Organic Milk?

[KMAND]

What are your thoughts on Organic Milk?  Worth the benefits?  Not worth the money?  I have a poll going on over on Skinnyscoop (link below) if you would care to weigh in there?  I'm trying to get a good sampling of people from all over the US.

http://www.theskinnyscoop.com/question/q/1453

(you don't have to join the site...I'm not soliciting!  If it asks for your login, you can close out of the Login box if you don't want to join and and answer the question as a guest.)

[elus0814]

We drink only organic milk. I feel it's healthier because the milk I buy is from grass fed cows, it's organic valley. I switched because we drink tons of milk. It's added $20 per week to our milk budget but it's worth it. It also tastes better!

[Brown Lioness]

I pretty much work on the good, better, best approach to what i eat these days.

Organic milk falls in the good category (i RARELY, if ever, buy this), it will fall into the better category (i'll buy this if in a bind) if its grass-fed and/or low temp, and then raw milk from grass-fed cows falls in the best place (i buy this regularly).

[cocobean]

I personally think organic milk is usually the worst you can buy.  It's usually high heat pasturized and doesn't even need to be refrigerated because they've killed so much of the milk.  They still keep it in the cold section because people didn't like buying warm milk.  Grass fed is most definetly the best but it also depends on how the milk is processed.  IMO raw milk from a trusted grass fed cow is the best way to go.  We spend a lot more money now on milk than we used to but it's so worth it!  My family and I are much healthier now than we were before.  But like I said it is HUGELY important that raw milk is from a trusted source.  We get it directly from a farm that we can go to and see the cows!

[Koalamom]

If I couldn't get raw local milk, I would go without milk. I don't care if it is organic valley. Dh used to work for 2 different organic valley providers, and he wittenesed abuse to the cows. Just because it is organic doesn't mean it is better for the cows. And the poor baby bull cows are sent away when they are just days old and who knows what feedlot they are in just so the public can get their organic milk. 

Ps we are allergic to dairy but if we could have dairy again I would only buy it from a farm I really knew or from an animal we raised ourselves

[GardenStream]

I don't buy organic milk.  I don't trust the big national organic providers.  We buy milk from a small local producer.  They believe in grass feed, no hormones, and no pesticides on the grass.  Then, they do a low and slow pasteurization and don't homogenize.  That's good enough for me.  If they are out of milk then I skip milk that week.

I do have a gallon of normal grocery store milk downstairs in the freezer.  I use that to make yogurt.

Edited by GardenStream - 12/16/10 at 7:10am

[JMJ]

...as opposed to conventional milk?  Yes.  If I can get better?  Not in a regular supermarket.  I certainly wouldn't buy conventional milk.  Anything I buy would meet the standards to be organic (though many small farmers don't get certified as organic.

[TonyaW]

I agree that if I couldn't get raw or low temp pasteurized milk on occasion, I would go without milk. It seems worthless to drink dead milk and who knows what damage it is doing. I rarely use milk anymore. That being said, I do buy organic half and half for coffee, because I love my coffee. I really wish I could find an alternative, but $10 pints of cream are much too expensive for all the time.

[greenmulberry]

I get low heat pasteurized, non homogenized, grass fed, local organic milk.

It is very very delicious. And can you believe it is the "generic" store brand of organic milk here?

I would get raw if I had a source. But this stuff is pretty dang good.

[shakyjelly]

We only buy organic milk, but it has to be raw or only regular pasteurized. For raw, we are lucky enough to have access to Organic Pastures in our local stores. For pasteurized, we either get Trader Joe's cream top non-homogenized or we get Good Heart which is organic and local to Southern California and they don't believe in ultra pasteurization. Our back up is Organic Valley. I've been to a couple Organic Valley farms and while I agree that not all of them are perfect, they are still far superior to the regular dairy farms I've been to.

[SubliminalDarkness]

We don't buy organic milk. We buy non-homogenized milk from cows that are hormone and antibiotic free, and graze year round. It's also local, coming from less than an hour's drive. I also got to meet the farmer at my local natural foods store. He came for a few days to give samples when the store started selling his milk.

I think it's great. It's the same price as the store brand organic milk, and I feel like it's much healthier. It also tastes better. 

http://www.hickoryhillmilk.com/farm.htm

[Smidge]

We have a local farm and altho they aren't certified organic, they operate under those standards.  I've had a tour of the place and it's AWESOME.  www.spokanefamilyfarm.com

I won't buy certified organic milk or conventional milk.  We make our grocery budget work in order to have the highest quality milk since we drink 4 gallons/week.

[SubliminalDarkness]

Originally Posted by Smidge 

We have a local farm and altho they aren't certified organic, they operate under those standards.  I've had a tour of the place and it's AWESOME.  www.spokanefamilyfarm.com

I won't buy certified organic milk or conventional milk.  We make our grocery budget work in order to have the highest quality milk since we drink 4 gallons/week.

Wow! Four gallons. We used to use three, but I got us down to two to make the more expensive milk more reasonable to afford. How many family members do you have? 

[Smidge]

Originally Posted by SubliminalDarkness 

Originally Posted by Smidge 

We have a local farm and altho they aren't certified organic, they operate under those standards.  I've had a tour of the place and it's AWESOME.  www.spokanefamilyfarm.com

I won't buy certified organic milk or conventional milk.  We make our grocery budget work in order to have the highest quality milk since we drink 4 gallons/week.

Wow! Four gallons. We used to use three, but I got us down to two to make the more expensive milk more reasonable to afford. How many family members do you have? 

It's just my dh, dd (3) and ds (20mo) and myself.  We have a very small co-op, 2 of my friends and I who go out to the farm (50mins each way) every 2-3 weeks to pick up about 35 gallons between the 3 of us.  I keep 8 gallons in the frig and 4 in the deep freezer.  It costs me $3.33/gallon when it's not "my turn" to pick up and $4.27/gallon when it's my turn (includes my gas money).  The milk is available in quite a few local grocers in town, but it runs $4.99/gallon.

We love our milk around here.  I often make yogurt, ricotta cheese, make butter, etc etc

[tatsu15]

I too thought Organic Valley milk was healthy. Since I live on Hawaii they ultra pasteurize the milk but when I took a closer look at Organic Valley's label (the one they ship to Hawaii at least)- it is ultra pasteurized and homogenized! I was so disappointed. Now we just try to buy kefir or yogurt and stay away from the milk here, but my children love it (they serve milk at the preschool), I have no choice but to buy horizon organic milk which is ultra pasteurized but not homogenized (at least I didn't see any label saying it was).

[Koalamom]

Milk doesn't always have to say homogenized, and unless it has loads of cream rising to the top, it is homogenized.

[howdeepistheocean]

Originally Posted by cocobean 

I personally think organic milk is usually the worst you can buy.  It's usually high heat pasturized and doesn't even need to be refrigerated because they've killed so much of the milk.  They still keep it in the cold section because people didn't like buying warm milk.  Grass fed is most definetly the best but it also depends on how the milk is processed.  IMO raw milk from a trusted grass fed cow is the best way to go.  We spend a lot more money now on milk than we used to but it's so worth it!  My family and I are much healthier now than we were before.  But like I said it is HUGELY important that raw milk is from a trusted source.  We get it directly from a farm that we can go to and see the cows!

I totally agree with this!! We drink our own raw goat milk, and if I had to buy I would buy from a local dairy that offers non-homogenized milk...that is all that would be available here. I do get some organic milk through WIC and I think it's worse than conventional because it is ultra-pasteurized so it lasts months in the fridge...also it has a cooked milk taste. I just make kefir with it.