When one walks into a supermarket, there is a wide range of milk and milk alternatives available for purchase. The range of different types of milks and their alternatives seems to be getting larger to follow consumer demands, diets and potentially trendy fads.
Some of the brands are only available in the locality of the supermarket, others are nationwide. Some are fresh while others have been heat treated for longer shelf life. There is milk from a number of different animals as well alternatives based on plant products.
For the October Food Challenge, let us know:
what brand of milk (store brand, Devondale, Pauls, Norco, Betta, etc); and
what type of milk (low fat, skim, cowsâ almond, soy etc)
you mostly buy.
Also let is know why you buy it and what you use it for.
If you donât buy any milk thatâs okay, you can let us know why you donât buy it as well.
The October Food Challenge is brought to you by @vax2000, @Gaby and @phb.
Congratulations to the winners of the September Challenge Badge @SueW@airedale and @draughtrider. Thanks to all who contributed to the topic.
Fleurieu Milk Company. South Australia. NOT available in Coles/Woolies⊠they have a weekly delivery service to country towns: it is stocked at IGA, Foodland etc. It is real milk, with a good range to suit oneâs taste. Have been buying it since it appeared in my IGA: to support local dairy farmers. I usually buy 1L bottles of Jersey Premium Low Fat; occasionally go âthe full Montyâ with the un-homogenised Jersey Premium (depending on what is available/use by date).
Mostly used for coffee, very occasionally cereal/cooking (since I discovered how full fat milk improves a Spag Bog sauce thanks to 'Natâs what I reckon" posts on YT!!)
It costs more than the milk at the duopoly - a price I am more than happy to pay. Especially since there are no dairy farmers left in my area of the State: the Golden North Icecream factory is just up the road (has been in operation for nearly 100 years - but not using locally produced milk anymore).
Fresh Hi-lo dairy milk, usually by the 3 litre, which my family if three will consume at a rate of just under a litre per day. (Is Hi-lo only a WA term? Iâve always struggled to find it on the other side⊠itâs a 2% fat milk with added solids). Being in WA, most of the brands we have on the shelf are unique to us. We usually alternate between them depending on price, favouring Brownes (which is owned by Shanghai Ground Food Tech) but also buying Masters (Lion) or Harvey Fresh (Parmalat). Choice of plain milk preference DEFINITELY influenced by flavoured milk preference - Iâm a Coffee Chill girl all the way
My son LOVES Harvey Freshâs âJersey Girlâ milk (full cream, certain percentage guaranteed from Jersey cows), and we will buy that for him when its on special.
I eat vegetarian, and see dairy milk as a really great way to boost my protein and nutrient intake. I drink white coffee, I use it in fruit smoothies (often with the addition of extra whey), and Iâm rather partial to a glass of milk with a Chocolate Sippah straw for a treat in the evening, or warm milk with honey. I donât really eat cereal, but the others do. Also for cooking.
Maleny Dairyâs low fat, because we can see the cows over the fence, almost! Itâs also great product that is not foreign owned. We use it for tea, coffee, hot coco treats, cooking and porridge or cereal as weather decides. Typically 2l lasts 5-7 days, so the cost premium is not that great a concern for us, considering it may be for those with large families or tight budgets.
The barista in the family when visiting home sees an upgrade to their rich full cream.
Norco is the plan-B as even the local IGA runs out of the local product at times. We grew up with their ice cream in the bright yellow and red printed tins. Itâs also very Aussie, and has a family connection for us. (Sentiment)
P.S.
A short drive down the road we can see the camels our local camel milk comes from. At the store price though not even Cleopatra could afford to bath in it.
Itâs apparently a popular quality product.
We buy Norco milk, we know some of the Dairy farmers who are in the Co-Op so we know they do benefit. As it is a Co-Op profits are shared among the members and also spread into their communities. We like the quality and varieties (eg non homogenised).
If not Norco then Maleny Dairy products but they are generally a bit more expensive than Norco. Either way we know that a better portion of the proceeds flow back to farm gate than many other brands. There are some other non mainstream producers but they are often harder to source so we tend to only ever have them rarely and randomly.
Nonames full cream basic unflavoured cowâs milk. I see no reason to buy any specific brand or specially treated, reduced or enhanced product. Nor is any nut milk, sheep, goat or soy attractive and it sure isnât worth the extra money.
Forgive me Farmer, for I have sinned! My confession: we buy the cheapest full cream milk we can. Being on the pension and going through about 3L/day means that we canât be choosey. We also have to by the cheapest UHT lacose free low fat milk available, for one of our household, although useage is probably 2L/week.
The only time we use any brand name milk is when it is discounted below the price of the home brand. Occassionally, the various low fat or unhomogonised varieties are discounted to a price we can not ignore, so we buy that. To be honest, if you gave me a glass of brand name milk and a glass of home brand, I am sorry to say I could not pick which was which.
As to use; our youngest downs milk like he owned shares in a dairy and consumes it all day every day. The rest of us use milk with our breakfast cereals, and in our beverages such as smoothies, coffee, and tea.
Yes, some cowâs milk alternatives are best avoided, I suspect the products are just the result of companies jumping on the alternatives bandwagon, rather than any commitment to provide a healthy beverage.
I buy Paulâs Milk - 3L at a time, probably 2-3 a week. I donât feel particularly proud of it, but itâs âokâ. Nobody in my house drinks milk as such - the kids have it in a brew now and then but the majority goes into my milk kefir which is my daily brekky.
If I buy a milk for a special occasion, to have milk and enjoy it fully, the number one for me is Paris Creek. This milk comes with the waxy/creamy cap of full cream that has settled at the top and really does taste great - whatâs more, Woolies here in the outback stock it! they have an amazing range of yogâs and cheeses as well âŠ
A very close second (for me) and as noted by @evanstrish3 is the Fleurieu Milk Company - also available at a specialist here in the middle of nowhere.
Both South Australian? no coincidence Iâd suggest (says he, the parochial guy who was born and raised in the state of free settlers under the âWakefield schemeâ ) - same if you want the best ice cream from Golden North which we can buy here in our local IGAâs here in the Outback.
We buy our low fat Lactose Free in the UHT packs. Liddells is our preferred Brand but we have noticed both Coles and Woolies sell it in their own brand packs. Buy it when on special and it stores well for about 8 months if kept cool. If you can keep it chilled it lasts much longer and freezing best of all. As they are 1 litre packs if it isnât all used in time only a little is wasted.
Or make your own with Lactase (supplier only used as an example):
It isnât hard and we had to do it for ourselves when we lived in the NT. Add the required amount of lactase to the milk and leave it for about 36 - 48 hours in the fridge, after that you have lactose free milk. If you notice tummy issues just give a little more lactase with the milk and next time add say another drop to the mix and/or give it a few more hours in the fridge before consuming⊠A good lactase mix takes about 8 - 10 drops per litre, sometimes a little more but once you work out the right ratio with the supplied lactase it remains the same unless you get a new brand of lactase. The liquid lactase lasts about 55 - 65 days in the fridge once opened and a lot longer if unopened in the fridge.
IF I ever buy milk, its Norco. The one thats 1.5L and has a gold label. The bottle is a perfect size to store my filtered water in the fridge. But normally I use DF pure cream in my coffee and on my porridge or cornflakes. Iâve rejected milk, generally, because the sugar content is higher than in cream (youâll notice a higher sugar content in anything thats labelled low fat, wen compared to the regular product, also)
) - same if you want the best ice cream from 