Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Buying a Cow

I've seriously been contemplating this. At some point, you have to wonder where your break even point is when you happen to have children, who, like mine, believe that milk is the Nectar of the Gods.

I buy milk 2 gallons at a time... these days, I just cast a cursory glance at the expiration date. As long as it's not labeled with the current days date, I know my kids will have it polished off long before it goes bad.

Buddy will get the biggest glass he can find and fill it up completely to the rim. He does that several times a day.

Sissy enjoys her milk too. Since she can't help herself just yet, I can limit her intake somewhat.

Yesterday, I paid $3.19 a gallon for the WalMart brand./ I remember the days when I would feel thrilled to find it for less than $2 a gallon. That was back when Buddy was smaller.

I'm back to buying whole milk, although I could go back to 2% - which is about the lowest I will go.

Oh well, I was raised on whole milk and that's what the kids prefer, so I will continue to pay a bit more for that.

Frankly, I think 2% is starting to get into "colored water" territory. It just kind of skeeves me out. I don't drink a whole lot of milk just by itself these days. I use it on cereal or while cooking/baking, so I figure MY total calories consumed from milk is minimal. My children are thin (like their mommy used to be), so they can stand to use the extra calories if you ask me.

I suppose it's still cheaper to buy the gallons and gallons of milk at the store. If we had a cow, we'd have to feed it and then find some way to pasteurize the milk after getting it out. I'll stick with the store bought.... I've got enough to do right now.

16 comments:

  1. Pasteurize?? Heck just give em cereal and send them out to old Bessie to get the milk straight from the tap :)
    And if things go badly you can fill up your freezer with steaks, it's a no lose situation!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We go through milk quickly, too. Now we are going to 2-3 different places a week to get everything we need. Milk/veggies/bread at Kroger, the "staples" at Wal-Mart -its crazy what I do to save the family money!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sometimes the kids blow through a gallon, sometimes I pour the whole darn thing out.

    It really annoys me to pour it away as much as it's costing us now... jeeez.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I used to think 2% milk was colored water too. Then I discovered I was lactose-intolerant. Now I buy lactose free 2% milk. It tastes great and it NEVER goes sour!

    ReplyDelete
  6. You paid $3.19 for Walmart milk? What the hell? I just paid $4.50 at my Walmart! For their brand! What is up with that???

    Okay. I'm done now. Well, not really, but...

    ReplyDelete
  7. I buy lots of milk, too. If it weren't for milk, cheese and peanut butter, I don't know how my precious Toots would eat!
    Today I had skim milk in my cappuccino, made a coconut pie yesterday with whole milk, Shark had 2% in his cereal - it's a milk fest in The Kitchen!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thats funny..my Dad, who grew up on a farm (and couldn't wait until he was old enough to get the hell out ;)used to be would drink nothing less than whole milk..which btw is only 3.7% fat. He'd scoff at 'skim milk' saying A) he wasn't drinking anything blue and B) that was the stuff they'd 'skim' off when making butter and feed it to the hogs.

    Today, he has given in some...he will drink 2%, without bitching.....much ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ron - you always were the smart one.

    Gigi - I try to keep it to just WM, but find myself at Kroger at least once a week, too.

    Diva - I should send Buddy to your house. He'd polish off "extra".

    kenju - I suspect I might have a touch of lactose intolerance. That's why I carry Immodium AD. lol.

    wordnerd - maybe yours needs to be trucked farther? That's really odd.

    T - I keep only whole and half & half (the Evil Twin only puts half & half in his coffee).

    efen - I don't blame him! Srsly, I moved to 2% once when I was gaining weight, but a year or so later, I was right back to whole. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Be thankful. Where my family lives in Indiana they pay $5 a gallon!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Needing milk (running out late in the day) I decided to go to the drive-thru - $5.99 for whole milk...I immediately told them to shove it and burned rubber out of there. Thegrandson needs the calories and nutrients from the whole milk as he is such a gangly underweight child. Kroger's was $3.59.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm a skim milk girl....unless we're talking about White Russians, of course. Duh.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I don't drink milk much... but if I am going to bother... it's going to be whole milk, by golly!

    ReplyDelete
  14. honeywine - that is absurd!

    themom - I think it's about the same at our Kroger.

    Laura - honey, somehow the thought of booze + dairy doesn't really appeal to me. You don't want those chunks coming back up!

    NCP - here, here! No colored water for us either.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I know you aren't really going to get a cow, but do you have any idea just what a registered Holstein cow is worth? You don't want to know.

    Rusty

    ReplyDelete
  16. Simple solution; charge your kids for milk.

    I know, you never thought of that. It's okay, I'm a professional.*

    Where do I send the invoice?

    *I'm not a professional

    ReplyDelete