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seven2hold
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| Posted: June 30 2009 at 8:11pm | IP Logged
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 Yep. We bought and drank 50 gallons this month (not including the two gallons I picked up today). Never before have I added up the items on my receipts for a given month. I have been tracking my grocery expenses VERY closely for the past three months. I knew I usually picked up between 4 and 8 gallons each time I was getting milk, but never thought it was this much.
Does any one else know how many gallons they drink per week or month? I am quite embarassed by this - there are only 30 days in June! That is 1.7 gallons/day! 
There are 10 of us drinking milk, but I am sure at least 3 gallons ended up down the drain. I have asked the kids to help me reduce our milk purchases by not overpouring (using small glasses) and to refigerate any milk not finished. Any other suggestions?
I used to buy powdered milk for baking.
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KC in TX
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| Posted: June 30 2009 at 8:31pm | IP Logged
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Oh, my! We only have 6 of us and only 2 like milk so we go through about 2 gallons a week.
I usually pour the milk for my children because their eyes are bigger than their stomachs. I have a friend who refrigerates their milk if it's not finished.
I can't think of anything else to help. I'm just amazed. I wish my kids would drink more milk.
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teachingmyown
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| Posted: June 30 2009 at 8:31pm | IP Logged
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Kathy,
We go through 4-6 gallons a week. When Charlie was here, he easily drank another gallon per week himself. The kids are limited to two cups, or a bowl of cereal and a cup of milk with dinner. I don't enforce it strictly, but that is pretty much the way it is. Other than that, we use it for baking.
We don't waste any. I buy it at Costco and make sure the date is as far off as possible. Can you make them drink what they have poured, even if they left it sitting for a while and now it is warm? I am strict about few things, as you know, but I don't put up with kids pouring drinks that they don't drink right away. Too much waste and too many spills!
You have inspired me to make a list of everything we are buying each month. After I get through this weekend, that will be my next project. 
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: June 30 2009 at 8:34pm | IP Logged
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Don't be embarrassed!
When there were six of us in the house we drank about 10 gals per week, so about 40 per month. Now that we are down to 4 (or so) we go through about a gallon a day, so about 30 per month. And this rate has been pretty consistent through the years, so I've just accepted it as part of the way we are. We love our milk.
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RamFam
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| Posted: June 30 2009 at 8:56pm | IP Logged
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We're about a gallon a day as well and there are only six of us. So 50 sounds right to me. And every last drop of ours is drank; no waste.
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joann10
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| Posted: June 30 2009 at 9:18pm | IP Logged
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We drink about a gallon a day-so 30 gallons a month--for 11 of us. I do limit the kids to milk for breakfast and dinner-and then one glass, their refill is water....
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Kathryn
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| Posted: June 30 2009 at 9:38pm | IP Logged
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You need a goat! ha ha 
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cvbmom
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| Posted: June 30 2009 at 10:32pm | IP Logged
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We could easily do 50 gallons a month, but due to prices (we buy unpasteurized cow milk in a herdshare) we limit it to 7 gallons a week. We only drink milk at dinner, which is a sacrifice, but that's how we limit it to a gallon a day.
God bless,
Christine
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seven2hold
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| Posted: July 01 2009 at 1:02pm | IP Logged
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Thank you for all of your responses. I don't feel quite so "weird" now. At least I'm in good company.
That said, I am going to try and reduce our milk purchases in July. We don't drink soda. We only buy it for parties. I do buy frozen concentrate juices, so this is a cheaper alternative to milk and we have plenty of water.
As for the waste, I have seen my children pour the remainder of their cups from dinner when they clear their plates. I'm just making a guess when I say 3 gal/month is down the drain. I certainly hope it is a gross exaggeration on reality.
When they can't finish their milk I have always asked the kids to put their unfinished milk in the fridge and pour it onto their cereal in the morning.
I was just completely shocked at such a high number! I never tracked what our milk usage was before. I have developed the habit these past three months of not throwing out a single receipt and making sure my husband turns all his receipts in to my basket. Up to now I was only tracking my spending. My sister tracked all her purchases and expenses on our blogfor her family of 6. When I saw over 20 gallons in May I wondered what our consumption was. June was the first month I tallied up how much of what I bought. It is an eye-opening experience.
BUT, knowledge is power. I'll follow up here at the end of July and let you know how we did.
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Kathy
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Martha
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| Posted: July 01 2009 at 1:40pm | IP Logged
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we easily go through 2 gallons a day, sometimes 3.
ETA: we rarely drink anything other than milk or water, so this seems about right to me, esp if you cook a lot as milk is in a most home cooked recipes.
which comes to 60 - 90 gallons a month!
gulp.
never added that one up before.
whcih gets me thinking...
we also go through approx:
35 pounds of rice
15 pounds of black beans
15 pounds of cheese
6 dozen eggs
a large bottle of ketchup
63 loaves of sandwiche bread
20 pounds of flour
40 pounds of potatoes (10 lbs is one meal's side dish)
3 pounds of butter/margerine
4 pounds of coffee (I love company and often company loves my coffee )
35 2 liters of pepsi (my dh is the ONLY one who drink soda and it is the only thing he drinks  )
those are the basics off the top of my head that are always on my grocery spreadsheet to buy.
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: July 01 2009 at 1:42pm | IP Logged
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Have you thought of trying to figure out how much milk your family should be consuming based on recommended daily allowances for dairy?
I looked it up and if you assume only milk for meeting dairy needs, the recommendation for ages 2-8 is 16 oz per day and 9 and up it is 24 oz per day.
Multiply that by the number of people in your family in each group, and you have how much dairy your family needs each day. Of course you will be substituting cheese, ice cream, yogurt and the like for some of this dairy, but you can get a general idea of how much milk you need.
For my family:
JBug turns 8 next month, so we all fall in the upper group and so all need 24 oz per day.
That's a total of 96 oz per day, or about 3/4 gallon. Multiply that by 30 and I need about 23 gallons of milk per month to cover our dairy needs. So at a gallon a day we are actually using more than we need (especially if you include all the cheese we eat) and I could cut back some knowing my family will be fine.
Just a thought.
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LisaD
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I am astonished at the amount of milk some families go through in a month--I really had no idea!! My family of six consumes about a gallon a week. At meals, my family drinks water, fortified o.j., and only three in my family drink milk...about a cup a day. Those that don't drink milk eat plenty of cheese and yogurt.
I have been readingEat, Drink and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating. In it, the author states that the WHO recommends 400-500 mg. of calcium per day to prevent osteoporosis, the UK recommends 700 mg. for people over 19, and the US recommends 1000 mg. for those 19-50, and 1200 mg. for those over 50. The author states that we should be more concerned about exercise, getting enough vitamin D, and not too much vitamin A, as far as bone strength goes. Without going into a lot of detail, I will just say that the chapter on calcium reassured me that even though we are not big milk drinkers, we are getting plenty of calcium from the variety of foods we eat.
There are other foods that we go through plenty of, though. We use 1.5-2 lbs. of butter a week, which I have been told is a lot. We go through the olive oil at a brisk pace, too!
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: July 01 2009 at 5:17pm | IP Logged
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When I had family day care in my home and was required to provide milk at every meal, usage went WAY up (especially because I was *required* to offer a minimum amount at EVERY meal).
With that said, my son and I have always loved our milk... and cheese... and yogurt... and other dairy products...
So I did what Theresa mentioned above about calculating the actual amount, but I definitely considered the other dairy products.
Since then, we have cut back to milk on cold or hot cereal - otherwise, it is NOT available during meals for drinking. It CAN be part of a snack a handful of times a week.
We drink water with meals or orange juice with breakfast.
We do not do soft drinks or other beverages - water, milk and juice are it.
I have found that my son now EATS. He used to fill up on milk and not eat anything else (or so it seemed). He also drinks a lot more water. I seen and felt the improvement in our health just with that small change!
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MarilynW
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| Posted: July 01 2009 at 5:21pm | IP Logged
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LisaD wrote:
I am astonished at the amount of milk some families go through in a month--I really had no idea!! My family of six consumes about a gallon a week. At meals, my family drinks water, fortified o.j., and only three in my family drink milk...about a cup a day. Those that don't drink milk eat plenty of cheese and yogurt.
Without going into a lot of detail, I will just say that the chapter on calcium reassured me that even though we are not big milk drinkers, we are getting plenty of calcium from the variety of foods we eat.
There are other foods that we go through plenty of, though. We use 1.5-2 lbs. of butter a week, which I have been told is a lot. We go through the olive oil at a brisk pace, too! |
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Ditto. I could have written the same. We drink raw milk which is so expensive that I am glad we are not big milk drinkers - a gallon a week - family of 8. Real butter, cheese, yogurt and olive oil are huge in our house. Drinks are RO water and fortified oj.
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Angel
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We go through probably 1.5 gallons a day, and 2 of my kids don't like milk. So, for the most part, 6 of us are drinking milk. That would be an estimated 45 gallons in June.
I use milk in smoothies, quiches, dutch baby pancakes, and regular pancakes every week. And I have a 12 yo boy.
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lapazfarm
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Angel wrote:
| And I have a 12 yo boy. |
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Yes! My 13yo is definitely the major player in our milk drinking.My goodness that boy can drink some milk! But seeing as he grew an entire foot this past year, I am not going to limit him.
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mellyrose
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There are 5 of us, and we drink almost a gallon a day. I buy 4 - 5 gallons/week, so that's 20 - 25 gallons a month.
If the kids don't finish their milk during mealtime, their cup goes in the refrigerator for later.
I'm just glad the price has dropped again. For a while, gallons of milk were almost $5 around here -- they've dropped back to under $2.
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Angel
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lapazfarm wrote:
Angel wrote:
| And I have a 12 yo boy. |
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Yes! My 13yo is definitely the major player in our milk drinking.My goodness that boy can drink some milk! But seeing as he grew an entire foot this past year, I am not going to limit him. |
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My *real* problem is going to come when I have 4 teenage boys all at the same time. Then I imagine we will *really* be going through some milk!
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Martha
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| Posted: July 02 2009 at 9:12am | IP Logged
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Angel wrote:
My *real* problem is going to come when I have 4 teenage boys all at the same time. Then I imagine we will *really* be going through some milk! |
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yep, I guess I should have mentioned I have 6 sons running at full capacity 24/7 around here.
We rarely drink any juice at all. Nasty stuff. We all prefer to just have whatever in season fruit we can afford (banana, apples, melon, grapes mostly - oh necterines! I've got to post a video of my 6 month old sucking on a necterine for the first time - it's hilarious!)
All of my kids are very skinny, except the bf baby - who is a huge chunk. Usually once my kids hit about 2 yrs, they sprout up and trim down to twigs well below supposedly ideal weight charts and milk and some cheese are almost the only dairy they get. 3 of them almost never have milk except the dash they put in cold cereal. I wouldn't say any of them are unusually heavy drinkers.
I really wish my FTT kid (who is a healthy altho tiny 13 yr old who has never been able to get past the 3% on growth charts and usually isn't on it at all) would drink milk and eat more dairy, but he won't touch any of it, so I add a lot of milk to my cooking when ever possible to add calories. (in oatmeal, malt-o-meal, mashed potatos, a dash in scrambled eggs...) Sadly, it doesn't seem to add so much as a pound to any of my kids, but MY backside is expanding by leaps and bounds. 
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Milehimama
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We go through about 4-6 gallons a week here (10 people). The biggest thing I did to reduce "wastage" was stop buying boxed cereal. The kids would always pour too much milk and wouldn't always drink it.
Their pediatrician told me recently that littles shouldn't drink more than 16-20 oz. a day because it can contribute to anemia, but honestly, I don't track exactly how many ounces they are drinking, LOL!
I also bought small cups (I like Ikea ones, they come in 6 different colors so I can assign each kid a cup for the day.)
My 9 yo is my biggest milk drinker - I think he could drink a gallon a day if I let him!
We drink water at meals - "other" beverages, i.e., milk, juice, etc. are taken between meals/for snack.
When milk was $4 a gallon I started trying to incorporate the mcDougall plan to eliminate dairy but now milk is cheap I'm not trying so hard.
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: 50 gallons of milk in June! :o(
