting the rest of our dairy) and frequently run out before milk day. We are looking to add another refrigerator here.
I’m just curious to how much raw milk costs over in the states. I’m in Australia and we pay $4 per litre, so about $15 per gallon – do you guys pay a similar amount? A dozen organic eggs is also about $9.. just curious to the difference!
Wow 🙂 I live in NY and I buy my raw milk for $3.00 a gallon and eggs for $3.50 a dozen.
I live in Sacramento, CA. I buy Organic pastures raw milk and it’s $16 per gallon. But organic eggs are lot cheaper because I get it from my co-worker so $2 a dozen.
I get it for 8$ a gallon in Texas. We (2adults 2kids) go through about a gallon every 7-10 days.
Hi Jesse,
My sister lives in NY but she doesn’t know any raw milk places. Where do you get your raw milk? I’ll tell her to go to same place.
Thanks
Manu
go to http://www.realmilk.com/where09.html and you should be able to find raw milk sources. Make sure it’s not just raw but is actually grass fed, grass finished without hormones, herbicides, pesticides, and grains.
Hello jessie just wanted to know were in ny do u buy ur raw milk
We are in north Alabama and get it for $6/gallon. $3/dozen eggs. $6/pound of raw butter
We go through only 3 gallons of milk here in our house (for a family of 7), and we pay $5.00/gal. in Maine.
Wow you guys. I thank God I live in Indiana and have access to raw milk for$3-4 a gallon! We were able recently to go back to our original Amish supplier (who have since left the Amish) which is far better than the other milk from another organic Amish farmer. With his I got to the point where I couldn’t drink it it tasted so bad. I don’t know what he was doing but I finally went back to the first farmer and begged to buy milk from them again. They have since sold all but 4 Jerseys. They have 9 children but are still trying to sell their farm and get further out. He works in an RV factory right now but just wants to milk cows! I pay anywhere from $2.00-3.50 for eggs. Depends on who has them available.
I live in IN too, but pay $7-8/gal through a herdshare program in Fort Wayne. I have 3.. soon to be 4 little milk drinkers and we go through so much! I would love to know who you buy your milk from… I’m guessing it’s in Shipshewana???
Aimee, we’re also in CA and get our Claraville raw milk for about $15 a gallon. When we lived in another state we were able to get raw milk from an Amish farmer for only about $4 a gallon, so it was quite a shock. So I try to limit us to about a gallon a week – and we have 4 small kids, but one still nurses, and the others don’t really want to drink more than a cup or so a day. I do with I could find it more inexpensive.
Hi Aimee 🙂 We’re in Central Highlands, VIC, and we buy local free range eggs for $5.50 per tray (20 eggs in a tray. Our next best option is a dozen for $4.50 from a another local producer) We buy raw milk from a non-organic dairy (grass fed dairy cows) for $1 per litre, and I also get organic raw milk (“bath milk”) delivered from a Victorian producer each week which would run to about the retail costs that you are paying, but I can only get a very limited quantity of that because of budget limits. We use about 40 litres of milk p/w for our family of 9. And 4-5 trays of eggs.
I have to drive 100 miles to get raw milk; it’s $10 a gallon. Eggs are $3 doz for local free range eggs.
Forgot to add location: central Idaho.
I’ve just bought into a herd share… a legal arrangement whereby I actually am part owner of the herd and therefore entitled to do as I like with the milk. It is not legal in my state for the farmer to own the cows and the milk and to then sell me milk that has not been pasteurized. There was a one time purchase price and then there are boarding fees for his ongoing care and maintenance of the herd. If I just do the simple math of how much I pay monthly in boarding fees and how many gallons of milk I get each month without trying to figure in the initial purchase price or my gas then it looks like I am paying around 5.50 a gallon. Of course in reality those other costs matter, but that is an approximation for you.
I buy eggs from a different farmer who I know does not feed any gmo grain or soy to her laying hens. I pay 3.50 a dozen if I remember right. She has had to raise the price a few times over the years as the price for the organic, no soy feed she uses keeps going up with everything else in our overly-manipulated and abused economy. 🙁 Oh well. I will keep doing what I can for my family and my budget and keep trying to vote for liberty in general, for food freedoms in particular and for good sense and fiscal responsibility even while it looks as if almost everyone else if voting for their separate sides of the aisle to finally come up with the perfect way to manipulate everything into utopia. *sigh*
I was just wondering the same! We pay $8.50 a gallon which is down from $12 a gallon where we used to live. We can get organic eggs for as low as $2 but if you want truly pastured, non-gmo organic eggs they are now going for $5 at our co-op and about $7 in the stores.
I pay $10 in central florida for raw milk and $10 for butter.
In Lebanon PA we buy raw milk for $3.00 a gal.
I am in the Pocono’s, PA and we are paying about $7 a gallon for raw milk and $2.50 a dozen for eggs. Have yet to find raw butter, though.
8$ a gallon, also in centeral FL. My uncle in Mississippi gets it for 2$ a gallon!
We buy our raw milk for $10 per gallon in NC. Eggs are from free-range chickens and are very expensive at $4.25 per doz. These chickens get only organic scratch and whatever they can find foraging.
I drink three cups a day, wish I could drink more!!! 😀