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
We easily drink 2 gallons a week and could probably use one more. My husband and I drink kefir almost every morning (blended with bananas and berries–I’m thinking of adding an egg to that). And we usually have a glass with lunch and dinner as well.
I have to agree too, that if you’re not buying the processed foods and other garbage like that, buying more expensive raw dairy is not as big a hit to the budget. It’s an excellent and worthy trade off!! I’d give up other stuff in my life before giving up our family’s raw milk, that’s for sure.
We are a family of 6 with 4 kids ageds 2 yrs to 8 yrs. We drink about 4-5 gallons a week. And a gallon for us (here in Ontario, Canada) is $12. It’s definitely something that we’ve worked to keep top priority in our budget. We use the milk to make our own yoghurt and buttermilk as well and drink the remainder fresh. Our 2 year old also lives on the raw milk – it’s her favourite food and I love giving it to her!! It’s healthier than most anything else you can eat, so I feel confident she’s getting the right nutrients, even though she’s still at that picky food stage.
My family of four (one exclusively breastfed baby, so really three) drinks 2 gallons each week. We could easily go through 3 gallons, but the budget would complain. We pay $6/gallon here in the south.
We are a family of 6: 2 adults and 4 boys under age 8. We buy 5 gallons of raw jersey milk a week and usually run out a day early. My next step is to get some kefir grains so we can make coconut milk kefir and also water kefir grains to make kefir sodas so that we can cut store bought juice out completely and make outr milk go further. I don’t really have enough to use in cooking and baking. I do do it, but it always makes me nervous that I’m going to run out on Firday or something, and out pick up is on Monday 🙂 My 2 yr old is nevere without a cup of raw milk–unless we’ve run out, and that is not fun. He basically lives on the stuff! He eats other things but mostly he drinks milk. He’s miserable when we run out because he’s hungry and he doen’t know it. He just knows he wants milk and I can’t give it to him.:)
Family of 4. We drink 3 gallons a week. The price in New Hampshire is $11 gallon.
For the 2 of us in my house, we go through a gallon and a half of raw milk per week, along with a quart of so of yogurt/kefir.
We go through 2 & 1/2 gallons of raw goat milk per week. Myself, my 4 year old, and my 19 month old. My husband hasn’t discovered the joy in it yet, but the rest of us sure do. Most of it is used to make kefir, but it’s so hard to save it for the kefir when we get low. I want to try the milk cure for a while to see if I could ever get my fill!
We go through about 2 gallons of raw milk per week, but I currently have to cut dairy out. I hope that in a couple of months that I will be able to add dairy back in. I miss my raw cream! My husband is still wary of raw milk. Otherwise I know our consumption would be closer to 4 gallons per week.
Our family of 4, inclucing a 3 1/2 year old and 8 month old go through about 2 gallons of raw Jersey milk per week. We could go through more, but I would have to purchase a 2nd herdshare. Occasionally I have to ration it to get to the next delivery, because the 8 month old is on the WAPF formula. I also make a gallon of yogurt about every 2 weeks. My husband and I don’t drink a lot of milk, though it is delicious! Most of it goes to the children and yogurt, which we all eat. We LOVE our raw milk!