Great Value Milk

[MParr]

@skyactiv
I’m glad that you mentioned the plant codes. The next time I’m at my local Walmart, I will get the codes and find out where it’s coming from.
My wife will go to the local Food Lion to buy milk, even if it costs more than the Great Value brand. Same town, and better tasting milk. I’m thinking that improper handling after leaving the plant is the problem.

 

[mrsilv04]

In this area, Great Value milk comes from Prairie Farms Dairy... who is a huge supplier in the Midwest.

Look at the numbers on the milk jug. Those will give you clues as to which dairy/supplier that it came from.

https://www.prairiefarms.com/

 

[Inked]

I am one of those that can taste the difference in milk brands and while I never had Great Value I do prefer Costco’s Kirkland milk as well as another from a local dairy near me called Rosenberger’s.

 

[bdcardinal]

I guess I can't taste the difference.

 

[eljefino]

What the cows eat changes the flavor of milk, too. When they seasonally switch from grass to grain and vice versa.

 

[Jackson_Slugger]

Not that I shop nearly enough or as much as I should, I've long been dissuaded from shopping for any major groceries from Wal-Mart (with some general frozen items being the exception). Their meat, produce, and anything else perishable seems to be generally frowned upon by reviews...

 

[Wylie6G72]

The thoughts of drinking milk repulses me. However, I can eat ice cream. I know this seems irrational but I just can't bring myself to drink milk.

I rarely drink it without something in it, like Carnation instant breakfast, or after I've eaten a few cookies, but I can't seem to get enough ice cream. Nothing wrong with you dude.

 

[The Critic]

Try plugging the code on the jug (e.g., 27-353) into this site. It'll tell you exactly which plant your milk came from.
Doing that for the national brand and store brand at a given store tends to show they were often produced at the same plant.

I worked in a dairy department of a large chain supermarket during high school. Our name brand and store brand milk (in addition to the sub-store-brand milk from the extra value line) came in the same jugs with the same code on it. I'd be willing to bet it's the same thing. Occasionally they'd mix up jugs such that there'd be a store brand jug with the name brand ones or vice versa (probably the start or end of a run). Also, sometimes labeling was mixed up so there'd be a store brand label with a name brand color cap or vice versa.

http://www.whereismymilkfrom.com/finding-my-code

 

[bluesmokertdi]

well with fresh meat there IS a difference, meat at "discount" food chains tends to be of lower quality, in particular if it is a store brand like Great Value

https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2013/01/28/whats-your-beef-prime-choice-or-select?page=1

Beef is graded in two ways: quality grades for tenderness, juiciness and flavor; and yield grades for the amount of usable lean meat on the carcass. From a consumer standpoint, what do these quality beef grades mean?

Prime beef is produced from young, well-fed beef cattle. It has abundant marbling (the amount of fat interspersed with lean meat), and is generally sold in restaurants and hotels. Prime roasts and steaks are excellent for dry-heat cooking such as broiling, roasting or grilling.

Choice beef is high quality, but has less marbling than Prime. Choice roasts and steaks from the loin and rib will be very tender, juicy, and flavorful and are suited for dry-heat cooking. Many of the less tender cuts can also be cooked with dry heat if not overcooked. Such cuts will be most tender if braised, roasted or simmered with a small amount of liquid in a tightly covered pan.

Select beef is very uniform in quality and normally leaner than the higher grades. It is fairly tender, but, because it has less marbling, it may lack some of the juiciness and flavor of the higher grades. Only the tender cuts should be cooked with dry heat. Other cuts should be marinated before cooking or braised to obtain maximum tenderness and flavor.

Standard and Commercial grades of beef are frequently sold as ungraded or as store brand meat.

 

[vavavroom]

Probably higher pus content compared to less value and more quality-oriented milk. Get your wife some Strauss Farms milk which is sourced from the Tomales Bay area.

https://foodsafety.foodscience.corn...es-Milk-Flavor-Defects-Sensory-Eval-04-10.pdf

 

[JMJNet]

Here in my area, North Texas (DFW), we buy Braum's A2 milk.
Braum is based in OK so they have a very limited distribution area.
This is good milk, a little bit more pricy than Super Great Value.

 

[vwmaniaman]

We almost exclusively buy our milk and dairy at Aldis Never been disappointed in their dairy products. Friendly Farm and its almost identical to the Prairie Farms product here in Western KY.

 

[92saturnsl2]

Same farm, same cows, same bottles, different sticker.
There aren't that many dairy farms fellas...
Yeesh.

Exactly.

There exists in some people some sort of placebo effect (or insert proper name here) that subconsciously associates brand name with quality and taste. Companies spend millions+ a year on advertising because it works. If my wife came up with something like that, I'd want a blind taste test. She would do the same with me if I wanted X expensive brand vs generic. We're very similar in that way. On something like milk which typically comes from the same place, it's a no brainer. You can't convince me that Walmart handles milk any better/worse than local grocery stores.

Different strokes for different folks though.

 

[bluesmokertdi]

Probably higher pus content compared to less value and more quality-oriented milk.

no, the microbial standards are IDENTICAL for grade A milk regardless of brand

http://milkfacts.info/Milk Microbiology/Microbial Standards.htm

same milk, same cows

different labels, different price

 

[GSCJR]

In Canada most Great Value Milk is PARMALAT, a premium brand

Fixed it for you. It's also available on US shelves in a Tetra brick.

 

[bluesmokertdi]

Fixed it for you. It's also available on US shelves in a Tetra brick.

thanks, not wearing my glasses, lol

 

[vavavroom]

no, the microbial standards are IDENTICAL for grade A milk regardless of brand

http://milkfacts.info/Milk Microbiology/Microbial Standards.htm

same milk, same cows

different labels, different price

Just because there are standards doesn't mean everybody's product has the same level of microbes, bacteria, and pathogens. Also just because the product has been pasteurized doesn't mean it tastes good just because the nasties have been wiped out. Also, my jibe was supposed to be humorous. I find the idea of drinking milk preposterous. Cheese and other dairy products are the good stuff.

All milk is most certainly not the same. Milk from free-range cows can't be compared to milk from zero-grazed cows that never see the light of day and just stand there producing milk. And just because it's labeled fee-range doesn't ensure it really is because the USDA has defined "free-range" only for chickens and no other animals. However, I do see which producers have their cows actually roaming the hills and grazing most of the day versus those that keep them in factory farms. The majority of dairy cows is zero-grazed in the US.

 

[benjy]

typical DEAD milk aka high heat pasteurization that KILLS ALL bateria good + bad from CAFO's confined animal feeding operations MUST be pasteurized because the cows live in FILTH + puss from infected udders from overmilking just goes into the unprocessed milk!!! i drink a gallon of full fat RAW milk weekly down from 1.5 gal while working, + luckily Pa allows easy purchase of great tasting RAW milk. all lowfat milk raises blood sugar more than healthier full fat milk. check out the Weston Price foundation for the full skinny on typical DEAD milk.

 

[bullwinkle]

We almost exclusively buy our milk and dairy at Aldis Never been disappointed in their dairy products. Friendly Farm and its almost identical to the Prairie Farms product here in Western KY.

Actually, we use Kroger, WM/Great Value, and Aldi 2% interchangeably, and they are all similar to each other. The only bad milk I’ve ever gotten was Aldi skim milk-it tasted like chemicals! More than once! Otherwise it’s a “who has the best deal” story.

 

[wha232]

Same farm, same cows, same bottles, different sticker.
There aren't that many dairy farms fellas...
Yeesh.

There are LOTS of diary farms around. But I only know of a few milk co-ops in my three county area. One milk tanker could collect from more than 12 different farms, it all get blended