How MUCH milk does your family drink?

[Heidi @ Mt Hope]

How much milk do you go through in a week? This includes all uses and any type of milk from cow's milk to almond milk.

 

I'm setting up a poll.

 

We buy Organic Valley 2%, but only my youngest son drinks milk (and only a little). I use it for my own cereal and baking, etc. So we go through a quart (or less!) a week. I also have rice milk on hand for when I run out of regular milk.

 

We go through quite a bit of calcium fortified OJ, though.....

[HappyCrazyMama]

No way! LOL. I didn't think anyone (even the large families) would say more than 5 gallons. Okay, if you drink more than 5 gallons a week, can you give us a ballpark of how much you buy/use?

 

We raise our own (dairy goats), two of my children drink milk almost exclusively and I frequently cook with it. Daily consumption does vary widely but up to a gallon a day is not unusual.:)

[Elizabeth in WA]

We go through a gallon a day! My kids drink ALOT of milk! :D

 

Ditto.. at least a gallon a day here. although when ds12 was in China for two weeks this summer we went through only about half as much as when he is home. :glare:

[desertmum]

We only use milk in our tea and for ds who is 4 he can have as much as he wants. Between the 3 of us...less than a gallon a week.

[Rosie_0801]

Dh buys a bit of cows milk for his coffees because he doesn't like it with any other milk. I buy almond, rice or oat milk for baking sometimes.

 

The only one who drinks it straight is dd, and she only gets left overs, since we don't keep a fridge on to store them.

 

Rosie (how much is a gallon anyway? I have to go check google! 3.7L? Geez! That's a lot!)

Edited September 6, 2010 by Rosie_0801

[Melissa in Australia]

We have our own house cow. The boys make heaps of milkshakes every day.

I had to find a converter to work out how many litres were in a gallon.

[Mom in High Heels]

Indy can't process milk (protein allergy), and won't drink rice milk anymore, so it's just James Bond and I who drink it. Normally we only use it for cereal, but apparently, much like when I was pregnant with Indy, I NEED calcium and am craving chocolate milk. We usually go through about 1/2 gallon a week, but yesterday I had to buy a gallon because I keep drinking it (with some chocolate sauce mixed in). We both have to have Lactaid, and it's $4.09 for a HALF gallon. I spent $8.18 on a gallon on milk yesterday! Ack! This could be an expensive pregnancy. Sigh.

[2squared]

No way! LOL. I didn't think anyone (even the large families) would say more than 5 gallons. Okay, if you drink more than 5 gallons a week, can you give us a ballpark of how much you buy/use?

 

:lol: When I opened the thread, I assumed the poll would be how many gallons do you drink a day? Our family of 6 goes through a gallon of milk and a gallon of water every day. Dh drinks coffee, but the rest of us get milk or water. Juice and lemonade are rare treats. Dh eats cereal every morning, but I usually make breakfast for the rest of us.

 

I don't buy organic. $3.50/gal x 7 gal/week x 4 weeks/month = :eek:

[TravelingChris]

I have two teenagers, one young adult and myself drinking milk. I think it is about five gallons a week.

[Sumiller]

Wow, this poll was an eyeopener for me. It would never have occured to me that some families go through that many gallons of milk in a week. . . 10+ :blink:

 

I thought that going through 2-3 gallons a week for a family of 4 was a lot! Not anymore. I guess I understand the 5+ gal. a week if you live on a farm or get your own fresh milk daily. I've never had fresh milk but I am sure it tastes way better than store bought. Since I don't use much milk in cooking, use cream in my coffee, and my boys don't really like drinking milk except with their cereal and maybe a glass with dinner, I guess 2-3 gallons is about right, for us. :D

[mom2att]

5 of us here--6 gallons a week. I stock up at BJ's every week because it's under $3 per gallon there. At Publix it's about $3.20 now (milk is more expensive in Florida than the midwest, I've found). I don't know how much organic is, but I know it would double my milk costs at least! We did buy OV chocolate milk when we were being very careful about ds's artificial flavors/colors consumption. It was yummy and he loved it, but at usually $4 a half gallon, I didn't love buying it.

 

We love milk and are big cereal eaters, too. We pretty much drink only milk or water, except for the youngest who has juice sometimes.

[Tracy in Ky]

We drink 5 gallons or more. We are a family of 4: myself, dh, dd10, and ds15. We buy 5 gallons of raw milk a week (we sold our milk cow), and I also buy half & half and use it for coffee, alfredo sauce, etc.

 

We love milk! But on the other hand, I don't buy fruit juice, soft drinks, etc. Milk and water are what we drink, with the exception of my coffee and dh's tea in the A.M., and the occasional cup of herbal or fruit tea.

[Chris in VA]

Dh buys a bit of cows milk for his coffees because he doesn't like it with any other milk. I buy almond, rice or oat milk for baking sometimes.

 

The only one who drinks it straight is dd, and she only gets left overs, since we don't keep a fridge on to store them.

 

Rosie (how much is a gallon anyway? I have to go check google! 3.7L? Geez! That's a lot!)

 

Are you saying you don't have a refrigerator, Rosie?

That would be veeerry interesting.:001_smile:

[WarriorMama]

No way! LOL. I didn't think anyone (even the large families) would say more than 5 gallons. Okay, if you drink more than 5 gallons a week, can you give us a ballpark of how much you buy/use?

 

I had to go convert liters to gallons to be able to calculate this, lol. Milk sells in liters here!

 

We go through about a gallon a day - sometimes a little less, sometimes more. Cereal, drinking it straight, baking, and milkshakes a couple times a week all add up fast!

 

I'd love to switch to organic milk but even regular milk takes a big bite out of my grocery budget! :tongue_smilie:

[RoughCollie]

We go through 7 gallons of milk a week. DH drinks 2 glasses a day, and the kids drink the rest. We've been running out lately, so I may have to start buying 8 gallons.

[RoughCollie]

I don't buy organic. $3.50/gal x 7 gal/week x 4 weeks/month = :eek:

 

It's worse than you think. There are 4.33 weeks in a month, otherwise you haven't counted 4 weeks.

[meet me in paris]

We're definitely on the low end. No one drinks milk in our house... I use it for cooking, and one daughter uses it in cereal. that's it!

[Snickerdoodle]

I never buy milk.

[TXMary2]

We use 4-5 gallons a week. The kids drink milk with their breakfast, lunch and dinner. We also go through about 5 boxes of cereal a week - sometimes more as my husband loves to eat cereal as a snack.

[Rhonda in TX]

Family of 4 - 5 gallons a week. My kids are teenagers, though, which definitely impacts the total. When my sister had two high school age boys, she went through a gallon a day!

[Firefly]

One and a half to two gallons.

[nukeswife]

I buy 7 half gallons a week, so about 3.5 gallons per week here. That's because I've had to slow my oldest son down. He's always been a big milk drinker. If I didn't keep him rationed he'd go through a gallon a day easy.

 

When he was a toddler and drinking whole milk, we'd buy 1% for dh and I and whole for him. He'd go through 3-4 gallons a week on his own.

[Daisy]

Wow, I just did the conversion- 4.55 litres to a gallon. You gals drink a lot of milk!

 

We probably drink around 4, but sometimes 6 litres a week- which fits into your 2 gallons or less catagory.

I like to buy raw local milk but dh wont drink raw, so I buy normal for him, and sometimes pasteurised organic.

 

At $2 a litre for milk (or a bit under for bulk) we obviously pay a lot more than you guys do. My raw milk is $4 a litre! It may be cheaper on the east coast of Australia, though, since I guess we don't have heaps of dairy land here. Not sure.

 

You and I are paying close to the same amount for raw milk. There are parts of the US that must just have insanely cheap milk.

[Firefly]

The raw milk I buy is between 4 and 6 dollars for a half gallon! There are some that sell cheaper but I think it's important to know and trust your source, so we just do it.

[Daisy]

LOL. I'm amazed by the replies. I've learned so much more about why and how people consume milk. We just are not a milk family.

 

I think it must be because Dh and I were raised just drinking water at meals.

 

We drink water with all meals and hot tea 1x or 2x a day. Milk is an occasional milk and cookies type thing.

 

We put it on cereal (which we only eat occasionally) and we throw it out when the cereal is gone. None of us likes it well enough to eat it after it has had cereal in it. Blech.

 

Anyway, this has been a fun thread. Thanks everyone.

[ereks mom]

ER & dh love milk. EK & I rarely drink it, but we do use it in our cereal or for cooking--mac & cheese, casseroles, pancakes, desserts, etc.

[Tracy in Ky]

We pay $5 per gallon for raw milk.

[AnneGabe]

2 1/4 gallons of cow's milk

1/2 gallon of almond milk

1 gallon of rice milk

 

We buy organic and I spend around $20 a week total on all that milk.

[Daisy]

We pay $5 per gallon for raw milk.

 

WOW! I'm totally GREEN. :D

[Gamom3]

I just purchased a gallon of whole milk on Friday, I had purchase another today--didn't know that we were out yesterday.

Oldest ds just moved home and he seems to drink it like water. He is to purchase his own from now on. I can not afford to purchase milk like that.

We normally purchase around 4 gal a week--2 whole(dh and dd) and 2 skim(ds and I--I only use it for cereal which isn't often).

[DesertDweller]

We're all lactose intolerant here. I voted none. Other than an occasional bowl of cereal for dd or a little bit used in cooking, we rarely ever buy any.

[lisabelle]

The dh has a bowl of cereal for breakfast every morning and ds (11) has a glass at dinner. The glass has recently grown from an 8oz. to a 16 oz. So we go through about a gallon and a half of 2 percent and I occasionally (maybe once a week) have cereal with almond or coconut milk (I'm lactose intolerant).

Edited September 6, 2010 by lisabelle
typo

[mysticamethyst]

Haven't read all the replies yet but we go thru about a gallon and half a day. Youngest would drink milk all day if she could. Seriously, she will come in hot and sweaty and want a glass of milk. Everyone has a glass of milk with lunch and dinner.

[Caitilin]

Between the 8 of us, we go through 3.5 gallons of milk a week. :)

[IsabelC]

I never had any idea how much a gallon was before, or that you have wet and dry gallons and they're different.

 

OK, so we go through between 3 and 4 gallons per week. We are a family of 5, but our youngest consumes very little cows milk (she still breastfeeds, so she only has the cows milk when it's cooked in something). We don't generally have milk as a drink in itself - we have 'trained' the children to have water as the main drink - so the amount is made up of milk on porridge/cereal, milk in cooking, milk in hot drinks (mostly me, that one) and sometimes we make milky drinks, eg banana milkshakes.

[Tutor]

We are a family of 6 and drink 1.5 gallons a week. We used to drink lightly pasteurised, right from the dairy milk, but now we get organic from the regular grocery. Looking forward to our income going back up so we can buy from the dairy again.

[Renee in NC]

I put 3 gallons a week, but that is because I won't buy more. The older 5 at home drink a gallon a day, so we *would* use 7 gallons a week for them and another gallon for the baby if I bought it!

[KidsHappen]

We don't drink milk in this family. We only use it in recipes or the occassional bowl of cereal.

[NancyNellen]

Roughly 3-4 gallons a week for a family of 7. I only allow milk at dinner and for cereal since we buy organic and it costs an arm and a leg. We drink water at all other times.

[yellowperch]

We run through 6-7 gallons a week. Can't wait to see what one more milk-lover (our 10 month old) will do to our weekly comsumption. We'll be at a full gallon a day soon enough, I think.

Edited September 6, 2010 by yellowperch

[Giraffe]

2-3 gallons a week for a family of 3. We're milk fiends here. As DD grows I can only imagine how that number will increase.

[Quiver0f10]

We go through 7-10 gallons a week. More if I don't keep a check on how much they are drinking.

[angela in ohio]

I voted 2 gallons or less. We used to drink a lot, but I have switched us over to getting more dairy from kefir and yogurt instead.

[PinkTulip]

There are six of us in our family, and we drink 8 gallons of milk a week. Four boys, DH, and myself. Really, it is the only thing we drink, besides water. No juice, tea, anything - just lots of milk. Thank heavens for Costco, where I can get growth-hormone free milk for about $2.50 a gallon.

[SABE]

Our family of 6 (with 5 of us drinking milk) drinks about 2 gallons a week.

[Virg]

I am glad we are not the only ones! We are a family of 6. DH doesn't drink milk but I love it. 3 of our 4 children drink milk. The last child is allergic and drinks rice milk. I have to limit milk to cereal, cooking, and some with each meal, water in between. I can't afford for everyone to drink as much as they want!

[bbrandonsmom]

We went dairy free for ds about 2 months ago. He's drinking almond milk. We used to drink more, because he loved it. I buy a qrt of cow milk in case dh wants some, and the boys and I drink the almond milk-though not a lot of it. I'd say a gallon in 2 wks maybe. The only other dairy in our house is cheese.

[Lynnette in WA]

Wow! I'm beginning to feel like we have a shameful habit here :)

There are from 6-9 of us (husband, me, 2 girls of 11 and 18, and 5 boys 8, 15, 20, 22, 24) home during the week and most of us really like milk. We go through about 2 gallons per day -- unless I buy cereal (which I rarely do!), then it's more. So I suppose we drink/use about 14-16 gallons a week. I wonder if we should cut down...