The Dairy Dilemma
Friday, May 1, 2009 at 1:38PM This post is for Fight Back Friday :).
We eat a lot of diary. All four of us are cheese addicts, the boys love milk (if its COLD, which I can relate to because I hated warm milk as a kid) and we’re huge fans of yoghurt also. I recently found a source (in Brooklyn, and they deliver free!) for raw milk. I’m loving it. I always wanted to do it, but had trouble finding a way to get it. Last summer in MA we could get it at a local farm, for all of $6 which I thought was great compared to what I was paying for organic. Now I pay $10/gallon to have it delivered. We go through 1.5 gallons a week in drinking and cooking and coffee. We also go through about 1.5 lbs of cheddar cheese (whatever’s on sale, kraft or what have you), another 8oz of feta, and 1.5 48oz containers of plain yoghurt from 7 Stars Farms Organic/Biodynamic. I love the taste, and am happy with it’s source too (one state over on a farm my SIL used to work for … happy cows)
It’s the cheese that bothers me. I loooove it, always want more, and am happiest when the drawer is stuffed and I can snack all I want. However, I can’t freaking afford to pay for as much raw cheese as we can eat. I’d much rather, but the price is at least double, and triple if you get the fun stuff like Manchego (my all time favorite) and feta and such. I can get good raw cheese at the local farmer’s market, but I can’t possibly pay $18/lb. So what to do? I can get raw cheddar/colby etc from the milk delivery, but at $10 lb I can’t see it fitting in the budget. Not much does these days, at all. Do I commit to raw cheese, skip the fun ‘snacking’ ones, and go un-organic on some other things? $30/week for cheese seems insane when the entire food/household supplies budget fluctuates between $100 and $150 for a family of four in NYC. I know it’s a matter of priorities, and doing what I can, but I’m tired of believing something is far healthier for my family, but feeling unable to put it on the table. What to change?
I also want to simplify our eating, cooking, and shopping, but that’s another post.
Reader Comments (5)
Try making your own cheese. You can use yogurt to make a cream cheese. I would suggest getting a yogurt culture and making your own. It will be cheeper, and yummier than philly cream cheese. I am sure you can do the same to make a feta style cheese. Just put the cheese into a brine and let it get all yummy. You will have to look up a recipe, as I can't remeber the stuff that you would use. Read is some place and now forgot.
Hard call. For my family, we place the priority on getting good animal & dairy products. But even then, there's an order of priority. Raw cheese is great, but I think the source of the milk the cheese comes from is even more important.
For us, we prioritize cheese this way:
BEST: Raw cheese from grass-fed cows that did not get fed growth hormones or antibiotics.
BETTER: Cheese from grass-fed cows that did not get fed growth hormones or antibiotics.
GOOD: Cheese from cows that did not get fed growth hormones or antibiotics.
BAD: Other cheeses (raw or not)
In other words, you can feel good about buying a less expensive cheese (like Tillamook Cheddar) which sells for a normal amount ($3.99/lb) but came from cows not given growth hormones. When you have the resources, you can start incorporating the better cheeses into your diets (and maybe even eating less cheese).
That's what works for us, anyway.
Thanks for sharing this in today's Fight Back Fridays carnival.
Cheers,
KristenM
(AKA FoodRenegade)
Thanks Ladies!
Rosy, I just read about making whey on Cheeseslave, thanks to FBFriday, and though I've been doing it for awhile I've never drained it long enough to get the cream cheese part (just drier yoghurt). Will definitely try that one! Want to make cheese too, just need to get comfortable with some of the other things first.
KristenM > Thanks for the thoughts, and didn't know Tillamook was hormone free so will be on the lookout. I do think we could do with less, it's the snacking that does me in! The late-night-online-too-long hunger pangs ;).
hi there...
funny you should post this as i was just last night adding up grocery shopping receipts and realizing we've been a bit spendy, and thinking about how to keep it balanced.
don't want to live a life of deprivation, but what luxuries are worth it?
(hmmm maybe hummus would be a good homemade high protein alternative to cheese for midnight snacking. :)
I can sympathize. All 6 of us love cheese. I've had rennet in the fridge for ages, but have yet to learn how to make cheese, other than what is left behind when separating the whey from the milk. I haven't utilized that very effectively either.