Ok, so I missed the Organic Milk Memo of 2007/2008. Maybe it was disguised as junk mail and I recycled it. But it seems like everyone but me is buying organic milk, and is kind of militant about it. Why? I mean, I get the point of organic food, sure. But why is milk often deemed the one thing you should buy organic?
There was an article in the New York Times yesterday about people who are forgoing dining out and cooking at home to save money, and it quotes one woman as saying, “Organics are out of the question…except for milk.” And then no explanation, because, well, this was more an article about saving money, and also because everyone else got the Memo.
Now, if we had a million dollars, I would buy everything organic and fair trade. But we don’t have a million dollars. We don’t even have a two-earner family (and not only am I not earning any money, but I’m going to library school, which is actually costing us quite a bit). And it’s not like I’m buying Big Joe’s Discount Melk or anything. I do make sure I buy milk that doesn’t have growth hormones. But it’s not organic. Because organic costs like four times what regular milk costs, and Eli drinks his weight in milk every three days. (Actually, if we had a million dollars I might buy Smiling Hill Farm milk because it’s local and those thick glass milk bottles are just downright beautiful.)
This is something that has left me feeling perplexed as well. I, too, buy the stuff without growth hormones, but cannot bring myself to spend six dollars on a gallon of milk. Or even five. Especially when Isaac drinks so much of it. I also missed the memo, I guess. I buy organic produce as much as possible, but figured if the cows were given no growth hormones, that was good enough for me (and my kid). Maybe someone out there can explain this to the rest of us.
I buy raw organic milk on farmers market. I mostly drink it raw. The thing is, the milk you buy in a container, travels a long way, is processed on high temperatures, which means it’s tasteless and worthless. Not to mention the way they treat the animals, how much drugs and hormones the give them etc.
This is how it used to be – people went to the nearest farmer, and bought their milk. Now the milk from your nearest farmer is transported from the farmer to the factory, where it is processed, and then transported back to the store near you. Isn’t that crazy?
Organic food is expensive, because the demand is higher than the production. It will take some time, but the prices will fall. We have to support organic farmers by buying their products. Unfortunately that means paying higher prices. This is also an investment in our health.
I think local in this case is more important to me than organic (well, local and growth-hormone free). We like this Farmer’s Cow of CT milk because it meets all the requirements AND it has a groovy cow on the container (an award-winning design!) which always makes Sam happy when he sees it.
http://www.thefarmerscow.com/
You know, I’ve been buying organic mindlessly ever since my mom had breastcancer 8 years ago…it became just sort of what we did, (a dire, cassandra like nurse warning as we left the hospital to “buy organic” influenced this) and it is only organic buy that I’m dead consistent about…maybe because breasts and udders are linked in some unholy way in my mind. I do non-organic meat and fish, mostly organic eggs, and mixed org. and not for fruits and veg. And then last week I got local milk…it’s in the market, it has no hormones, antibiotics, and I suddenly wasn’t sure what I was trying to avoid with organic. I’m spooked by it a little, feel guilty a bit, but it has let me know how emotional but not very logical I’ve been about my 4.99 milk. Hmm.
Buying organic milk isn’t just about the growth hormones. When you buy organic, you are getting milk from cows that have been fed organic grain, grass , corn etc. And hopefully, you are also supporting a company that has integrity and is eco-friendly. That last part is harder because many of the large beverage companies say they are organic but still treat their cows inhumanely. My family drinks Heritage Organic Milk. You can usually find coupons online if you do a search. I know it’s tempting to go with the larger brands because their organic products might be a little cheaper, but they are cutting corners and ultimately deceiving their consumers. Stremick’s Heritage Foods is a quality company. If you are going to spend the money on organic, we need to support the companies that are doing it the right way. I really think drinking organic milk is worth the price. My kids drink so much of it and I want to make sure what they are drinking is completely healthy.
My sister says that there’s “antibiotic residue” unless its organic. For whatever thats worth.
Do you have Costco near you? We buy our organic milk at costco- three half gallons in a box are about $10. They also have an expiration date much longer than milk in regular stores (I believe this is because the milk is UHT as they do in Europe) which makes it possible to stock up on a couple boxes and not have it go bad.
Dave thinks that maybe the pesticides stay in fatty tissue, so they sort of stick around in the fat part of milk. Which makes sense, but are we ok if we drink skim? Thanks for all your responses, everyone. I’m still going to mull on this a bit. We drink so much milk, so it’s expensive to buy organic, but…we drink so much milk, so maybe we should buy organic if we’re putting that much into our systems? If we buy Oakhurst milk it is at least local Maine farmers, mostly, though it’s still a big-scale production. We don’t have a Costco near us. I think I’m going to investigate organic milk prices and local milk prices some more and continue to think on this.
my must-do organics are milk and berries. everything else, i’m negotiable.