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
5 people in my family are able to have dairy (one a young toddler) and we go through 4 gallons of raw milk every week. I use the cream on top to make ice cream. We also use a half gallon of yogurt, 1-2 pounds of raw milk cheese, and plenty of butter. I was starting to feel strange about that, so thanks for this post!
We go thru at least a gallon of milk a day–either goat or cow just for drinking. Once a week I make cheese for us for the week which takes about 10 gallons to get us thru. I also have kefir for smoothies that the kids love and then forget about at times so the baby goats tend to get cultured milk and do wonderful on that.
Yogurt and buttermilk is also made in abundance, probably on average a gallon of yogurt a week and half a gallon of buttermilk if I am not baking a bunch.
We are a family of 1 adult and a 3 year old that loves his milk. A teenager also eats with us but if he knows the milk is from the goats he won’t touch it!
My milk customers for the most part get 1 gallon a week per household and if they are going to make yogurt or cheese, they buy extra here and there. I have one share holder who is doing a natural tooth repair and goes thru 2 gallons a week and has had great results.
I have the “milk factory” here so it is easy for me to get what my family needs and wants. We use yogurt to make dressings, gravy, in pancakes, etc. as well as buttermilk in all those as well just depending on what I have that needs to get used up.
Tracy
Keria — I run a buying group in Central OH, raw milk is not illegal here. Email me if you are in Central OH or NW OH and I can get you hooked up with a farmer. If you are in NE Ohio head to Amish country to ask. Believe me, most of my friends have herd shares — raw milk is alive and well in Ohio!
we were doing 4 gallons per week for the three of us. but now we have our own so no need to keep track! 🙂
We go through about 3 gallons of raw milk in 5 days (give or take). Our one year old recently switched from raw goat milk to raw cow milk so that has upped the cow milk considerably. I make my own yogurt out of half of that and unfortunately raw cream is aparently not legal (??) in PA. (have not researched it, just what the dairy told me) so I buy PH cream from the dairy too although at $13.00 a half gallon we don’t buy that every week. 🙂
it is true that raw cream is illegal in PA. Some places will sell it as “pet food” however. But technically illegal.
Another cow owner here too. 🙂 Besides drinking milk with most meals, we make butter every week, about 2-3 gal of yogurt per week, and cheese when I have time. We use the cream for coffee, ice cream, sour cream, and I am often guilty of spooning a few tastes of straight cream from the gallon before I shake/pour a glass. 😉
Our sweet cow is 2 weeks out from maternity leave and we will be out of milk until mid-Nov. I am not sure what we’ll do then. 🙁 I have some in the freezer, but not enough to get us through.
Hi, I’ve only just begun buying raw milk for my family. I am curious about what everyone else is paying. I found milk for about $4/quart, but the cream that I’ve found here is $12/pint. OUCH! So that would be $24 for a quart of ice cream which my family of four would inhale in one sitting. I’m going to keep checking around for something less expensive…
8.99 a gallon-south carolina
We charge $5.50 per share (gallon) and $5/pint and $10/quart for cream.
We pay $8 per gallon for raw Jersey milk, $14 per quart for raw cream, and $9.99 for a pound of raw butter. We’re in Indiana. We pay $30 per year for the herdshare agreement that allows us to purchase the raw dairy. It’s worth every penny!
We pay $18 a gallon for raw goat’s milk in Alaska. It’s a little ridiculous, but that’s what everyone charges (I’ve looked) and I can’t get a response from any raw cow’s milk farmers, so for now we’re sticking with the goat’s milk! Needless to say, my husband and I only go through one gallon a week. I still think it’s worth it!
Kelsey, I too found goat’s milk for $18 gal. We didn’t like it enough to pay that much. I kept searching and finally found an old homesteader who is selling cow’s milk for $4 gal. I’m thankful for that. (I had checked with the one person selling cow’s milk up here listed on the realmilk site and it was $15 gal and a 2 hr round trip for me). My husband and I go through 1 gallon a week. I would like to start making our own yogurt and kefir (I’m gearing up to start GAPS) so am hoping more will be available. Now that fall is on the way I know the milk production will be dwindling though. I don’t know what part of the state you are in, but you might check around with any homesteaders and see if they have anything. You can also try the co-operative extension service and hopefully find a like minded agent who could give you some info off the record.
We are raw milk producers in Ohio (we offer Jersey herdshares in the Dayton area) and when we had all six kids at home we went through 6-8 gallons a week, now with just three of us, we use about 3 gallons per week, plus a quart of cream for butter.
Hi Sarah, We go through 4 gallons a week for a family of 4 and that is because if we run out it isn’t east to get again so we are careful. I have no source for raw butter or raw cream but I do try to make about a quart of yogurt. Wishing we had all your sources. Margaret
We consume live milk via kefir, so all of our milk is cultured. We harvest a quart of kefir daily on a 48 hour interval ( we like the extra pucker). We like to drink the live milk kefir at room temperature.
What isn’t consumed at day’s end is prepped for kefir cheese. The texture of the kefir’d milk and the kefir cheese is ultra smooth & thick. The whey from the production of kefir cheese has enough pucker to make one cross-eyed.
We also use live milk to produce curds & whey. The whey from both the milk and the milk kefir is an awesome superfood. The curds get de-liquified and then ready for the cheese culture and then onto the cheese cave (used refrigerator). The whey is our primary inoculant for fermenting vegetables and chutneys. If we have a surplus of whey, it becomes a refreshing beverage (with a dash of salt & pepper).
The live cream goes into ice cream, red tea chai, creme fraiche (European sour cream). If some live cream happens to sour, it goes into the Ranch dressing. I should mention that the live cream we get pours out of the container like a rope (thank God for Guernseys!).
Our main use of butter is fudge. We adapted the Carob Fudge recipe from Nourishing Traditions and swapped out the carob with raw cacao liquor (not liqueur, think nib paste). We put crispy almonds in the bottom of the dish so that the resulting confection is something like a giant Hershey bar that is stored in the refrigerator. Very popular with guests.
We use live buttermilk as a marinade to tame beef liver. We have found that lemon juice is too overpowering for our tastes. Buttermilk is also used to ferment the creme fraiche.
Anyway, that’s our noob dairy story.
Ciao, Pavil
Doesn’t sound very noob to me, Pavil. Sounds like you are a downright expert! 🙂
Pavel, can I be your neighbor, lol. The fudge recipe sounds insanely good. Can you post the exact recipe? (Unfortunately, I don’t own a copy of Nourishing Traditions so I don’t wouldn’t know where to start)