We keep condensed milk on hand, and would use that for coffee and cooking. For drinking, we might try non-dairy milk but might simply stop drinking milk for the weeks or months of any disruption. It isn't a critical food group in our family. I think we go through about a gallon a week for four people, and half of that is used for lattes.

This post was edited by johnliu on Mon, Dec 9, 13 at 19:15

We will just pay it. Not drink or use any less. The price of milk is artificially low. DH has family who were dairy farmers. They hated getting money from the government to subsidize the price. We would probably just buy less junk food and go to less fast food places.

grainlady I do think the ideas you have posted are excellent for those who are able and willing to use powdered milk.

edited to add: My DS works at a grocery store and said that often people come in from other parts of the country and are amazed at how low our milk prices are. $1.99 per gallon is standard here (WNY)

This post was edited by debrak2008 on Mon, Dec 9, 13 at 13:37

Humans shouldn't be drinking cows milk anyways. We got off our mothers milk at one-two years of age. Why do we still drink cows milk?

I drink it because I like it, just like other people drink soda because they like it - not going to change those either.

Grainlady - thank you for sharing that information. I've been considering getting some to make my own baking mixes to speed things along for those times I'm short on time and for my daughter to use in the easy bake oven as she recently passed the baked goods food challenge and can have milk in baked stuff (not sure if that is ok with the easy bake - may have to ask the doc first).

I will likely still buy milk, but I often buy from a local dairy farmer too so pay way more than the grocery price.

fixed ipad autocorrect

This post was edited by lyfia on Mon, Dec 9, 13 at 15:41

I just looked up Grandma's Country Cream - they sell a sample packet for 89 cents, but shipping is $7. I love my new tomato powder, so I'll think about it, but would just get a can to try at first - thanks!

One litre of 2 % milk is $2.35. So a gallon would be over $8.00 if bought by the litre. A 2 litre is $4.00 and a 4 litre is $5.99. So I wouldn't make any changes.

~Ann

We drink it and make ice cream, yogurt, etc. because we absolutely love the taste. No other milk comes close as far as I am concerned. Oh and BTW it really is very good for you.

DH likes milk so we go through it pretty quickly. He would probably cut back on it as his number one drink. I usually keep evaporated milk on hand to cook with because he won't drink that. I'll just start getting larger quantities of the cans.

Seems to me this isn't the first year we've been warned of this possibility.

Personally I could probably absorb a 300% increase in dairy prices by adjusting what we eat two meals a month if push came to shove.

The quantity of milk producing cows will be more or less the same, therefore the supply of milk will be not much less.

If the price goes up much higher, fewer people will buy milk. What are they going to do with all the unsold milk?

dcarch

I can't believe you can buy milk for $1.99/gallon! I am paying over $4.00 a gallon now. The price increase won't affect my buying habits though, my guys go through about a gallon a day, and that will continue no matter what the price is.

Alexa

$2.95/gallon outside of Austin, TX. DH drinks a lot of milk and always knows the price of milk. I use it mostly in baking and cooking. Never was much of a milk drinker.

DS has a college economics exam tomorrow. He was talking about the types of questions that will be on the exam. He gave an example of a question. What will happen to the demand for cereal if the price of milk jumps. The answer he gave was the demand for cereal will drop as there are other types of breakfast foods available such as frozen waffles.

I go through a half gallon in a bit over a week. I eat yogurt almost every morning. That might change. I will look into dry milk or nut milks. I am concerned for people on tighter budgets. I live in a relatively poor area. A lot of kids will be drinking less milk and more of what???? Soda?

I ordered a couple of cans of Peaks instant full-fat milk a while ago. I'm finally at the point where I should order some more. Better do that soon. I'm lactose intolerant so I never drink fresh, fluid milk. But for cooking and baking, I use dried. I used to buy the non-fat instant but like the Peaks much better.

I always keep some sour cream and plain yogurt on hand, along with various cheeses. But we don't go through those products very quickly. And that's about it for milk products.

I'll believe it/deal with it when/if it actually happens.
I wouldn't make much of a change but I would treat it more like maple syrup and be careful/conservative with it.

I currently pay $9 a gal for milk as part of my cow share from a local farm. The retail price (when available) in the farm store is $11 per gal. They frequently run out of the retail milk and currently have a wait list for the cowshare program. I feel I pay a fair price that helps support a small family farm make a reasonable profit. From Cow to kitchen in just a few hours. If the price were to increase, I would still buy, just less often.

Yes, I've heard the dire warnings before, and it has never happened, although I would not be surprised by anything that is done (or not done) by our current group of politicians. Pah.

I refuse to drink reconstituted dry milk, it tastes disgusting, I'd rather give up milk altogether. I also don't care for yogurt, although I make my own and use it in baking. I never buy sour cream. I don't really care all that much for cheese, I'm not a cream cheese fan and I don't eat ice cream either, as a general rule. Elery eats cottage cheese, yogurt and cheese, but will not drink milk at all.

I do, however, drink milk. I like milk and I grew up on a farm drinking raw milk. I buy my milk from a local organic dairy and I pay $4.29 a half gallon, so I'm already paying over $8 a gallon. I can get the commercial stuff at Aldi for $1.79 a gallon, but I don't and I won't.

Here soft drinks are $4.89 for a 12 pack of 12 ounce cans. We do have a deposit on the cans, 10 cents each, so that adds $1.20, bringing the cost when not on sale up to over $6, although you can recoup your $1.20 if you take the returns back. They have no nutritional value at all and are basically junk food and chemicals in a can but no one complains at all about paying somewhere around $5 a gallon for soft drinks. Beer and wine cost more than that, and no one seems to complain about that either.

I've never understood the premise behind drinking an $8 glass of wine at supper but complaining about the price of a glass of milk.

Annie

Thanks for the great input and interesting perspectives on the subject. It's also interesting seeing what everyone is paying for milk, who likes and doesn't like milk (and other dairy foods), and the price comparisons to other beverages. I hadn't thought of that because a $125/month food budget doesn't go far enough to put those types of beverages in the cart. I get a little crazy when I see how much bottled water people pay for these days, and how little ACTUAL food they have in their carts.....

There was a day I could name at least 15 dairies in a 10-mile radius, but not anymore. We had two milk manufacturers here in our little town, not that long ago.

The economics impact won't just be cereal, but everything that has dairy products in it's production. I saved enough in my food budget to make my annual purchase, so I'll be good for another year. I've been supplementing with homemade nut milk (although almonds are at an all time high, rice milk, coconut milk, and occasionally oat milk. Homemade kefir is an important food in our diet. It has so many uses and is so good for us.

Thanks again....!

-Grainlady

An article I read seemed to say not that current prices are artificially low, but that the current law expiring would allow an older law to come into effect, that would require that government to buy milk at a higher price. And that milk distributors would then have to meet that artificially higher price and consequently have to pass that higher price along to us.

We don't use milk but we do go through a bit of yogurt. About two qrts a week.
For cooking i just make a yogurt milk. I doubt we would stop buying yogurt and a few cheeses we always have on hand. I do make mozzarella a few times during the summer months.
That will not change. Milk prices have been so low.
Coconut milk is great for some recipes. Always have that on hand. I don't have a need for nut milks. I'd rather just eat the nut. Don't buy soda. Make our own. Grapefruit, ginger, berries. Like a fruity fresca ginger ale. Tis the season for grapefruits at 25cents a lb.
That flavor mix will change when grapefruits are a buck a piece.

We don't budget food but we do cut down unnecessary costs i suppose by eating seasonally. I like the challenge of using fresh/local but also need the change. Like the last big giant load of kale. Love it. But our internals need a break.

Seems this will effect more than milk prices.
And why i put in more fruit trees and shrubs. We've been having frozen blueberries and raspberries 5 days a week with yogurt and granola for a few months now and still have plenty. The berries thaw by the time we want it at work...5am is too early for us so we take it with...
A neighbor actually asked last summer, while i was picking one day, "you eat those things?"
(raspberries!). My next door neighbor was pulling and cutting them back, while we were at work, on our property. After his wife passed a few yrs ago from stomach cancer, he eventually moved. And the raspberries took off. I had no idea we had so many. (and will be offering them in the freebie exchange next spring)

""Milk prices could skyrocket on January 1st if Congress fails to pass a new Farm Bill." This will impact all dairy products we now use."

I notice that Grainlady asks specifically about milk alone.

While I haven't read every single post here word for word,
I do notice that a number of posters say
they will simply switch to other products.
Such as canned milk, powdered milk, etc.

But this would affect the price of ALL dairy products,
Including canned and powdered milk.
So how would switching be of any benefit, price wise?

"although I would not be surprised by anything that is done (or not done) by our current group of politicians. Pah"

Annie, not sure if you were speaking of your MI politicians,
Or of the Federal government.
Either way, I agree with you, 100%
But speaking of TX politicians, I know nothing about MI politics.

Personally, I don't use much milk,
just in baking, which I do very little of anymore.
Yoghurt, cottage cheese, & butter ARE 'staples' though.
So I guess for me, it's just a "wait & see"
As to what the prices do and what my budget will allow.

Rusty

Spent some time this morning looking up the brands of dried powdered milk available - thank you, grainlady! I don't drink much milk as a beverage, mainly use it in cooking and put on cereal/oatmeal. I buy organic milk because the regular commercial milk affects my throat - makes it a little sore. I seldom add milk to my coffee or tea. I do like cheese and yogurt, though. I would give up milk sooner than I would cheese and yogurt, but I could cut back on those and tell myself I would be healthier without the cheese and yogurt! LOL!

Guess I'm another one that will "wait and see" - at least most breads and cakes don't require too much milk?

Teresa

This was/is a very interesting thread. The variety of views on milk, what kind of milk, how much to pay, how much/little milk we use, and general philosophy about food budget.

From the brief reading I've done, I think any price jump would be artificial (as bob_cville says) and probably quite temporary (politicians would move to fix the law as soon as the voters got angry).

...and general philosophy about food budget...

I hope I didn't sound arrogant in my response. I just meant that there are many areas where I could (and should) make adjustment in my household spending, both food and non-food. But even taking food alone, I could easily save enough to where an increase in dairy prices wouldn't be noticed. Sad commentary on my part, but true.

Maybe i went off topic, but being a bit creative, as many here tend to do, one can adjust to a grocery budget that is minimal. I've put off a grocery shopping, and then got caught in this storm...not been in a store since the tuesday before Thanksgiving...well, except for the wed night before when i had forgotten dish wash soap and stocked up on sriracha, lol.
I'm seeing the bottom of my veg drawer for the first time in weeks.
Creative cooking without dairy would only challenge me.

Rusty asked, "So how would switching [to other forms] be of any benefit, price wise?" Buying ahead at current prices is the benefit. Forewarned is forearmed.....

Think of it this way, if I buy $100 of powdered milk products at today's prices (something I normally use and it would be enough for a year) and it goes up 300%, I'll save a lot more on that purchase than if that same amount of money was in a savings account at today's interest rates over that same year.

If dairy prices skyrocket for 6-months and then drop again over the next 6-months, I'm going to be able to use what I have in my home food storage, not change my buying habits or what I normally use, and my $125/month food budget won't take a hit - and that's my bottom-line. If nothing happens to the price of milk, I'm still good....

It's also easier to get accustomed to, or learn how to make and incorporate substitutes, before they are needed. I remember a few years ago on this message board during an ice or snow storm, people were posting us lists of food items they had on hand and were asking for help with what they could make to feed their families because they couldn't get out to go shopping and had to rely on what they had on hand. Those of us who practice home food storage do so to save money - first and foremost, be prepared for emergencies such as loss of income, natural disasters, interrupted food supplies, power outages, etc., and we are often good at finding options. I'm not going to wait until AFTER a disaster to prepare.

-Grainlady

I just heard this on NPR about more benefits of organic milk and thought of this thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: Omega 3 rich organic milk

Rusty, the Chairperson of the Senate Agriculture Committee is from Michigan, Debbie Stabenow. I was referring both to my local Michigan politicians and those at the federal level. The NPR story points out that the House is only in session for another week, then they'll be "on break" until January. I don't know anyone else who gets two weeks off work for Christmas, sheesh.

This story from NPR also says that the wholesale price of milk could, in theory, double, but it won't happen promptly in January.

Annie

Here is a link that might be useful: Farm Bill

olychick, the NPR piece on milk left me thinking "Well, that news came out over 20 years ago!" And there's more to it. Omega 3s are found in the fatty parts of ruminants on pasture--whole milk, cream, cheese. And meats. And they contain not only Omega 3s but CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), a fatty acid that helps maintain lean body mass and also protects against certain cancers, including breast cancer. Feeding corn rapidly eliminates both Omega 3s and CLA.

The NPR piece, while helpful, was sadly incomplete.

buy a cow.

seriously...wonder how much space a cow needs.

We don't use much in the way of fresh dairy products but I like the flavor of canned evaporated milk in cream sauces and soups. This time of year, it's a loss leader in many grocery stores due to it's use in pumpkin pie making.

The week before Thanksgiving, I bought two cases (24 each) of the larger sized cans for 69 cents and that should last me until next Thanksgiving.

Grainlady, I do understand that aspect of it.

But I understood a couple of posters here
to mean they would switch to the canned/powdered products
When the prices went up,
not that they would stock up now.
That is what I was questioning.

But perhaps I misunderstood what they wrote.
And I don't really have the time now to go back
and completely reread each and every post.

Annie, I still agree with you,
But it's best I don't get started on politics!
:>)

Rusty