Grocery Store Milk--Should I bother?

[Dillpicklechip]

I just read an article on the WAP site which stated that if you can't find raw milk you shouldn't bother drinking milk at all. Do you guys agree with this?

I completely understand why raw milk is so much better, but it is not available in my province at all. So it's not an option.

If all I can get is milk from the grocery store, should I bother? We drink a lot of milk in our house. My kids especially LOVE it. I've been giving them regular whole milk (not organic which I can't afford)--should I cut back or stop?

We really want to have our own homestead in a couple of years, and when we do we'll keep our own cow! Until then, I'm not sure what to do. Buy milk, or not.

[newcastlemama]

Here in California I can get Strauss milk. It is pasturized and mostly grass-fed and organic (and 1/2 the price of raw!). I just ferment it to add get the enzymes/nutrients a boost. Price empasized grass-fed milk, not raw necessarily, so try and find that instead.

Maybe you could describe your milk choices....It would be difficult to quit if they loved it! Maybe they could eat more yogurt, cheese, and such. About the $ issue-this is a good article. I try and remember that eating real food is #1 when we are having $ difficulties.....
http://www.ninaplanck.com/index.php?...poor_real_food

Jen

[Taedareth]

Yeah, I guess the homogenization process makes it super bad for you. Our Food Co-Op does sell pasturized (boo, hiss) but non-homogenized milk for somewhat less than raw milk (but more than conventional milk, naturally...). So that might be an option. Not as nutritious obviously, but at least you can digest it!

[Dillpicklechip]

My only milk choices seem to be regular commercial milk at the grocery store, and organic pasteurized milk (not grass-fed) at the grocery store. It doesn't really seem worth it to pay twice the price for organic when it isn't grass-fed, or raw.

I looked at realmilk.com and the nearest source of raw milk is goat's milk, and it's a 4 hour drive away.

[chloeM]

thats hard. Can you afford Goats milk? Its more digdestable than cows and its not homogenised. We are in Canada too and we go over the border to get our raw milk. Even then we still culture most of it bacause it makes it more digestable, so it would depend what you would do with it. FOr me I think that if your only alternatives are something like soy or rice milk than its better to stick with regular milk, not the best but better than the latter, and if you are making kefir you will still be getting lots of good out of it. Why is all the good stuff soo expensive or out of reach?

[newcastlemama]

Originally Posted by Dillpicklechip

My only milk choices seem to be regular commercial milk at the grocery store, and organic pasteurized milk (not grass-fed) at the grocery store. It doesn't really seem worth it to pay twice the price for organic when it isn't grass-fed, or raw.

I looked at realmilk.com and the nearest source of raw milk is goat's milk, and it's a 4 hour drive away.

Is it homgonized and or ultra-heat pasturized? I give ds pasturized/non-homog "natural" (no hormones abx) goat milk fom Trader Joe's. The one at the grocery is homog and UHT (and more expensive!). We will have the good milk as soon as we can get the goat pasture set up!

Maybe drink 1/2 as much milk and buy the organic? Then really hustle on the cow purchase

Jen

[MaryCeleste]

Well, FWIW, here's our personal ranking (to match the bread list ). Others might disagree with some of our choices, but we've decided we're willing to compromise on quality at times -- e.g., while traveling -- in order to keep our children's diet reasonably consistent. We do limit consumption of the "less than ideal" milks, if we end up buying them. We'd tend to use them more for culturing or cooking, or small amounts on cereal, etc., rather than for drinking straight.

Within the following rankings, if we have several options, we'd choose "humanely raised" > "grass-fed" > "organic" > "conventional factory-farmed."

-----

Ideal:

- raw cow's or goat's milk from clean, healthy animals


Acceptable occasionally/in a pinch:

- pasteurized (non-UHT), non-homogenized cow's milk
- pasteurized (non-UHT) goat's milk
- raw cow's or goat's milk from questionable source (we'd probably boil it)
- supermarket skim milk (I'm guessing this isn't homogenized? : )
- instant nonfat powdered milk

If using skim milk, would mix with additive-free non-UHT cream. If no suitable cream available, would just add more butter to the diet.


Would not buy:

- homogenized milk (according to Mary Enig, the jury's still out, but it gives me the creeps... YMMV)
- UHT milk (see WAPF article)