Milk in pint bottles @98p

Your cheap milk is likely to be driving more and more dairy farmers out of business.

MayBeMaw, Our cheap milk comes from a local farm, according to the label. The supermarket started using them during lockdown and have gone on with that since. That’s not what I asked though. Would you pay that big a price difference?

I might just as I would pay for organic veg , free range corn-fed chicken and organic meat. Especially if delivered to my door.
Where is this local milk processed and bottled out of interest?
Plastic containers, tetra pak or glass bottles?

Sadly I would not be able to pay the bottle prices. I prefer milk in bottles but once the supermarkets were allowed to sell everything the rot set in.

Seeing the milkman with his cart seems so uniquely English but sadly I think it won’t last.

Yes. We now get door step milk. We only use about five pints a week but so does my daughter, who gets through gallons of it.

To me, it’s a small way of being more sustainable. You could always get some doorstep milk and top up with supermarket milk.

I find it convenient to buy supermarket milk with my groceries but I would happily pay twice the price or more if I knew the extra was going to the farmers.

My milk man was one of my lifelines throughout the pandemic when I didn’t want to go to shops. I had stopped using him when I retired to save money but when the pandemic started he agreed to put me back on his round: he was so inundated with people wanting to use him that I was one of the last people he took on. It also meant that I could get cheese, orange juice, yoghurt and eggs. I resolved to continue to use him even though I now get Tesco deliveries. A farmer friend of mine thinks that bottled milk is purer in some way but I haven’t asked him why that is. I don’t think dairies make much profit from supplying to supermarkets. I criticised my daughter a couple of years ago for getting her milk from the milkman as she was paying so much but she said she wanted to as it was far more ethical.

I do pay extra for local milk delivered in glass bottles, but appreciate that I’m lucky to be able to do so. Ours is 70p a bottle.

I’ve just checked and the milk I buy is evidently processed/packed on the farm mentioned on the label.
I’m glad to hear that some people have enough money to pay nearly 4 times as much as it costs from the supermarket. I might not mention that supermarket milk is less ethical whilst I’m doing a shift at the food bank.
At this time of rising heating costs I’ll have to turn down the milk offer.

Well you did ask, Mollygo!

Mollygo

I’ve just checked and the milk I buy is evidently processed/packed on the farm mentioned on the label.
I’m glad to hear that some people have enough money to pay nearly 4 times as much as it costs from the supermarket. I might not mention that supermarket milk is less ethical whilst I’m doing a shift at the food bank.
At this time of rising heating costs I’ll have to turn down the milk offer.

I totally understand you not wanting to pay so much more. I think one of the reasons why I stopped using the milkman years ago was when he stopped coming round on a Friday night to be paid. I used to enjoy having a small chat with him. However, during the pandemic, even though I didn’t chat with my postie or milkman there was something reassuring about having a proper person with a name I knew delivering stuff to my house. Same with the local indie fruit and veggie shop. And the quality of the food was good as well.

I signed up for “doorstep milk” before the first lockdown. That and a veg box delivery ment I only had to venture out to the shops every 3 weeks. It’s more expensive, but it feels like a fair price in every way. Refillable glass and locally scorched.
I can afford it, I know that I’m lucky I can, so I’ll continue. It feels right.

It's a big difference Mollygo and I am wondering about this too. There is a local milkman here that neighbours say is very good. I only use a few pints a week and usually have Moo Milk with the Ocado delivery so I might change to support a more local business.

We used to have the Milkman deliver, but he would arrive at around 1am and set the dogs off with his bright LED lights on his hat. In the Winter the milk had frozen by the time we got up and in the Summer it had turned by lunchtime.
I put a cold box on the doorstep, which he made a great noise getting the lid on and off, but none of the milk lasted more than 2 days before it went sour and to cap it all it wasn’t local.
It was very difficult to get hold of their central office to alter the order. So we stopped it.
Sadly even though we live in Rural Oxfordshire there are no ‘local’ milk deliveries to our village.

No, I wouldn’t Mollygo.

I buy between 12-16 pints a week on my weekly Tesco shop. I freeze what I don’t use straightaway.

I stopped having doorstep deliveries years ago, it wasn’t delivered until later in the day, not everyone gets their milk before breakfast, and was left in the sun when I was at work.

Some on here sound very righteous about their shopping, not difficult if you can afford to be.

No, I wouldn’t at that price Mollygo.

We started having milk and other things delivered by the milkman at the beginning of the first lockdown. We were so grateful that he could fit us in. At that time on one knew what the future held.
We will continue with the orders, I’d forgotten how convenient it is, especially as payment is on line.

Our daughter ‘splits the kipper’ re this. She orders milk on her Tesco weekly delivery but Fridays & Saturdays has doorstep milk in bottles and creamy milkshakes for the children which they love. As she says “I won’t keep the milkman in business but every little adds up”. A fair compromise I think.

We haven’t heard our milkman once since we started having deliveries from him 2 years ago, yet it arrives just before 6. I don’t know how he manages it! The previous milkwoman had sometimes delivered before we went to bed.

Yes I would pay it, provided I could pay the bill online. We use approximately 6 pints a week plus almond milk and pay 75p a pint for Organic Duchy milk already.

We don’t have a local milkman but if we did, and the milk came in glass bottles, I’d definitely go for it rather than getting it in cartons with my Tesco shop. Supporting local business and helping the environment. I’m fortunate not to have to worry about the monetary cost of my milk but I realise not everyone is in that position.

If the milk was premium e.g. organic or specifically from a small local farm then yes I would, just as I buy organic/free range chicken & meat. Whether it's more environmentally friendly I don't know. But if it's just ordinary milk in a bottle from a major producer then no I wouldn't.

In a previous life we had a milkman for a number of years who worked for Unigate or similar and then became one of their franchisees - to support him in his new venture we bought extras such as butter & bottled water. He'd been a reliable milkman and even delivered on the day of the 1987 storm!

How is glass more environmentally friendly than plastic?

Glass is washed and reused, time and time again. plastic isn’t. Or am I missing something?