I don’t profess to have a developed palate. I love wine and coffee, but can’t really discern between Two Buck Chuck and the good stuff. So the fact that I’m hunting for grass fed milk (or rather grass fed cows that make milk) because it tastes better is odd.

Blame it on the husband and his acute taste buds. A few years ago, he fell in love with Horizon Milk. For whatever reason he thought they were grass fed. I’m not sure if they were but the “formula” seems to have changed. So being surrounded by a ton of health food stores, I’ve been looking for milk that is grass fed.

Why Grass Fed?

Most cows are fed grain, corn specifically. Corn is pretty sharp, and cuts up their stomachs. The cuts can get infected and all manner of disgusting things can come out in the milk (yea, I know it’s cleaned out but the idea is gross). To prevent this, dairy farmers often use antibiotics to prevent the infections.

If ya start with grass you don’t have to give them antibiotics. Seems pretty simple to me.

Yet I cannot find any grass fed milk. Anywhere.

The good thing about California milk is it all seems to be rBST free. rBST is a growth hormone many dairy farmers use to grow the cows faster and get more milk out of them. I can’t find anything saying it’s banned in California (everything I’m finding on Google is grossly outdated) but I think consumers’ demand has made the majority of the milk I’m finding rBST-free.

So there’s that. Which just makes me realize I’ve been drinking hormone-y milk for years without knowing it. Man, once you start down this knowledge train about food there’s no going back.

I did buy Stremick’s Heritage Foods Organic Milk, which tastes pretty good. They don’t have rBST or antibiotics (so…the cow’s stomachs get cut and you don’t fix it??), and it says they have vegetarian food. Glad to know my cows aren’t eating steak (so wrong).

If you find grass fed milk, please tell me about it!

So if you’re like me, one of the things that’s been keeping you from buying organic is the cost. It seems like it’s so much more, right? I decided to test it out. I bought only organic or natural products today at Henry’s Market and want to compare them next to their less organic cousins.

I’ve been buying organic milk for a while, but initially I remembered the shock. What I paid for an entire gallon of milk I paid for a half gallon. It was an outrage! Because my hub has a keen sense of taste, we’ve been on the hunt for grass fed milk (well, the cows, anyway) in San Diego because the milk tastes better. It seems like no one has it.Today I bought raw milk that was grass fed. It was good but not that different. Plus now I’m a little scared because I read that people get sick from raw milk. I paid $3.99 for it. A regular 1/2 gallon cost $2.49.

I sprung for organic coconut creamer for my coffee rather than cow creamer. (Looking at the website: oops, it’s not organic!)Haven’t tried it yet. It cost $2 versus $1.69 for a little non-organic carton.

I find it easier to buy organic packaged foods or dairy than veggies for some reason, so this was the real test. I found organic versions of everything I buy in the produce section, and the prices weren’t that much more for organic.

• Zucchini: $1.99/# for organic vs. $1.29/pound
• Bananas: $.77/pound vs. $.69/pound
• Ok I didn’t really buy much produce this time. My bad.

Henry’s meats are “natural,” and here’s what that means:

• Raised humanely
• No antibiotics/steroids
• No added growth hormones
• Traceable to ranch of origin
• Minimally processed

I paid  a bit more for a rib eye steak at $9.99 per pound. What are they normally, like $6 or $7 a pound?

So you be the judge. Sometimes organic or natural costs a lot more, like for meats. I’m not sure whether I see the value just yet. If the steak tastes a lot better than regular, I would pay more. Produce was just a few cents more for organic, so I’d definitely shop more in that department for organic.

All in all, it was a good experiment, and one that taught me a lot!

So I’m loving the organic and natural grocery stores here. I loooove going to Henry’s or Trader Joe’s and looking at all the organic cleaning products, homeopathic medicine, organic food…but my husband said something the other day that struck me:

Don’t consume your way to being eco.

Meaning don’t get caught up in the hype of eco friendly products when you can find a simpler solution without spending or wasting resources. A good example is that post I referred to last week that taught me to not buy shaving cream because I don’t need it.

Or the time we were trying to cut down on the sweets in the house (ok, he was trying) and he found Oreos in the cabinet. My reply? They’re organic Oreos!

Both examples were things I didn’t need. I’m starting to bake cookies more rather than give in to my sweet tooth at the store.  That way I know all the ingredients that go in and can make them my way.

Another example is that I always buy a big bottle of juice or bag of snacks and put it in a smaller container for Max to take to school rather than individual  packs (I may be wrong, but I believe a juice bottle is easier to recycle than a box and bunch of individual packs). I put his snacks in plastic containers that can be reused so I cut down on how many plastic bags I buy.

So my goal is to think before I buy something I believe will help me be more organic or environmentally friendly. Do I need this? Can I get this solution a better way?

What suggestions do you have on cutting down on waste?