What store in Ireland sell the cheapest milk?

BigL90

Okay, Tesco and Dunnes have the chepaest 2 litre containers at 1.29 (64.5cent per litre) that I could find. The best value overall is the tesco 3 litre for 1.70, this works out at less that 57cent per litre. However, these 3 litres only come in whole milk versions (no half fat) and so I have to stick to teh 2 litres for half fat.

I havent checked lidl or aldi so Im not sure of their milk prices.

Anybody know of any cheaper milk.


Oh ya, and this may seem like a stupid topic, but I liike my milk cheap!

Kinetic^

BigL90 wrote:

Oh ya, and this may seem like a stupid topic

It doesn't seem like a stupid topic........it is a stupid topic!!!

BigL90

okay, if you reckon it's stupid, don't post in it. Thanks.

slave1

tesco, aldi, lidl, dunnes are all 1.29/2L where I've checked

Bummer

My local centra and super valu had milk at €1.19 but its gone up to €1.29 lately.......So no change here.........

Conor108

Just buy a cow:D

The_Conductor

Superquinn is 1.29 as well.......
Milk is milk, is milk...... the own brand stuff is the exact same stuff as Premier Dairies or Avonmore etc stuff.

S.

Kintarō Hattori

You'll probably find some small store down the country selling local milk rather cheap. However not being down the country I can't verify that.

The_Conductor

eo980 wrote:

You'll probably find some small store down the country selling local milk rather cheap. However not being down the country I can't verify that.

Given the regulations governing fresh milk- it must be both pasteurised and homogenised before it can be sold to the public, I doubt somehow that there are small outfits around the country selling milk somehow.

Farm workers employed by Teagasc and the other semistate bodies, who once upon a time were allowed a fresh milk allowance, had this perk withdrawn on health grounds some time ago

Kintarō Hattori

I see, but are there not small local dairies still knocking about the place?

The_Conductor

eo980 wrote:

I see, but are there not small local dairies still knocking about the place?

Yes- but most of them have diversified away from bulk milk into niche products (ala Silverpail with its yummy icecream, and a load of others making artisan cheese products etc)

remus808

smccarrick wrote:

Superquinn is 1.29 as well.......
Milk is milk, is milk...... the own brand stuff is the exact same stuff as Premier Dairies or Avonmore etc stuff.

S.

Blatantly untrue. Premier Dairies is much creamier and tastier than Tesco own brand. You can even tell the difference in pouring them.. The Tesco milk is thinner and lighter..

WarZoneBrother

Conor108 wrote:

Just buy a cow:D

lmfao...interesting thread to see lol..

lucernarian

Where would be the cheapest place to get Avonmore?

Btw is there any difference in the avonmore milk and the premier dairies milk?? I know they're both made by glanbia but are they in different factories or what? Why is Premier Dairies cheaper?

And I'd never get plastic bottled milk, even if it's cheaper for the amounts we use of it. I nearly get sick from the taste of it. I can tell the difference in blind testing and other people agree with me. So what's the deal with that??

God I care too much.

Wishbone Ash

OP - bear in mind that when you get 'cheap' milk that the producer's margins are being constantly eaten away. Relatively speaking, milk is ridiculously cheap at the moment. It should be about three times the price that it is. Who would ever have thought that people would pay more for bottled water?

Conor108 wrote:

Just buy a cow:D

The OP would have to get a bull also. A cow ain't going to provide any milk without a bit of hanky panky to make a calf.

fatherdougalmag

Does it have to be cow milk? I might be able to put SoMething your wAy.

AdMMM

I would assume that the Tesco 3 Litre cartons would offer the best value?

rediguana

I have this debate with my girlfriend sometimes.

Milk - any milk - is cheap. So why not get the creme-de-la-creme-most-expensive milk? What'll it cost? E1.80? E2?

Being thrifty is great, but save it for the cars and mortgages of this world.

Time Magazine

I can't wait to get back home. The milk here in yuck. And fecking expensive. Same with bread. The Common Agricultural Policy is suddenly so attractive . Long live Brennan's and Avonmore.

caesar

karmabass wrote:

Blatantly untrue. Premier Dairies is much creamier and tastier than Tesco own brand. You can even tell the difference in pouring them.. The Tesco milk is thinner and lighter..

If this is true how is it thinner.....watered down??..somehow I doubt it, it's all regulated so there is nothing to stop some sort of inspector from checking the milk in the shops.

How can there be such a difference between the prices of milk....how can they brand a product thats all the same and sell it a different prices, or maybe its not the same stuff, could someone explain? I compared the label on the expensive stuff with the less expensive stuff to see what the difference was and there was nothing.

Time Magazine

caesar wrote:

How can there be such a difference between the prices of milk?

It's demand- rather than cost-driven.

If you sell your house you charge what you can get, not what you paid for it. Believe it or not, pride/advertising/ignorance creates a greater demand (and thereby price) for the "brand label" Avonmore milk rather than Tesco own brand.

caesar

Ibid wrote:

It's demand- rather than cost-driven.

If you sell your house you charge what you can get, not what you paid for it. Believe it or not, pride/advertising/ignorance creates a greater demand (and thereby price) for the "brand label" Avonmore milk rather than Tesco own brand.

I suppose that is kinda obvious...I always looked at it from the point of view that milk is milk. Am I right in saying that there is no difference between each of these brands in terms of the product itself. I can understand branding with the likes of bread and that but Milk...no!

Doodlebug

In my experience, there is definitely a difference in the milk from plastic containers but crucialy it depends on the region you are in.

E.G. - In Limerick, Golden Vale milk tastes fine from a plastic 2L container, but buy the same thing in most parts of Clare, and there is a horrible "plastic-y" taste off of it. You mightn't notice it in tea, but in a bowl of cereal - yuk!

Getting back to the "Bargains" - I would put Tesco, Dunnes, Lidl and Aldi at about the same good value for money. Dunnes probably gets extra points for offering 1L cardboard cartons as well.

BTW, on the other end of the price scale - Cravendale milk ("micro-filtered") is an expensive brand (from the UK - still sold in Tesco AFAIK), but tastes really nice!

Fnz

Anyone else have their Lidl milk 'go off' before the best before date?

Saruman

I have started using powdered milk. It does not go off, its much lower in fat and it tastes like low fat milk. It also does not leave you bloated like ordinary milk does.

PeakOutput

caesar wrote:

I suppose that is kinda obvious...I always looked at it from the point of view that milk is milk. Am I right in saying that there is no difference between each of these brands in terms of the product itself. I can understand branding with the likes of bread and that but Milk...no!

there is a difference just like there is a difference (however slight) in ballygowan versus deep river rock or american butter and kerrygold. avonmore super milk (to me) tastes fresher than any other type of milk dont know why it just does

mickoneill30

I know milk is milk but why does the milk in SuperValu have a best before that's always a couple of days earlier than the Avonmore & Premier brands. I know they're probably delivered at different dates but 100% of the time I go in there the non brand milk is due to expire a day or two earlier than the pricier stuff.

* Always grab the milk from the back of the shelf. It'll usually get you an extra day or two.

The_Conductor

PeakOutput wrote:

there is a difference just like there is a difference (however slight) in ballygowan versus deep river rock or american butter and kerrygold. avonmore super milk (to me) tastes fresher than any other type of milk dont know why it just does

Ballygowan has a much higher CaCO3 content than Deep River Rock (which in turn has a much higher NaCl content). So- while they are both water- they are very slightly different.

Kerrygold has a higher salt content than American butter (and a much higher cloraphyll content)- so it does indeed taste markedly different (for an even bigger taste difference compare it to President (French) butter instead- which is pure white in colour, and quite tasteless.

I guess that its a similar story with the different brands of milk- extremely minor differences in the composition of the milks, possibly as a result of very small differences in the manner in which they are processed.

As kids our family loved Avonmore milk- we'd drink gallons of it- but we wouldn't touch Premier Dairies stuff with a barge pole.

Del2005

Doodlebug wrote:

In my experience, there is definitely a difference in the milk from plastic containers but crucialy it depends on the region you are in.

E.G. - In Limerick, Golden Vale milk tastes fine from a plastic 2L container, but buy the same thing in most parts of Clare, and there is a horrible "plastic-y" taste off of it. You mightn't notice it in tea, but in a bowl of cereal - yuk!

Getting back to the "Bargains" - I would put Tesco, Dunnes, Lidl and Aldi at about the same good value for money. Dunnes probably gets extra points for offering 1L cardboard cartons as well.

BTW, on the other end of the price scale - Cravendale milk ("micro-filtered") is an expensive brand (from the UK - still sold in Tesco AFAIK), but tastes really nice!

You do of course know that all milk is shipped in plastic containers, unless some diaries are still using glass bottles. Even the Tetra pacs(sp?) are lined with plastic as if it wasn't the milk would all soak through.

As for prices I noticed that about 2/3 weeks ago that all the shops stuck the price of the own brand up by 10cents at roughly the same time, great competition.

Doodlebug

Yeah, the taste effect seems to come from the type of plastic used. I am referring to the packaging that is made of plastic only.

Having said all that - I do know some people who can't tell the difference at all, while others can tell immediately and can't stand the taste of what they refer to as "Plastic Milk"!

PeakOutput

ahh plastic packaging rears its ugly head again it will be the cause of the extinction of our raceand not cause of pollution either

anyway ye milk in those big 2???ltr plastic bottles is rancid

rubadub

rediguana wrote:

Milk - any milk - is cheap. So why not get the creme-de-la-creme-most-expensive milk? What'll it cost? E1.80? E2?

If I think the difference in quality outweighs the difference in price then I will pay it. I buy tesco milk, I cant tell the difference, they are all crap now- bring back milk bottles, esp. with all this recycling stuff going on you would think they would come back. I wont buy tesco fizzy orange, only club orange, costs maybe 5 times the price, but worth it.

If people cannot tell the difference, then all they are paying extra for is the adverts on TV. White sugar is another example of generic basic product, some people will only buy suicra. Tesco have tesco, and tesco value sugar, I imagine it is the exact same stuff, but different price.

machiavellianme

Just because you cant tell the difference doesnt mean everyone cant. A lot of dairy farmers drink their own milk straight from the bulk tank and cant stand bought milk because it tastes watered down. Some more than others. I'll agree, own brand stuff seems to be the biggest culprits here. I'd imagine its something to do with the homogenisation process. Another point about the 2L plastic bottle is while I'd agree that it tastes terrible when bought from a store, pouring your own milk into it, the problem doesnt occur. Even after 5 days, there is no distinct taste coming into play. Therefore, I'd imagine its something to do with the bottling process.

muffler

Is this not running madly off topic?

I buy mine for 89c for 2 litres in Better Deals in Strabane. Good stuff it is too. Thats the advantage of living close to the border.

craichoe

machiavellianme wrote:

Just because you cant tell the difference doesnt mean everyone cant. A lot of dairy farmers drink their own milk straight from the bulk tank and cant stand bought milk because it tastes watered down. Some more than others. I'll agree, own brand stuff seems to be the biggest culprits here. I'd imagine its something to do with the homogenisation process. Another point about the 2L plastic bottle is while I'd agree that it tastes terrible when bought from a store, pouring your own milk into it, the problem doesnt occur. Even after 5 days, there is no distinct taste coming into play. Therefore, I'd imagine its something to do with the bottling process.

Thats because its whole cream milk, this milk is seperated out to make cream and milk.
http://www.foodsci.uoguelph.ca/dairyedu/fluid.html

Not all milk is the same, the stuff on the shelfs has gone through different processes and will essentially taste the same depending on the amount of cream, lactose and packaging.

There are a couple of co-ops in cork:
http://www.agriaware.ie/default.asp?com=agriaware&org=&id=91&mnu=91

So essentially, pick one and stick to that, not all milk tastes the same.

Oracle

Saruman wrote:

I have started using powdered milk. It does not go off, its much lower in fat and it tastes like low fat milk. It also does not leave you bloated like ordinary milk does.

I agree, while I don't use it everyday, instant powdered milk is great to have in stock when you're caught short of milk for a cuppa, for example when coming back from a holiday. A couple of teaspoons in tea or coffee is fine. Tesco and Aldi have cheap own brand versions.

gurramok

Fnz wrote:

Anyone else have their Lidl milk 'go off' before the best before date?

Haven't noticed it with Lidl milk, but defo with Tesco 2L milk guaranteed.

Somehow tesco seem to have 'extended' dates on their milk which i suspect is causing the problem.
Never had that problem with the branded milks like Avonmore though.

mickoneill30

Same with the SuperValu milk. On the 2nd last day / last day it begins to pong. OK for tea but not nice by itself. Probably won't kill ya but not nice

sunny2004

great topic. LOL

I tried aldi milk and used it in the microwave and it curdled ? any ideas??

loopymum

sunny2004 wrote:

great topic. LOL

I tried aldi milk and used it in the microwave and it curdled ? any ideas??

The milk had started to sour! I'm a big hot chocolate fan and this always happens when milk is turning.

The_Conductor

loopymum wrote:

The milk had started to sour! I'm a big hot chocolate fan and this always happens when milk is turning.

If you think its bad in hot chocolate- you should see it in fresh coffee
I think I'm going to look into getting some of that UHT coffee milk, that is so popular on the continent- I usen't like the taste, but it does sort of grow on you.

steve 0

Del2005 wrote:

As for prices I noticed that about 2/3 weeks ago that all the shops stuck the price of the own brand up by 10cents at roughly the same time, great competition.

They've done it again! 2l of own brand in Tesco or Dunnes Stores was €1.29, now €1.49!

mrquiteaguy

Steve O.
I have just returned from Dunnes and what a shock it was to see 2 litre Dunnes own brand milk up from 1.29 to 1.49.

Can anyone explain why the milk is going up so much?.

I see the bread is going up also.
I get Cuthberts white pan.
It has gone up from 1.53 to 1.71 to 1.83 now.

I make that approx 25% increase in milk and approx 20% increase in bread prices this year.

5% inflation me arse.

muffler

Funnily enough I have seen it go up from 99c to €1.09 in Strabane also.

Cows must gave got a pay rise

digitally-yours

mrquiteaguy wrote:

Steve O.
I have just returned from Dunnes and what a shock it was to see 2 litre Dunnes own brand milk up from 1.29 to 1.49.

Can anyone explain why the milk is going up so much?.

I see the bread is going up also.
I get Cuthberts white pan.
It has gone up from 1.53 to 1.71 to 1.83 now.

I make that approx 25% increase in milk and approx 20% increase in bread prices this year.

5% inflation me arse.

http://www.cso.ie/releasespublications/documents/agriculture/current/milk.pdf

The production has decreased the cows are not happy !!!:D

mrquiteaguy

Thanks digitally yours for explaining things to me.

Perhaps we need some immigrant cows,
their more productive. lol:p

muffler

mrquiteaguy wrote:

Perhaps we need some immigrant cows,
their more productive. lol:p

You mean ones with bigger tits


Edit; that should have been teats or udders

Del2005

The price of milk and bread has gone up all over the world. They've had protests in Italy over the price of pasta!! It's down to several factors. Some of which are floods and droughts in grain producing regions of the world, obviously not the same places. Also the Chinese are buying huge quanities of powdered milk and also lots of grain. And then there is bio fuels which is taking a lot of maize from food production to make petrol.

Oracle

This must be recent because I bought milk in Tesco and Aldi last week it was €1.29. I've noticed Superquinn own brand milk, (EuroShopper?) is still €1.29. I don't think they increased their price at all. While generally Superquinn is a bargain free zone, fair play to them for holding the lower price. I'll be buying my milk there if it's €1.49 everywhere else. Lovely milk it is as well from Dale Farm, up north.

Sir Oxman

Went from €1.19 to €1.29 to €1.49 in SuperValu over the past month or two.

That's some rise in a staple - and not a bit about it on the news (AFAIK)

snubbleste

2 litres in the major supermarkets
went from 1.19 to 1.29 in August to 1.49 in September.
1 litre went from 65c to 69c to 79c in the same period.