Author Topic: How To Buy Large Milk Volumes At Grocery Stores  (Read 7388 times)

Baby Chee

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Re: How To Buy Large Milk Volumes At Grocery Stores
« Reply #15 on: September 09, 2009, 02:01:53 AM »
That's a great idea!  I have a dozen of those 5 gallon soda kegs!

I'm still looking around for a dairy farm in the general area.  They are all bankrupt and closed because the land is super valuable for crops.  I would probably have to drive 70+ miles to get fresh milk, which would be best, but would only be worth it if I can buy $2 gallons in 30 gallon trips.

Sailor Con Queso

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Re: How To Buy Large Milk Volumes At Grocery Stores
« Reply #16 on: September 09, 2009, 03:15:57 AM »
Around here, Kroger's brand milk is $1.99/gallon. FYI wherever you buy that quantity of milk, talk to the store manager about case pricing - usually a 10-15% discount.

Here is a good site to find fresh milk.

http://www.realmilk.com/where4.html#nd

And a couple of sources in North Dakota

Dazey: SL Farms, Sam Leppert & Family, 1827 106th Ave SE. (701) 733-5562 slaussies@aol.com . Raw fresh Goat and Cows milk. Occasionally they will have butter and cream available. The cows and goats are Organic. They will deliver to the areas of Bismarck, Fargo and Devils Lake, ND areas. If they get more than 10 customers in any area in ND they will deliver fresh milk. They also have Organic grass fed beef.

Sherwood: Fountains Abbey Dairy, Tricia Berg, 4995 County Road 4, Sherwood, ND 58782. (701) 386-2454, triciaberg@gmail.com , http://goatfad.googlepages.com/home. Fresh raw milk to the Minot, ND area. Milk is sold by the quart or gallon.

Baby Chee

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Re: How To Buy Large Milk Volumes At Grocery Stores
« Reply #17 on: September 09, 2009, 11:53:09 AM »
Thanks!

The farm in Dazey is only 50 miles away.  I could get over there when I need lots of milk.
I'll contact them and see what they charge.

Sailor Con Queso

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Re: How To Buy Large Milk Volumes At Grocery Stores
« Reply #18 on: September 09, 2009, 02:07:32 PM »
Glad I could help. I'm sure there are others closer to you. Let me know what they charge you. I'm really curious to see how your milk prices compare to ours. The raw milk will be more expensive, but it makes great cheese. Of course, the way you're going thru milk you need a price break.  :P

What are you doing with all of your whey? You DO know that you can make ricotta from the leftover whey don't you??? And there are many, many other uses. From a 3 gallon batch of cheese, I usually get about a pound of Ricotta as well.

FYI nationwide dairy farms are only getting about 10 cents a pound (or less) for raw milk. A gallon weighs 8 pounds, so that's just 80 cents a gallon. The dairy farmers are really getting screwed by the big corporate milk processors. Of course that't how they can sell $2 a gallon milk at Krogers.

Baby Chee

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Re: How To Buy Large Milk Volumes At Grocery Stores
« Reply #19 on: September 09, 2009, 07:23:38 PM »
My bank account just squealed in horror.... the price list from the dairy guy isss...sss....*sob*

$8 a GALLON!
$10 for goat milk.
$20 for a gallon of cow cream.

...pass.  I definitely can't afford that.  It's $32 for a cheese.  At present I pay around $11.
-------------
Now I find out about the whey!

I could have used that to my benefit this week.
All my whey aside from some for brine went down the drain.
What a waste.  I was looking at it and wondering.

The next two days I can't use it either because I have only one piece of cheesecloth left and that's for the mold.
Yesterday I made the mistake of putting a few cloths in the drier and they came out ripped and tangled.
Crap.  It's 20 miles to the hardware store, assuming they even carry cheese cloth.

When I begin doing cheeses again later this month (Cam and Cheddar) I'll have more cloth and do the Ricotta.
Thanks for the info.
----------------------
I might blow $10 for a gallon of whipping cream at the store later this month and use it for a special cheese.
I'd love to make a blue from a couple gallons of cream, for family holidays.
« Last Edit: September 09, 2009, 07:29:16 PM by Baby Chee »

siegfriedw

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Re: How To Buy Large Milk Volumes At Grocery Stores
« Reply #20 on: September 09, 2009, 07:46:08 PM »
I know everyone thinks these prices are high but in reality they don't allow for much profit if the farmer is using quality organic or natural feed ingredients and taking good care of his/her animals.

 I expect that my cost for my own goats milk is more than $5.00 per gallon - not to mention the time and energy spent on milking and keeping up the farm -- but i enjoy it.

 I know a cheesemaker with a fairly large, well run  goat dairy and she has told me her computed cost (not sales price and not including transport to markets etc) for her own milk is about $3/ gallon..so $10 per galon is not an outrageous markup when you consider the time and work put into twice a day milking.

Quality costs $...and I think there is a general consensus that a milk that is only hours (or perhaps a day or two at most) makes a better cheese.


Sailor Con Queso

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Re: How To Buy Large Milk Volumes At Grocery Stores
« Reply #21 on: September 09, 2009, 11:23:28 PM »
You will get higher quality and a higher yield from raw milk.

Good quality artisan cheeses go for $20 a pound and up. I looked at an Asiago last week that was $26. I pay $6/gallon for raw milk and average about 1.25 pounds of cheese per gallon. I figure if my cheeses are really good, I am making them for around 1/3 of retail priices.

As I said previously, dairy farmers are only getting about 80 cents a gallon for their milk right now. That is actually below cost for most of them.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: How To Buy Large Milk Volumes At Grocery Stores
« Reply #22 on: September 10, 2009, 12:31:07 AM »
Baby Chee -

I use linen dish rags from WalMart for cheese cloth. They drain slower but they don't loose anything. I thnnk the last batch I bought was only like $6 for four of them and I cut them in half. Cheesy dish cloths but great cheese cloth! The wash great too.

Sailor Con Queso

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Re: How To Buy Large Milk Volumes At Grocery Stores
« Reply #23 on: September 10, 2009, 12:48:06 AM »
I use "flour sacks" from Sam's Club to drain large curds. This is a really nice dense cloth that holds up to repeated washings. Really cheap. Back in the restraunt supplies section.

I usually use butter muslin for ricotta and soft cheeses.

Baby Chee

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Re: How To Buy Large Milk Volumes At Grocery Stores
« Reply #24 on: September 10, 2009, 01:06:16 AM »
Thanks for the recommendations for cheesecloth.

I'll build skills on the cheap Sam's milk.  In the future when I am assured of quality control and decent low-quality milk making nice cheese, I'll upgrade and make very special and rich cheeses with the real stuff straight from the teat.

...I can't wait.  But I have to anyway.  {._.}