# How do you prefer your milk to be packaged? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 24, 2018, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505 "2018-02-24T22:51:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/21 "2018-02-25T13:08:57Z")
Use in coffee didn’t cross my mind because I drink mine black, but now that you mention it my grandparents always had a can of evaporated milk on their kitchen table. They had a metal cap for the can that had two sharp points on the underside so it was an opener as well as a cover. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/22 "2018-02-25T13:18:17Z")
> [@Bayaker](#): > > Use in coffee didn’t cross my mind because I drink mine black, but now that you mention it my grandparents always had a can of evaporated milk on their kitchen table. They had a metal cap for the can that had two sharp points on the underside so it was an opener as well as a cover. Evaporated is the default milk type for coffee in Germany. A lot of places that serve coffee won’t even have regular milk available. I’m not sure if that’s just because evaporated milk is more popular or because it keeps better than regular milk at room temperature. I’m tempted to believe it’s the former—supermarkets tend to offer umpteen different kinds of evaporated milk (various brands, containers, serving sizes, and concentrations). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/23 "2018-02-25T13:46:18Z")
I read somewhere - and I admit, it may be a myth - that exposing milk to light damages its nutritious qualities, and therefore cartons are superior to transparent and semitransparent jugs and bottles. Anyway, since my country ditched bags some 20 years ago, cartons seem to be what caught on. I haven’t seen a jug in a long time. Of course, milk cartons here have plastic screw-on caps, which is nice. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/24 "2018-02-25T13:55:12Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I read somewhere - and I admit, it may be a myth - that exposing milk to light damages its nutritious qualities, and therefore cartons are superior to transparent and semitransparent jugs and bottles. I’ve seen milk in mostly-opaque yellow jugs that were designed to counter that. From a distance, though, it looks like orange juice. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/25 "2018-02-25T15:31:22Z")
Half pint cartons, like we used to get in the public school cafeteria. Anything larger spoils; we don’t drink it or use it in coffee so it’s only purpose in life is as an ingredient in cooking. The main exception is ice cream, for which I need a half gallon. But I can freaking _buy_ a half gallon of milk when I need it. When I need 1/4 cup or 3 Tbsp and we don’t have any on hand, the grocery store doesn’t sell individual half-pint cartons :mad: So the useful deployment of this magical lifetime supply & deliver of milk would be a half pint carton every two weeks. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/26 "2018-02-25T15:38:14Z")
I prefer it encased in sugar and cocoa. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/27 "2018-02-26T02:06:38Z")
I chose cartons, because that’s how I get my milk now. There are a few different options at the store, but I always go for cartons. Also, I love milk, so I’d really like winning a lifetime supply of it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/28 "2018-02-26T05:42:15Z")
We use milk irregularly in my house, so small cartons would be fine (although I would have no particular objection to small plastic bottles, if they exist anywhere). As it is, we buy milk in bags because 4L of bagged milk is about the same price as a 2L carton of milk (which I find annoying). ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/29 "2018-02-26T06:09:03Z")
Plastic jugs for me. Locally, there’s a deposit, but it is easy enough to take them back for a refund. As for bagged milk, it’s not correct to say that bagged milk is Canadian. Bags of milk are unknown here in western Canada. The bagged milk pitcher that I brought from Ontario is now used as a cat food kibble scoop (for which it works very well). I’d suggest that bagged milk is something used in eastern Canada, but it is certainly not pan-Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/30 "2018-02-26T07:29:08Z")
I still have my milk delivered to the doorstep in glass bottles with a little foil cap. It is purely tradition that makes me prefer this; as a packaging method, it’s inferior to plastic bottles. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/31 "2018-02-26T11:08:23Z")
Glass bottles, they’re better for the environment than any plastic-based solution (which includes the plastic-lined cartons). ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/32 "2018-02-26T13:35:57Z")
Cartons, hands down. Milk in plastic jugs tastes ‘off’ to me. ---
**Author:** ![Sveltington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ab097/32.png) [@Sveltington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sveltington)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/33 "2018-02-26T14:29:48Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Leave it in the cow. I agree ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/34 "2018-02-26T23:54:47Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Glass bottles, they’re better for the environment than any plastic-based solution (which includes the plastic-lined cartons). Only if your milkman drives a Tesla. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/35 "2018-02-27T00:26:56Z")
gallon plastic jugs. Preferably the normal ones, but I’ll take a [costco](https://i2.wp.com/onehundreddollarsamonth.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/costco-square-milk-jug.jpg?ssl=1)jug. What is the appeal of the bags? Seems like a lot of hassle. How is throwing away four 1L bags better for the environment or shipping than a single 1 gallon container? Plus seeing how milk goes bad, I’d have to clean the plastic container constantly. Plus once you snip the bag, it is always open until the milk is used. I don’t want that. Plus it seems like a mess waiting to happen. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/36 "2018-02-27T12:57:41Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > What is the appeal of the bags? Well, some of this has already been discussed upthread, but to answer your points… > [@](#): > > How is throwing away four 1L bags better for the environment or shipping than a single 1 gallon container? The usual bag sizes are around 1⅓ litres, so you’ve hit a gallon after three bags, not four. The plastic bags are very thin; even three or four of them together weigh much less than a thick plastic jug. Having to produce and ship a lower mass of packaging is presumably better for the environment. And the bags are also much more flexible, so their total volume when discarded will be much smaller than that of a crushed plastic jug. (Not that you should need to be “throwing away” either of them—don’t most communities nowadays provide recycling for plastic?) > [@](#): > > Plus seeing how milk goes bad, I’d have to clean the plastic container constantly. Clean the what now? The bags fit into a reusable plastic pitcher, which the milk itself never touches. You don’t need to clean it. You probably do want to rinse out the empty bags before recycling them, though this is also true of glass bottles, plastic jugs, and cartons. > [@](#): > > Plus once you snip the bag, it is always open until the milk is used. This is true. If you use the milk slowly enough that it spoils, you could always use a reusable clip for the opening. This is no more inconvenient than capping a carton or bottle. > [@](#): > > Plus it seems like a mess waiting to happen. I don’t see how. See also [post #17](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20811073&postcount=17). ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/37 "2018-02-27T13:45:56Z")
Until reading it here on the Dope years ago, I had no idea that bags weren’t ubiquitous. Oh sure, I’ve seen jugs, and cartons elsewhere, but I’ve also seen those in Ontario too. But by a really long shot bags are the way to go here. They’re light, recyclable, and a gallon comes in three separately sealed bags. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/38 "2018-02-27T13:47:41Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Only if your milkman drives a Tesla. Well, [yeah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk_float). ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/39 "2018-02-28T02:38:37Z")
Growing up, my family bought milk from a small family dairy just up the street. Many times when I was sent to buy milk, I would get a glass gallon jug freshly filled from the homogenizer. A few years ago I drove by and notice the family dairy included a small retail store so I stopped in. They still sell the milk they bottle with one exception, the milk now comes in plastic jugs. They not only process their own milk, they even make the plastic jugs on site. They also sell new unused plastic jugs for those that don’t want to use a dirty jug for a project. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2018, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505/40 "2018-02-28T02:55:04Z")
I desperately want to say cartons or glass bottles for the organic and reusable properties, respectively. But I picked plastic jugs. They aren’t going to slip and break. They open and close easier than cartons. At least they’re recyclable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-prefer-your-milk-to-be-packaged/809505.md?page=3)