I used to buy milk in bags, 20+ years ago, in Nebraska! It was in one of the convenience stores like Casey's or Quik Trip. They sold the bagged milk quite a bit cheaper then the milk in jugs. The bags were 2 quart and I always poured them in pitchers once they'd been opened.

Back in the 80s we use to go to a farm store where you bought milk in bagas there was a gallon bag with 4 quart bags of milk ,the big thing was to buy a bunch freeze them we did ,i wasnt crazy about bags wasted alot, bags werent sturdy.They had chohlate,white.They also had great icecreammmm

From the title, I was picturing cows and goats!! Those are the only "bags of milk" I am familiar with! LOL

I gave up on the bags years ago. They leak and they do not pour well- at least for me!

Someone tried to give me baby formula in bags recently and I said, thanks, but no thanks. You can't feed baby formula to animals...each needs a specific formula, and baby formula has always been just icky to me anyway. So much oil and weird ingredients. I didn't feed it to my baby and I wouldn't feed it to animals. I haven't seen it in bags on shelves of stores so maybe it came from an institution, like a hospital or something.

As for milk...I don't drink it and use very little and lately with what I know, I just buy organic since I don't use enough to worry about the cost. So, yes, I prefer jugs and given my druthers, I wish they were glass, although I understand why they aren't.

I use a gallon of milk a week just for myself mostly, so I don't think I would like to have bags laying around in my refrigerator, I think pouring them would be a problem for me, I would have to pour it into a pitcher or something and that means more of something else to wash up?

Sue

I have no direct experience with bagged milk so I can't say for sure, *but*, I do have experience with bagged laundry detergent and that seems to be at least somewhat comparable and if it is, I certainly do not love it. In fact I'm probably going to pour it into a jug or some kind of bottle. Pouring out of the bag is clumsy, easy to spill and far from convenient. The laundry detergent bag (or "pouch" as they call it) has the pleated bottom so the bag does stand up if you set it just right and play with it a bit. Certainly not convenient. Maybe milk/juice would be different but unless I'm missing something, I don't see that it would.

Now for the comments that I don't follow:

I can't for the life of me imagine having a whole gallon jug in the frig and lugging it in and out whenever I want to use it.
But you *do* lug essentially a gallon in bags. But you put it in pitchers, so that's different than pouring from a jug into a pitcher?

The space it uses and the weight, I'd never want to go back to that.
I'm having trouble believing that these bags laying down in the refrigerator coupled with a pitcher holding the bag in use takes less space than a carton or jug. I'd have to see that to believe it. And the weight? Oh come on! Does Canadian milk weigh that much different than American? LOL As you use a carton or jug the weight continually decreases. And you can always separate it into a pitcher for a small amount, which you're already doing. I don't follow that one either.

...can't imagine having a gallon jug on my table at mealtime.
But you'll have a bag laying on the table? Or use a pitcher separating it from the rest of the milk? As above, nothing stops me from separating part of it but really, even with my very small kitchen and very small table have no problem with finding room for a carton of milk on the table! And actually often I take out what I need and leave the milk in the refrigerator unless it's so little that I'll use it all. I'm finicky about milk being cold. And I suspect that pitcher is close to the size of a gallon jug, isn't it? Something's not making sense. I guess I'm missing something here.

{{gwi:1794920}}Just noticed, the bag has to be cut? There's not a reseal cap or anything on the bag? The detergent has a screw-on cap at least and the measuring cup attaches to it so that part is convenient. I suppose without it you'd have to use a clothespin or something to keep it closed, even in a pitcher I'd want it sealed for odors and taste. Onion milk isn't popular around here! ;) Also, is the size in the picture deceiving? It looks like that pitcher would take up the space a gallon jug would. And those wouldn't fit in the door like a jug or carton would (looks pretty "tippy") so it'd require prime real estate in the frig too I imagine.

I'm not really sure what the idea is of the bag. Must be cheaper, but I'd think that the volume of plastic involved in 4 bags per apprx. gallon of milk has to rival the amount of plastic in a jug. Possibly even more. Some savings I could imagine in packing large quantities but I'm not sure how high they could stack them so I suppose there must still be some sort of milk crates being used for transport which would probably still have some dead space, but I guess it could be less.

I could easily be missing something, but I'm just not seeing any advantage yet. Frankly I'm only seeing disadvantages. I'm hoping to be able to stick with cartons for a long time.

Just thinking about the laundry detergent... Jasdip, do you reuse the milk bags to hold your homemade laundry detergent??? :D

Never knew milk came in a bag. Very strange to me.

How much does milk in a bag cost?

We go through almost a gallon a day...I would not want to mess with a bunch of small bags.

I'll stick with a jug

We live in Wisconsin and buy bags of milk at Quik trip (a convenience store/gas station). It is cheaper by far than buying from the grocery store. Usually 1.00-1.34 for half gallon. They also have a punch card, and with every 20 half gallon bags you get 1.00 off gas. Not a lot, but every little bit...

I like the bagged milk cos it takes up less room in the fridge, I don't get "penalized" with a higher price by buying a smaller quantity, and I can use the rinsed out bags to pick up dog poop.

Quik trip provides the pouring pitchers for free. They also have bananas, onions, and baking potatoes for .38 lb, and good prices on apples, pears and oranges.

I think milk in bags seem strange, but there must be a good reason for doing that. What was the reason in the beginning for using bags? If we had never gotten our milk in jugs, we would probably think it is a good idea, but it does seem pretty awkward.

A gallon of milk is too heavy for me to handle, so I buy 2 half gallons. May cost a few pennies more that way. I buy a brand that is not only better tasting that any store brand, but it comes in cartons and has a very long use by date. I use a cup or so out of one, put that one in the freezer, and use the other one daily. Then I rotate on the next shopping day. I always have milk in the freezer that way.

I think it is just a matter of what we are used to. Hearing the clink,clatter of the door-to-door milkman is a thing of the past and time marches on.

Sue

I like the bags, always have. DH goes through a lot of 2%, so we get that in bags. I get the skim milk that I like in small cartons, because I don't go through it fast enough to warrant the bags. I've never had a flavour/odour issue with the bags, in all my life.

Never heard of this! Plastic milk cartons are recyclable, but I bet people don't recycle milk bags.

Boy, lots of pro & cons about the bag situation. We don't use much milk, as 3 of the 4 people in the house have trouble with lactose intolerance. We buy milk in 1/2 gallon glass containers (that we pay a deposit on). It may be a little more pricey, but it seems to keep better that way. You know it doesn't matter how cheap it is, if you end up pouring spoiled milk down the drain.

This is all new to me, too...never heard of milk in a bag.

I buy it in a carton, sounds like it might be the same milk that sue-va gets, it taste really good, and for some reason has a much longer shelf life than other brands. I get the 2%.

Bags sound messy and difficult to handle. Gallon jugs work just fine for me.

I will stick with a jug also. I don't want to pour my milk into a non sterilized pitcher. I don't suppose it would hurt anything, but still don't like it.

The milk doesn't go into a non sterilized pitcher....the BAG of milk does. We don't decant the milk from the bag into another pitcher....unless we want to.

Just take a single bag out of the larger bag that holds 3 and pop it into the pitcher. Snip off a corner and pour.

I've yet to have my milk pick up any flavours at all from the frig.
Depending on where we live, it averages $4 for the 4 litres. Some provinces charge more, I know. I personally pay $3.87.

We also can buy milk in 2 or 1-litre cartons. There are no 4-litre cartons, just the bagged come in that size.

The pitcher is nowhere near the size of a gallon of milk. It just holds 1 litre (quart) of milk, so it takes up very little frig or table space. The rest of the milk stays in the frig, till the bag in the pitcher is empty.

The bags are recyclable, but they are great to use as freezer bags. The outer bag is a good sturdy bag for kitty litter or to dispose of a small amount of garbage. Actually a church here collects the outer bags. They crochet mats out of them, for third-world countries, for the people to lay on.

As far as the price of a gallon of milk in a jug, around here it is $2.00 a gallon.

Sue

I like the bags ... and the funny part is that the large (4 litre, just less than a gallon, bag) costs about $4.25 in most groceries, ... same price, whether you choose skim, 1% or 2% ... but if you want "Homo" (that's from "homogenized") at about 3.25% butterfat, that costs somewhere around $5.50, I think. I use the 2%, and usually it's available in a drug store chain around here for the $3.99, as in a chain of convenience stores, Mac's stores (though I paid $4.19 at one Mac's a couple of weeks ago), and sometimes it's $3.87 in the drug store chain.

The jug with one of the three inner bags, containing about 1.3 litres, about a quart, is handy, with a bit of an elongation, spout to handle, as the bags have a flat top and bottom where they're sealed.

I, too, have never found any odours or taste permeating the milk (through that tiny hole) ... but if one were to be really fastidious, one could close it with a clothes pin.

If one wraps the loose edge of the outer bag around the remaining two bags and replaces the little plastic closer, it's not hard to get the larger bag to stand up in the frig, leaning against something else. Or I have a thin space under a drawer where I keep a cardboard tray in which I bought a dozen individual sized yogurt cups and the large bag slips into that easily.

Actually, I have three jugs, and usually put all three bags into them when I buy them, with one remining in the outer bag when I have some remaining milk in one of the jugs. Except now, as I bought one of that type of 4 litre bag of 3 bags of chocolate milk in the No Frills discont grocery store for $2.97 on special the other day (available around here till Thursday, Jasdip and other Ontarians) and one of those bags is occupying one of my pitchers, just now.

We have coated cardboard towers for the 1-litre and 2-litre quantities, but a 2-litre costs about a half a dollar less than the 4-litre bag ... so you know what this Funny Frugal Fella's gonna choose.

I've written here before about how one can cut them after rinsing to make trays to hold letters, etc.

One can buy the various levels of fat in a 4-litre jug at the convenience store chain that I mentioned, also for $3.99 for skim, 1% or 2% ... and they charge a refundable quarter for the jug. I don't use them at all ... well, hardly ever. Too heavy and ungainly.

ole joyful (the calf)

I don't mind the bags for 2%, but because we drink skim I buy the 2L cartons with the screw top. It tastes fresher longer. I was finding by the time we got to the 2nd and 3rd bag, it was starting to taste funny. Not spoiled, not like it at absorbed odors, just not as fresh. Plus for some reason DH always managed to drip down into the pitcher so it often smelled sour. ICK.

The brand we buy costs a few cents more, but it somehow tastes more like 1% even though it is skim. Something about filtering out more milk protein and adding it back in but not the butterfat or some other such thing.

When we have travelled I find that I cannot easily lift and pour the gallon size, nor the tall half gallons. But the baby gallons (maybe about a 1/4 gallon?) are fine...and cute ;)

I'm like sleeperblues. I live in Wisconsin and go to Kwik Trip. I only buy my milk in bags (I drink skim). I also buy my orange juice that way too. Leakage is not a problem.

We got bags of milk in the 70's/early 80's from a local dairy in PA. They had a special pitcher you used to put the bags in and you cut off a corner of the top.

I guess I did deal with bagged milk when I worked for the restaurant. Bag in a box, not all that different than the bag in a box of wine. You'd put the whole box into the milk dispensing cooler, put the hose into the dispenser clamp and cut the end off. When it'd empty someone would yell "We need a cow!"

Which gives a thought of one thing they could do... have some bag hangers and make the bags resemble an udder. Easier dispensing. Hang it over the table and don't have to worry about that huge amount of space a carton takes, everyone can grab a teat and yank. Maybe that'd convince some of us? Udder than that, and maybe it's a guy thing, but constantly having to deal with a floppy dispenser isn't exactly enticing...

Lavon, the milk I get is Shenandoah's Pride and is an old Virginia Company, although I think it is including other territory now. Don't know where you live so don't know if you get it or not.

I get the 2% and a half gallon at Sharp Shopper is $2.99, which is 50 cents less than it is in the big stores like Kroger and others.

Sue

When I used to buy milk,I loved the bags.....mainly for the after uses for them...they are sturdier than anything Glad puts out...not much effort to wash them and re use

Now,the price of it scares me...lol(dairy allergy,so its not in the house ever)

Wow, you learn something every day. I have never heard of bagged milk. I don't think it's available around here , but I'll check tomorrow. If anyone would have it , it would be Wegman's.

I just measured a single bag. It's only 9" x 4 1/2". The pitcher is bigger, so the bag fits it, but it takes up no room in the frig.

The bag is very sturdy, just pick it up, plop it into the pitcher and snip the corner. You're done.

We go thru about 2 bags per week.

I use the bags in the freezer filled with chopped up vegetables for "the lads"

Just getting to this thread now. Ever since I was a kid visiting my relatives in Canada every summer I was enthralled by the milk in bags and wished we had it here in the US. I still do every time I visit there. As jasdip has said, it's super-easy - no more difficult than opening a carton or jug of milk. It seems that some are deciding it's a bad idea without reading thru the details.

You have the pitcher that is made for that purpose, take a bag of milk and put the whole bag in the pitcher (you don't pour the milk into the pitcher), and snip off a little from the corner of the bag by the mouth of the pitcher. Voila!

I think it actually takes up less room than a jug or carton; the pitcher is elongated so fits in the frige nicely. And it fits your hand well so it's very easy to handle. The additional bags of milk lay on their side; of course you can lay them on top of each other, too.

And yes, the bags are sturdy enough to reuse for certain things. I never thought of some of the things you mentioned, jasdip, but great ideas. As far as I'm concerned, I hope that bagged milk comes to the US!

Suzieque

I like my milk in cartons because exposure to light (in bottles, bags, or plastic containers) causes a loss of nutrients, and a change in flavour, and there's less chance of that with a carton.

The bags are available here, but I don't buy them. My grandmother used to use bagged milk, and it definitely picked up the odours in the fridge.

dee can, you bring up an interesting point that I've always been curious about. Regarding exposure to light causing changes to the milk, which is certainly something that brands and marketers tout, just when is the milk exposed to light enough to do that? I'm not disagreeing certainly - just asking.

The light in the frige is off until the door is opened. As far as taking the milk out of the frige, is it really out for long enough to absorb much light? I mean, it's taken out, poured, and returned to the dark frige, right? Perhaps some people leave it out during a meal, but even then, is that enough to cause a change to the milk?

I just have never noticed any degradation. Doesn't mean it doeesn't happen, but I've never noticed it and have wondered how the milk could possibly be exposed to light enough to make a difference.

Suzieque

I think it's just too easy to use a carton. I don't want to have to have to cut off and put the milk in a pitcher. I don't want to clean the pitcher. I don't want to store the extra pitcher... I assume you would have to have an extra pitcher for when you run out of milk and need more right away.

The only idea I like it that it sounds like they freeze well. I would like to have a small emergency bag in the freezer...but I seriously think they need to come up with a way to pour the millk directly from the bag.

Carla, you DO pour the milk directly from the bag. Read above. I don't know why you'd need to have or store an extra pitcher. You use the last of a bag, remove the bag, put the new bag in.

I know it sounds like I'm arguing the merits of milk in bags; I don't mean to. But in my experience it's brilliant. Some of the objections here have already been answered and countered in the replies.

Of course everyone has their own opinions and the right to them. Some of the reasons voiced, though, are negated because they're inaccurate.

Our bags in milk just replaces gallon jugs.
We can still buy milk in litre cartons (quart), and 2-litre cartons.
So, instead of having a large milk jug in the frig, we have 2 bags on a shelf, and 1 bag in a pitcher, which we pour out of (the bag). We don't dump the milk out of the bag, into the pitcher.

I'm not arguing either, not by a long shot. It just seems that people are kind of confused. SuzieQ is right with her comments. She's seen both sides of the coin, and likes our method!! Yaayyy Suzie! LOL

Sorry, I have to admit I haven't read all the comments thoroughly. I misinterpreted the cut the tip off the bag and pour thing... thinking it meant pour it into the pitcher...

I guess I'm just not seeing it being all that easy and just requiring extra steps... So you don't ever have to wash the pitcher and/or have a spare stored? Why can't the milk just stand up -I've seen other plastic containers that stand up with a lid similar to a milk jug lid.

You're just using the pitcher to hold the milk? Doesn't some ever spill out and you have to clean your pitcher anyway? How often do you have to wash it - like after ever use or once a year?

Do you have to use a sissors to cut it? I know it's strange, but I never use kitchen shears because I think they are very unsterile unless you wash them every time. I use a knife to open things when needed.. Would I be able to easily do that? Can my kids safely open it themselves?

I think most of us like what we get used to -- I wouldn't mind trying it but I'm still not seeing any real benefit with the exception of the easy freezing. And, I'm not understaning how that amount of milk stored in both a pitcher and in bags takes up less room??? But my fridge is set up to hold the tall jugs. I have little, if no room for flat items (those bags are stored flat, right?)

I bet I'm still not getting it right... sorry, but I need to run out and don't have the time to read all the comments right now.

Carla, when you come back, just go to the youtube link that nicole posted (link to that thread posted here). Rather than read thru the replies here if you don't have time, just look at that approx. 30 second video. That'll at least show you what it looks like.

You asked "Why can't the milk just stand up -I've seen other plastic containers that stand up with a lid similar to a milk jug lid". Well, because then it wouldn't be a bag; it'd be a hard plastic container. The pitcher holds the bag of milk upright.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nicole's Thread with Link to Short Video

This packaging has actually been in use in many other countries beyond the U.S. and Canada.

One of them is Israel. I think there are at least 2 reasons there: One is that the bags use less plastic than jugs; another is that it is a nation that doesn't want to cut down trees just to make more cartons for food products. Trees that in many areas, because of bombings and war, are just starting to regenerate.

There are also individual serving-size pouches of milk (incl. chocolate milk), just like the juice pouches you stick in kids' lunchboxes.

Now, about the pitchers: Do you use any pitchers for lemonade, iced tea, Kool-Aid and the like? If so, you've probably noticed that after about a week and a half week, the pitcher and the liquid in it get gross. Would that be a reason to not use the pitchers for mixing beverages in? After a while, milk in a traditional container goes bad, too, once you open in. Unless you have growing children inhaling it!

I guess it'd just take some getting used to.

That looks simple enough. I really don't like plastic for liquids. I do use it for dry foods like cereal and flour. I have been doing that for years. They have probably taken care of the safety issue.

Pammyfay,
I don't know of anyone who uses the milk pitcher for something other than milk. I'm not saying it can't/shouldn't be done, but I don't know of anyone.

We use cartons for orange juice, or if I mix a frozen can, it goes into a pitcher with a lid on it. The milk pitcher always has a bag of milk in it.

It does get washed when needed. A quick swish in the sink, or a real scrub if some milk dribbles down the bag into the pitcher.

The square cartons, just shy of or just over 3", that our milk comes in are flat cardboard base ... but they are coated with some kind of plastic, for those of you that don't like plastic. Plus ... what are almost all of your jugs made of?

The 2-litre cartons usually cost about 3/4 of the price of the 4-litre bags.

And, Cynic ... yes, a Canadian gallon is heavier (larger, too). We used to say that 4 Imperial gal. of gas were about equivalent to 5 gal. U.S. (wine measure, I think it was called). It takes about 3.85 litres of milk (or anything else, for that matter) to equal 1 gal. U.S. ... but about 4.55 of those same litres to make 1 gal. cdn. But we buy gas in litres, also.

The larger bags that hold the three smaller bags (that aren't pigmented) have a pigment that will reduce the amount of light that gets to the milk. Having found that, exccept in some parts of winter, milk that sits in the sunlight for any length of time soon gets rather distasteful, I long ago decided not to treat it like that.

The closer of the large bag is a small square of rather rigid plastic with a hole in the middle that's partially open to one side ... like the closers on a bread bag, but heavier: much less finagling than using twist ties.

ole joyful

OK, thanks, susieque, that video helped a lot. It does look a lot simplier than I would have originally thought. I wouldn't mind trying it. Surprised no company ever tried that packaging here.

Oops, Jasdip-- I should have been clearer in my post. Wasn't referring to using those milk pitchers for other liquids. I was just comparing using "regular" pitchers for iced tea, lemonade, etc. I was just making the point that if people make a pitcher of tea, lemonade, and keep it in the fridge for several days, it's no different than having one of the milk-in-bags-held-in-the-special-pitchers! Yeah, I wouldn't use one pitcher for all types of liquids (I even have 2 pitchers for caffeinated iced tea vs decaf iced tea, and then reuse a large water bottle if I'm making lemonade/Crystal Light--those iced-tea pitchers always have some lingering tea tint around the bottom edge that I can never quite scrub completely away).

Joyful, I was referencing the milk, not different units. If we want to compare different measurements, then a 5 quart pail of milk will weigh more than an Imperial gallon too! :)

Does anyone have any actual numbers on comparing a milk jug to the 4(+?)-bag system on amount of plastic used? (With or without adjustment for size difference.) Not the heavy duty reusable ones but the thin one-use jug verses the multiple bag system.

Also, when trucked are they in milk crates/boxes or are they again wrapped in yet more plastic? Just kind of curious.

All I can say is that if they do start with it around here I hope they design the bags like the detergent one, both to stand up (and yes, I consider it a bag when it stands up, though the mfgr prefers to call it a "pouch") and have a small cap on it. I'd think adjusting to it would be much easier.

I just noticed a station reasonably close has changed to Kwik Trip. Might stop in and see if they are using local suppliers or ship in their own and have bags. I'd be surprised if they had bags but it'd be interesting to see if they have them.

Cynic, the milk is trucked in milk crates which are then unloaded in the stores and the bags are then put on the bottom shelf. Sometimes though like in my brothers store the crates of bagged milk are put directly on the bottom shelf.

Joyful, sometimes the individual bag is pigmented. I buy the extra filtered milk and the bag that holds the milk is blue. I find the extra filtered milk has a longer shelf life which is great for me because I only use milk in cooking and baking and in my coffee and tea. More expensive though.

I really like our bagged milk. I don't have to worry about taking a jug back to the store or tossing it out or putting into the recycling bin. I recycle all the bags I use and have some of my family members save me theirs. I use the outside bag for cat litter disposal or picking up after the dog and the individual bags as freezer or storage bags.

Some of the milk jugs that hold the bag of milk do have lids on them.

Anyone remember milk or butter that used to come in bags with that red colouring dot? I am not sure if we had them in Canada or not but my Aunt used to bring a couple over every week from Detroit for my family to use. All of us kids would argue over who got to squish the red dot and mix it in. LOL

Anne

The one thought I can't get past, is opening a new gallon jug and pour it into my tea or coffee. I have a picture of the mug overflowing cause the milk came out too fast.

No problem for me. I don't drink coffee and I don't use it in my tea. :) When I drink milk, I drink it by the pint or quart.

Sue

Jasdip, you mean you don't have a silver coffee & tea service that the butler and maid use to pour your coffee? And you don't use *cream*? The Kemps Cows would be embarrassed. Oh yeah... I forgot, you Canucks use maple syrup in everything right? :D

Shhh, you've been peeking Cynic!!!

Alas I don't have a fine silver service anymore. I USED to, but got tired of polishing it. Some people find polishing silver relaxing, but I don't.

Nope, the pitcher with the bag of milk sits in the frig, and it pours very nicely into my tea, coffee, or even when I use a lot, like my rice pudding. :D

However, when I come to your place for tea, I expect to be able to pour my milk out of something other than your large jug!!

Have no fear Jasdip my dear, when you come here you'll get the freshest milk possible and just for you, it'll come from a bag...