The above picture was taken at my local Walmart where milk is currently $3.71 a gallon. We also have 10% sales tax on food, so that gallon of milk costs me $4.08. It’s outrageous and I am sure that it is the same way throughout the country.
Here are some tips on how to save on milk:
Cut down on your milk consumption. This one is obvious. Check with your pediatrician to see how much dairy they recommend your child have, and if you are exceeding that amount cut back.
Check milk prices at gas stations and dollar stores. Surprisingly milk prices can vary drastically between the grocery stores and the convenience store. Sometimes it’s even cheaper!
Shop around. Milk prices will vary store to store. If you have an Aldi’s, their milk is usually cheaper than the super market. I’ve also heard that some Whole Foods have cheaper milk. And if you have a membership to Sams, Costco or BJs, they usually have their milk priced cheaper than the grocery store.
Check for weekly sales. Sometimes the drug stores, like CVS, Walgreens, etc, will put milk on sale. Check the ad each week to see.
Watch the expiration dates. Always try to buy the furthest dated milk, even if it means reaching all the way into the back of the cooler. You never know what the future holds and you might not be able to drink the milk as quickly as you usually do.
Choose from the back. Vernoica says: I heard to always pick the gallon or container in the back.The ones in front don’t last till exp date.The comibination on light & enough cold spoils it sooner.
Freeze your milk. Milk freezes well. Just take about a cup and a half off the top of the gallon to make sure it doesn’t expand and explode in your freezer. That would be a nasty mess to clean up. Just put the frozen gallon in your fridge the day before you need it.
Use dry milk. Instead of using milk from the fridge for baking, mix up some dry milk for the recipes that call for it.
Watch for milk coupons. You usually won’t see a coupon that is just off milk, but you might find a coupon that says “Buy this and get $2 off a gallon of milk”. Right now you can find a coupon for $1 off Borden Milk under zip 33614.
If you have any tips, please share them in the comment section.
If you are new to Couponing, you might want to take a moment to read more in my Getting Started Couponing series. It will teach you how to coupon like I do!
Wow, 10%! How much is your tax on other things? Our sales tax here is 8.25%, but most grocery food and drink is exempt from taxation. (Sodas are a notable exception.)
I have mixed feelings about cutting down on milk consumption. On the one hand, it seems that mammals were intended to drink milk only as babies/young children, and so we don’t actually need it as adults, so long as we have a balanced diet. On the other hand, many of us don’t have perfect diets, and a tall glass of milk is a quick way to get a lot of nutrition. And other than water and some teas, I don’t consider any other drink all that healthy. I guess we each just have to look at our individual circumstances. I only allow my daughter (2yo) to drink milk and water for now.
I would suggest looking for local farm stands/dairies that sell milk. They are usually pricier, but maybe they are more competitive now? (plus they save on shipping costs becasue they are local). Plus, as an added bonus, it helps support local business which is beneficial to the community. I’ve been told that of $100 spent at a ‘big box’ store, about $12 makes it back to the community (via property taxes, etc.). However, that same $100 spent at a local store yields about $35 back to the community. =)
We go through between 2 and 3 gals of milk a week. We use 2% and I have bought whole and watered it down…my kids don’t know the difference. I keep a clean 2% milk jug and as long as the expiration date police (ie my 10 yr old) doesn’t check we are all good…I buy milk @ CVS and get EXB and also use my $2 off milk Q’s…
I totally do the same thing watering it down! It makes it cheaper and lower fat without the dairies adding any sweeteners or whatever. My hubby still thinks he’s drinking whole milk too – little does he know…
I buy milk when it’s on sale, it goes on sale quite a bit here in WI. I’ll buy whatever is on sale, sometimes 1/2 gallons are 2 for $3, recently gallons were $2.29. (It’s like $3.50 a gallon normal price). We drink 1% and we drink a lot of it. I also try to buy the hormone free milk – Dean’s, Walmart and Kwik Trip brands are hormone free.
Buy a cow-it would probably be cheaper in the long run! My daughter has a level V dairy allergy so I have not bought milk in years. Costco sells rice milk by the case, its shelf life is super long and it is fortified. There are some things that just don’t cook right with rice milk but for the most part I have used it just fine over the years. I do give my daughter a vitamin every day to make sure she is getting all of her nutrients and she just had her calcium checked and it was perfect. Lots of things besides milk have calcium in it (green leafies) that is easier for your body to absorb.
This is just a suggestion. You can use your Register Rewards to buy milk at Waglreens and that way you are saving on it since there isn’t that many coupons for milk. I have done it before.
I’m in South Carolina and my local CVS always has milk for $2.69. The CVS in the next town does not though. I also buy milk on markdown when I can find it at the grocery store. I have bought as much as 4 gallons before but we have two big freezers. You need to pour a little off of each gallon before it goes into the freezer to allow for expansion. I also partially thaw it in half a sink of cool water when I’m ready to use it.
Wow. Head to Sams. They are the cheapest around here. I’m in WI (the Dairy State) but it’s still $2.60 (skim) or so. Was more like $2.15 just a couple months ago. We go through 2-3 gallons a week with our family of 4.
Someone said Aldi has really cheap milk but I haven’t checked that out yet.
Glad I live in Idaho- milk is just $1.62 here! :0) PLUS, we always get .75 off ANY brand milk coupons- I feel lucky! (And blessed since my 1 year old goes through almost 2 gallons a week by herself)
I watch my Walgreens ads and every few weeks or so they have milk on sale for 2.99 a gallon, it’s a limit of 2 but it helps. I live in Northern MN. Normally I see 1% milk priced at 3.38 or so at Walmart.
I get milk at COSTCO – it is over $1 a gallon cheaper. I buy 4 or more gallons at a time and freeze the milk. The costco milk is square a has room in the jug for freezing. I also save my smart milk coupons so that I have a bunch for super doubles at Harris Teeter, and buy all I can when they are on sale during super doubles.
If you shop drug stores already, CVS has $1ECB on milk fairly regularly (every 6 weeks to 2 months it seems). The initial purchase price at CVS is about $.10 higher than grocery stores and $.30 higher than walmart, but the ECB makes it a better deal.
That’s also regional, my area has never done that. :(
It’s regional. I got excited because online it looked like we get the same deal at our CVS. Our printed circ (southern Misssissppi) says 3.19, no ECBs.
And 3.19 seems to be the best sale price in our area before using ECBs from other purchases.
I live in Houston, TX, and I see this, too. Every few weeks, it seems, milk goes on sale for $2.99 with a $1 ECB, effectively bringing it down to $1.99/gallon. And the one I go to tends to have decent expiration dates, too. I used to never buy milk at a convenience store because they had high prices and terrible expiration dates, but CVS seems to have become the exception.
We try to always buy our milk at Braum’s. It is much cheaper, sometimes by over a dollar a gallon. My brother told me that there are laws protecting smaller dairies from the big chains. We didn’t know that. We have been buying it there for about 12 years b/c they don’t use any growth/production hormones and no antibiotics at all unless a cow is actually sick. It tastes SOOO much better than the big name brands!! They also have great produce in their grocery section!
Here in northern KY/Cincinnati, milk rarely goes above $2.50 a gallon. I have always been confused by comments sugesting that you buy powdered milk to save money (because it’s outrageously expensive), but now I see why it ends up being cheaper for you. Milk at Aldi in Cincinnati is cheaper, but the one in NKY charges about the same price as Kroger. I try to save by drinking alternative milks (soy, almond) and use coupons to purchase them.
$4.56 for a gallon of 2% milk at my local Walmart in the Philly suburbs, no tax on food here though… at the grocery or convenience stores it’s about $4.05… going thru 3 gallons a week UGH!
I’m on the other side of the state (through grew up in Philly suburbs) and it’s about $4.50 here too…and we go through 5 gallons a week. My husband keeps trying to talk me into getting dairy (we live on a farm)…and it’s starting to look like a good idea.
The milk in the cardboard cartons usually lasts a lot longer then the milk in the plastic container. The expiration dates are always later. I believe since the plastic cartons allow light to hit the milk, in turn the milk begins to “break down” causing it to expire/turn. The cardboard cartons block the light from the milk and last longer.
I buy all of my milk at the local Kwik Trip Gas Station because they have the best local price ($3.21) and a punch card system for that and orange juice and ice cream, you get one punch for each 1/2 gallon you buy and after 10 gallons you get $1 off. Sometimes Holiday gas station sell it for 2/$5 too so I will buy it there then!
You don’t have to open and remove any fluid milk milk, half and half or buttermilk. It does NOT expand like water based beverages.
I know some folks that buy whole milk then water it down to “make” 2% or Skim. They also water down fruit juices the same way.
I thought 2.55 was a lot for a gallon of milk and we started having water with all of our measl we use only 1 gallon for 4 people for two weeks. We get calcium from yogart and cheese so we don’t need the milk.
Where do you live? I live in Louisville KY and milk is hardly ever over $3.00. Plus we have no sales tax on food. At Kroger 1/2 gallons are on sale 10 for $10 a lot. We drink a lot of milk. I can’t believe you have to pay over $4.00 a gallon.
I live in Birmingham, AL. :-/
Sad part is I only live about 70 miles from you, over here in montevallo alabama and my milk is $4.89 before tax. @ wallyworld..I don’t get it?
At the Albertsons during the 10 for $10 sale, you can buy the half gallons for a dollar. I freeze them straight from the store with out opening them never had a problem. You cannot freeze almond milk/ soy milk. btw! very big mess.
What about Lactiad milk can I freeze that NOW THAT IS 7.00 for 96oz. I do catch a sale everynow and then and the milk has a TWO MONTH EXPIRATION DATE so that is good and it taste like REAL MILK!!
We’ve cut out a lot of milk. My boys are older now (16 and 9) and don’t need as much. They like 2% milk, they don’t know that I’ve been mixing 1/2 gal regular 2% milk with 1/2 dry 2% milk. I do by 1/2 size of whole milk for the 2 yo and it seems to last her a long time. She’d rather drink water most of the time. Keeping other drink options in the house really help too.
I have used dry milk for cooking since I read about it in the Tightwad Gazette 14 years ago. I whip up a cup here or there and have yet to notice a difference. I noticed Aldis is the best price. If a recipe calls for a few tablespoons I don’t fret, it’s things which require stove top cooking or baking. With instant pudding you WILL notice a difference! I have opted to use for pudding 1 cup of fat free vanilla yogurt and a cup of milk for these types of products.
Wow, 10 percent tax on food! That is crazy, I feel very sorry for you. I live in Maryland, we have no tax on food. Our milk is priced about the same, I do buy it at Sams for 3.50. Or sometimes I use my register rewards or UP rewards to buy it.