at least hormone free, 1%. organic if i can afford it.

Definitely Organic. I drink enough milk that I am not willing to skimp because of price, I would rather buy a "cheaper" non-organic version of other foods that I don't use as much beacuse I wouldn't be consuming enough to get the health benefits. (at least that is my logic) I also think that the organic milk tastes creamier, even skim.

We drink rice milk primarily, but if I have a cow milk craving, I buy the low-fat (can't remember if it's 1 or 2%) from Farmers Creamery in Indiana. It's low-pasteurized and tastes very creamy.

We have a great coop where we get organic whole milk in returnable glass bottles. I have a toddler, so its whole for us on both counts!

i don't usually keep milk in the fridge. as a single person and not a huge milk drinker, it takes forever to consume even a quart. i always have plain and vanilla organic yogurt on hand. whenever a recipe calls for milk, i use (depending on whether its a sweet or savory dish) yogurt mixed with a little water for the right consistency. it's a fantastic substitute in muffins, strata, crepes...

I still buy cheap milk, and will be doing so until I have a hefty savings account. I just checked in to say I spy Japanese school lunch milk!

Another singleton here with a milk free fridge. Ocassionally I'll cook with milk and use whole (mostly because it takes much longer to spoil than skim).

As a kid, we used to drink powdered milk because real milk was too expensive.

Another cheap milk purchaser here, though I do spring for the brands that have twist-lids on their cartons as they seem to keep longer. It's a real plus since it takes me a while to use up a 2 litre carton.

Also single and milk-free! I usually have goat milk yogurt around for my calcium and breakfast enjoyment.

When I have to buy milk for cooking, it's often hard to find small containers as opposed to huge hulking gallon jugs - that's my criteria before the organic/hormone criteria. I sometimes buy silk creamer to add to tea...

I drink milk all the time. Morning and often evening lattes are what I usually have milk in. But I also love a nice tall glass of milk with ice cubes in it when eating certain especially chocolaty baked goods. :)

And I go for the cheap 1% milk. I usually go with where ever has it on sale for less than $2 a gallon. One day I may switch to organic (though I'm more interested in doing free-range/ethical treatment than organic for organic's sake) but I just can't afford the $5 gallons of milk right now.

Organic, 1%. It keeps much longer than regular milk and since there are only 2 of us and we don't drink a lot of milk (or use it in cooking), the cost evens out. I don't like the taste of whole milk, having never drunk it growing up, and I've never noticed a difference in my baking with 1%.

there's 2 of us in our household. i am not a milk drinker & will only use it if its called for in a recipe, so I'm not particular about what's in the fridge. my bf on the other hand loves the stuff & drinks it like water. he's very typical-guy-in-his-early-20s & could care less about organic, etc. labels. he just buys the cheap 2% stuff at the supermarket.

I drink about a half-gallon of skim during the course of a week. I was raised on skim (here, in WA State, they call it "Non-Fat"), and I can definitely taste the difference between it and whole milk. Ick!

soy or almond.

I'm a rogue nutritionist and don't believe in drinking milk -- I simply don't think it's necessary or healthy. You can get all the protein and calcium you need from other food sources. (Besides, we're the only species to consume milk past infancy) At the clinic where I work I see a *lot* of cow's milk allergies (like 75% of the people I see). They don't even realize they have a problem, but when we get them off the stuff their asthma, skin problems, fatigue, etc vanish. Casein protein is really irritating to the immune system. We're not designed to have so much. So I avoid it.

With that said...

While I don't endorse downing several glasses of milk each day because it's "healthy", as a foodie and cook I do use it for culinary purposes. I tend to use half half or whole milk.

I will *only* buy organic milk, and generally buy raw dairy from a local farm. The milk comes from organic Jersey cows who only eat grass.

When I need a milk-like beverage for smoothies or whatever, I really like almond or hazelnut milk.

There's a farm at my local farmers' market that sells whole raw milk (organic, unpasteurized, un-homogenized). It's milk on a whole other level and I enjoy drinking it, pouring it on my cereal and in my morning tea or coffee. I also use it for cooking. Yes, it's whole. BUT it's local, organic, and very very delicious.

It doesn't last as long as the pasteurized stuff from the store, but it tastes so much better (a richer taste and mouth feel). And it's in reusable glass bottles; pay a deposit for the bottle, and bring it back each week (if you don't buy more, you get your deposit back).

Ever since I started buying organic, I have never had a carton go past its expiration date. Never. If I buy 2% I can get away with using that instead of half and half in my coffee. We use it mostly for coffee, cereal and baking. Since I'm pregnant, I'm trying to drink a bit more for the calcium boost (but am also loading up on greens, calcium chews and Extra Strength Tums). I love the organic chocolate milk, but it's quite pricey, higher in fat and loaded with sugar - so I usually just add Ovaltine to drink a glass of milk.

I'm also a fan of rice and almond milk.

I buy two gallons of skim per week for the family - the medium priced brand because the lowest price brand tended to sour too soon.

I keep non-fat dry milk around for certain kinds of cooking, canned evaporated skim milk for other kinds of cooking - especially cream soups. I buy half & half now and then if I'm doing special cooking for company.

When my niece and her family are over, I buy rice milk to accomodate their allergies.

Promised Land 2% I comes in a nice glass bottle so it gets really cold. It is hormone free and just really great milk

Hormone free skim. We drink a lot of milk (about 5 gallons/week) Once, a little old lady stopped my husband at the grocery store and asked how many children we have. We don't have children. It was pretty funny.

I don't drink milk, but my partner does - we usually just get the store brand 1% or 2%. However, I just started making my own cheese (IT'S AWESOME AND EASY! Check out cheesemaking.com for starter kits and no, I'm not getting paid by them), in which case it's organic, whole and not ultrapasteurized.

soy

I drink a lot of milk. even when I lived alone I probably went through a gallon in about 10 days (I like to think it helped make me tall). I prefer 1%, but since moving in with my bf who likes whole milk, we've compromised and get 2%. I've also cut back, but I get milk cravings now and then and there's no stopping me!

Organic Lactose Free 1%. My husband LOVES milk and is lactose intolerant, so that's what we get. When I get it for myself, I get organic skim.

@anntlope -- Tums is a terrible source of calcium. First, it's calcium carbonate which is very poorly absorbed (you pass most in your feces). Second, it neutralizes stomach acid which increases your risk of food borne illness and inhibits Vitamin B12 absorption -- both of which are not good for you or a developing baby.

Indeed, you're better off taking no calcium than taking Tums. If your doctor recommended this to you, shame on them. (but this is typical as doctors receive almost no nutrition education in their training)

The best form of calcium to take is calcium triphosphate or calcium apatite. It's important to take it with Vitamin D3 too. The product I recommend to patients is L'il Critters Calcium Gummy Bears with Vitamin D -- it's a chewable form for kids but can certainly be used by grown-ups. It's calcium triphosphate (the best form), and they're really delicious.

Also, you can only absorb 400-500 mg of calcium at a time, so don't take more than that at once.

Best of luck to you and your new baby!

I don't skip on milk at home as that is one product I always buy organic. For hubby and I, it's skim/non-fat which we seem to drink in spurts: some weeks we go through a full gallon no problem and other weeks we barely make it through a half-gallon. I hate throwing the stuff away so now I only buy it in half-gallon increments. But, now that my daughter is of the age that she can drink milk, I also buy the organic whole variety.

I love almond milk but it's easier to get soy or rice. Almond is yum yum and my husband doesn't care what I buy as long as there's milk for his cereal.

Soy or rice.

We are the only species to drink the milk from another species. We are the only species to drink milk past infancy! Sorta weird when you think about it...

We drink raw, whole milk from pasture-raised cows. It's nutritionally completely different from the pasteurized, homogenized stuff and it's what humans evolved drinking. Delicious too!

I'm liking almond more and more myself, we are lucky to have a nearby dairy with glass bottled milk, my spoiled kids can detect the taste of carton milk and dislike it and I try to avoid hormone treated.

I drink organic skim from the food coop. My husband drinks Skim Plus from Key Food. We will dip into each other's milk in a pinch, but for the most part we agree to keep our milk separate.

(A side note-- I'd love know what exactly Skim Plus is if the Kitchn could find out)

If you look at the packaging on some skim milk brands you'll see that they contains lots of non-milk additives. I only drink full-cream milk (preferably raw or unhomogenised) it tastes so much better than skim or light milk, and it doesn't have that much fat in it (if you're worried about that) - only about 4%. Plus if you have any that's about to turn, it's a great excuse to make some rice or bread pudding. Delicious!

Whole milk. That's what I cook with, and what I grew up drinking/using.

I don't drink milk, but I eat it a fair amount - in cereal, ice cream, bechamel sauces, and the like. When I cook, I buy local, small-dairy, organic Strauss Family Creamery milk. It's very expensive, but it comes in a reusable glass bottle, it's not ultra-pasteurized, tastes great, and makes me feel good about it. I also don't buy dairy products that often, so it helps offset the increased cost. I usually have nonfat (I was also raised in WA and we don't have "skim"!) in my cereal or latte, half & half in my drip coffee, and other dairy I use for cooking.

As an aside, another great book about milk is this one: Nature's Perfect Food by Melanie Dupuis. It's a book that got me super interested in food issues.

Always organic - usually local. Skim or 1%.

Organic for sure, and usually Vitamin D. I recently switched from skim when I learned that Skim milk usually has more carbs in it then higher fat milk. Plus, I find that Vitamin D or whole milk is more versatile to cook with.

I've just switched from normal skim to organic whole milk. I don't actually drink it plain, I cook with it and make shakes, so I figured I might as well go for the whole milk. It's arguably healthier for you.

I'd buy raw milk if I could but it is all kinds of illegal here.

We buy natrel milk: 3.25% for my skinny son and skim for me and my hubby.

We belong to a raw milk share program (well a pet milk share actually since they can not sell it for human consumption in Tennessee) and we get organic grass fed whole milk. The whole organic label isn't as big a a deal as long as I can trust the farmer to not be giving the cows hormones and antibiotics. Also, I like to minimize my family's dependence on corn so we opt for grass fed. I mean, organic Horizon milk still comes from a feed lot so it kind of grosses me out.

We also love almond milk. Yum!

I have a soymilk maker & primarily use soymilk.

I recently joined a raw milk co-op & get 1/2 gallon per week. This is a little much for me, as a single person... I am trying to make yogurt out of it & have hopes of making my own cheese & butter but.. who knows. It is actually difficult to convince myself to drink milk after years of only soymilk. I primarily wanted the raw milk for cooking purposes.

I used to drink 1% but now I buy raw and its whole.

It tastes the same though, naturally, b/c homogenization makes milk feel creamier. Lack of the homogenization, less creamy tasting.

I rationalize spending 6.50 in milk like this: vodka tonic at bar=$6, milk for a week thats waaay better for you=$6.50. :)

Oh and I drink goat milk sometimes because I really like it...

I buy local hormone free whole milk, but neither my husband or I drink it. I use it to make yogurt and in the occasional recipe that calls for it.

I'd buy local organic if I could find it.

Something touted as 'Smarter Milk', 2% I think. When we were kids we lived in a small village where you bought your milk in glass bottles with a sealed foil cap from the local shop, then when you were done, returned them to be refilled. We even had a vintage milk bottle carrier to put them in.

Organic skim.

we used to drink 2% milk. Then I read an excerpt about milk from Michael Pollan's book "In Defense of Food" and he was really down on the process used to remove fat from milk. So now we just buy whole milk, try to buy organic. It foams better for homemade lattes!

1% (sometimes 2%) cow's milk, organic, lactose free. That hardly makes it milk anymore, does it? But it works for me...on cereal in tea. When cooking, I use whatever the recipe recommends, full-fat, full-lactose unless the recipe says you can substitute.

We buy organic 2%, which still tastes like real milk. My husband eats tons of cereal, and we try to avoid the added hormones, antibiotics, etc. with our children. I agree that the carton milk lasts longer than the gallon jugs.

Plain unsweetened almond. Yum.

I never drink milk or even eat cold cereal...I think it is kinda gross since I am not a baby cow. But if I am baking I use regular, basic whole. I avoid skim/low-fat since I learned about how it gets that way. I have to admit I am curious about this raw milk...

Promised Land 2%. I don't know if its the glass bottle or the lack of hormones or screw top or the little scripture quote (holy milk!) or whatever else but it stays fresh way, way longer than other milks I've had. It's more expensive but I think it tastes better (probably faux-nostalgia for the glass bottle on my part) and if I buy cheaper stuff it tends to spoil before I can drink it all. I used to be a skim-only kind of girl but found that a higher fat content kept it from spoiling.

Even though I drink milk rarely and even then only sips at a time I like having it around. Usually I end up having to make some sort of baked good or creamy entree to finish it off.

@morghandi -- the Promised Land milk may be ultrapasteurized which makes it last way, way longer than pasteurized. They don't sell it in my area, so I can't check.

It tastes better because their milk only comes from Jersey cows. Jerseys produce milk higher in butterfat, and richer in beta carotene than Holsteins (the typical dairy cow). The butterfat is also good for you -- it contains conjugated linoleic acid which increases fat metabolism in your body, and may protect against heart diseases and cancer.

almond milk- vanilla, original or chocolate flavored.

I only drink real milk when i need it in a recipe.

I'm in Australia and we have been using Low Fat A2 Milk for the past 6 months - all of our family has a certain level of milk allergy to standard milk and we all love milk but now we can all drink A2 Milk with no trouble. But it does cost more. Not sure if you can get it in the USA.

For drinking it is nowadays organic soymilk. For cooking I use raw milk, or occasionally fat free powdered milk.

1% organic

Any Brooklyn Folks know where to get some raw milk?

We buy whole (baking, coffee, toddler) and skim (cereal) local organic. Pasturized and not homegenized.

We also buy raw grass-fed on occasion and sometimes raw cream which is beyond delicous. When it sours (not spoils!) it is wonderful baking.

Non-organic, hormone drenched, cooked to death milk isn't even fit for prisoners.

Now I drink plain old skim milk bought by the gallon, and go through plenty of it. I like nothing better than a glass of milk with a peice of cake or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I eat lots of cold cereal as well.

The first milk I drank was goat milk from our own goats, raw and whole. When we moved off of a farm we started out buying raw milk from a local farmer, then went to buying cream-topped milk in glass botttles. My dad used to drink the cream off the top and that always grossed my out. Then when the place that sold that went out of business, we moved to whole milk in a gallon jug, then 2%, and finally skim when I was 10-12.

Now skim is all I drink. I can't stand the taste/texture of whole milk, makes we want to gag, and I can barely drink 2 or even 1%.

I can't stand soy milk either. I once ordered a milkshake that was made from soymilk (unknown to me) and tried to return it thinking that the milk was spoiled.