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
I pay $5 Gal. for raw milk, $8 Qt. for cream and $12 lb for butter and raw cheddar. Lately, though, we have had no butter or cream unless I skim it from the milk myself because we are in a severe drought here in Tx and that means no extras at the dairy because milk supply is down.I also have a question, Is the milk still as healthy if the cows are primarily fed hay because there is no grass right now? Same with the grass fed beef , between the drought and fires in Bastrop wich eliminated several supplying ranches, we are having a hard time getting it and even then it’s not really grass fed anymore.Is it still better to eat local in a drought? Local produce is also hard to find (and tastes very bitter) and local honey is not available here right now because the bees have nothing to eat since there is no moisture in any of the plants or flowers.
$4.25/half gallon here in eastern Connecticut…My father and I go through a gallon and a half a week as well as 2 quarts of raw yogurt..can’t live without it!
We (three of us – hubby, myself, and our 7 yr. old.) JUST bought a half of a cow share (the only way to get raw milk legally in MI) and that gives us 1.5 gallons of milk a week….sometimes more in the summer, and sometimes a little less in the winter when cows are calving and dry. After the cost of the actual cowshare (one time purchase) it costs $28 per month, which avg. out to less than $5 a gallon. I was paying $5 per half-gallon for grass-fed/lightly pasteurized/non-homogenized milk at the health food store, so this is actually saving us money. Plus, they have a farm store where I can purchase grass-fed/pastured beef, pork, and chicken, and eggs. They make a wide variety of raw milk artisan cheeses, and so we are also purchasing those. They don’t sell cream or butter, but teach classes on how to make butter, yogurt, and kefir. My only problem is that 1.5 gallons will be gone too quickly for me to have any left for making other milk products. I may have to start saving up for the other half of the cowshare! I have been positively giddy about finally having raw milk to drink!
My 2 year old daughter and I go through 3 gallons of raw whole milk a week. She drinks it all day and I never limit her, she can have it as much as she wants. Sometimes we run out of it a day before the farm drop then we just wait and my daughter goes to the fridge every 15 min and looks for milk:-) But no store milk. We also get cottage cheese, and we do make kefir at home. So thankful we have access to raw dairy. Although, I had to cut down since my newborn son gets gassy if I drink milk 🙁 so I am on coconut milk right now for a little while and miss raw cow milk terribly.
I have 10 people living in my house. We get 5-7 gallons of raw milk every week. The primary purpose for using raw milk is to make kefir, and eventually yogurt. The children drink a lot of of it too. I live in IN. We are part of a cow share, and the milk is delivered to 3 drop sites in my town, one being on my porch. I believe our costs come out to between $5-$6 per gallon. Our supplier was made, by the “authorities”, to stop providing milk, cream and yogurt. I’m thankful to at least still be able to get the milk.
I finally found a good (and close enough to be reasonable) source for raw milk… so thrilled! I’d been working on it off and on for months. I have a question, though, on milk for yogurt- I have the option to purchase low heat pasturized/non-homoginized milk from the same farm and it’s cheaper. Since I’m heating the milk I’m using to make yogurt, would this be a good option? or should I stick with the raw? It’s not a huge price difference (about a dollar per half gallon), but definitely adds up!
Just my (2 year old son) alone goes through over 2 gallons by himself! He LOVES this stuff.
Me and milk have a thing…;) I will never go back to buying store bought milk again either! Our family of 6 is currently doing about 6 gallons/10-14 days, that also makes our yogurt and kefir, and smoothies.
My husband, I, and our 4 kids ages 9 and under go thru a gallon a day – yes a day and actually it is only kefir. I kefir 2 half gallons every night. Plus, yogurt, ice cream, cheese, and lots of butter. During summer it was actually worse. I had to kefir 3 half gal every night and we would get about 10 gal every week. We totally love it! It is pricey but I hope it is totally worth the brain power.