Questions for raw milk users

[Babina's Mommy]

I just bought my first 1/2 gallon of raw milk. It was 3.99 and my question was whether you use your raw milk all the time or just for drinking, cereal, etc. Do you use it for cooking? Because if the milk is in something and going to reach a high temperature, is the raw milk still beneficial? To be frugal would you use some regular storebought milk for that? Sorry if this all seems ignorant, I am brand new to all of this and thought I'd ask you all before trying to get lost in a sea of pages trying to research it myself.

[Magelet]

We use raw milk for raw purposes only. It's 7.50 or more a half gallon. No way am I sacrificing any of the raw goodness. That said, I can get local almost entirely grass-fed (though not all pastured) organic non-homogenized low temp pasturized milk at the store, so I use that for cooking (or really anything even slightly heated.) I pay about 4 bucks a half gallon for that stuff Raw goes in our glass, and in our smoothies and that's about it.

So in your case, it really depends on what pasturized options you have. If you have a good organic not ultra high temp pasturized non homogenized milk thats a lot cheaper, yeah, I'd use that for cooked applications. If you can't get whole milk that is organic AND not ultra high temp pasturized AND non-homogenized, then yes, I think I would use the raw for cooked applications.

[mamadelbosque]

I use it for everything... but I have a herd share and it works out to ~5.15 a gallon, which isn't that much more than organic whole milk from the store

[JamieCatheryn]

We got a gallon for $8 every week (cow share), if we didn't use it for everything some would go to waste. I don't cook with milk that often anyway, just a little pudding or cheese sauce now and then.

[jolenegreen]

HI! We get Raw Organic grass fed milk for $5 a gallon..which is soo cheap compared to prices I have read about! But anyways...we dont cook with milk...we are mainly vegans.....high raw vegans...excuse the milk.

We changed our diets to high raw to benefit for health reasons...but we just love the fresh Raw milk and couldnt give it up!

So it goes into babys bottle, sippy and our glasses and smoothies sometimes and thats about it!

[JoyMC]

when i was paying $8/half gallon, i only used raw for raw purposes, and used organic, pasturized for making yogurt and other cooking purposes. but now that we have raw for $4.20/half gallon, i use it for everything.

[nerdymom]

If I were getting it for that price I'd probably use it for everything. as it is I can't get raw milk here without committing to a cow share and we're not ready for that since we're transient (military). I also don't do well with milk that is pasteurized and homogenized. My hope would be that I could eat raw milk without stomach upset. If that was the case I would use it for all cooking.

That being said, if you are on a budget and you all drink a lot of milk you might want to consider only using it for raw consumption. I personally buy the highest quality animal products I can afford and go conventional on a lot of our other stuff, it's really a balancing act, isn't it?

[Babina's Mommy]

Thank you for all your answers! Much appreciated.

If you can't get whole milk that is organic AND not ultra high temp pasturized AND non-homogenized, then yes, I think I would use the raw for

Right, this is the case. It's regular milk or ultra-past organic...Crazy!

Wow, I guess the $4 isn't too bad, huh?

We get milk through WIC so I mean yes, we are low on money but I've been trying to balance, as I can afford the organics and more healthy foods if I cook things more from scratch.


Just like I was wondering the same thing about my honey...should I use raw honey for things where I'm not going to cook the honey....and the pasteurized honey if I'm going to bake with it?

[Magelet]

I know a lot of people say you should never cook with honey, or use pasturized honey. I do occasionally bake with it, but so rarely that I use the raw anyways.

I feel like, again, if the base product disregarding pasturization is equivilent, and the pasturization temp is BELOW the temp you will be heating it to, and the pasturized version is cheaper, yeah, use the pasturized.

(again though, really the entire reason honey is better for you than sugar primarily lies in all the great enzymes and stuff. and some people feel that honey actually becomes toxic when heated about about hive temp which is like 110ish. personally, I'd never bother buying pasturized honey, because everything amazing about it is gone.)

[JessicaS]

I use it for everything or I use milk alternatives, we pay $7 a gallon not including jar deposit.

I buy my honey by the gallon so I use it for everything

[BedHead]

Our raw milk works out to between $11 and $13 a gallon so no way do I use it for anything that's being heated! My boys refuse to drink it anyway, so I always have the crappy store bought stuff in the house anyway. For making yogurt right now I am using organic whole milk that's supposedly grass fed, since I don't have a room temp culture for it.