Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Don't cry over spilled milk...


We did our grocery shopping this weekend everywhere except the grocery store. Produce came from the farmer's market at our local pumpkin patch (and was fresh and cheap too). A few basics came from Target. And milk came from Sam's Club on our monthly diaper run.

In case you hadn't heard, Sams (and Wal-mart and others) are carrying a new kind of milk jug. The new jugs are a little taller and more square than a traditional jug, and are supposed to be more stackable and reduce the weight of extra cartons when shipping. In theory, they're better for the environment and potentially cheaper too.

For our purposes, they should work out fine. The jugs are a little skinnier than typical jugs, and they fit tightly in the fridge. That's nice, since we buy two gallons a week (one whole milk, that Trystan finishes solo, and one 1% for the rest of us). I had to adjust the fridge shelf by a little less than an inch to make them fit, but that's not too bad. After all, I run a tight ship in my fridge (which, with foodie tasts and a hungry family of 4 is feeling increasingly cramped). I think they're about the same height as a 2-liter, as I always have to adjust the shelves to fit those when we have them.

They are harder to pour, at least for the first couple of glasses. I think the spout on ours sits a little higher than the jugs in the picture (photo from the net, not from our fridge). Ours might be a slighlty improved design. The plastic seems heftier than the old style, but we recycle all our plastic, so I hope it's not an environmental negative. The weight and design will make it harder for Charlotte to help herself, which she's been wanting to do lately (with a half-empty traditional gallon, she can pour her own drink without spilling).

Overall, I'd give the new gallons a positive assesssment. Not overwhelmingly positive. But slightly more positive than neutral. Were fridge space not so tight for us, then I probably wouldn't care one way or another.

Is anyone else seeing these around? What are your impressions?

1 comment:

Amber Schmidt said...

Very interesting! I have yet to see this new monstrosity of a milk jug! Maybe I will get a little laugh at my next grocery trip!