Are Hawaii residents that crazy for milk? (renters, buy)

[Joliefille]

You guys beat me to the almond milk! I buy the quart size at Target usually for 2 or 3 dollars and last us for weeks. Plus, the unflavored only has 40 calries per cup vs whole milk @ 160 calories. The only thing it doesn't work for is making pudding. Which is usually what I would end up making with our soon to be expired milk, when I was buying it!

I would say that last year I "might" have bought a total of 4 gallons of milk, mostly for baking or cooking purposes. We also use greek yogurt on cereal in lieu of milk.

[Joliefille]

Originally Posted by DebbyDiver

The only milk we really like is coconut milk, and that's for cooking curries.

I was most pleasantly surprised about the almond milk, but only tried it that one time. FYI a half gallon of it is almost $6 here in a U.S. territory. I thought I'd mention that since this topic is actually about cost of living, and not about what people like to drink.

Also rice pudding.

[HiloDiver]

Thank you, smart people.

[HiloDiver]

Originally Posted by Joliefille

You guys beat me to the almond milk! I buy the quart size at Target usually for 2 or 3 dollars and last us for weeks. Plus, the unflavored only has 40 calries per cup vs whole milk @ 160 calories. The only thing it doesn't work for is making pudding. Which is usually what I would end up making with our soon to be expired milk, when I was buying it!

I would say that last year I "might" have bought a total of 4 gallons of milk, mostly for baking or cooking purposes. We also use greek yogurt on cereal in lieu of milk.

Wow, awesome to see Almond Milk is so inexpensive in HI. I'm ready to try it another time.

[McFrostyJ]

Originally Posted by OpenD

Almond milk, however, surprised me. Pleasant and tasty, and it doesn't sour like cow milk. Hard to find in smaller containers than 1/2 a gallon though. So I usually just make a pint or two myself, using a blender and a recipe I found online.

Sounds like something I need to try. Thanks!

[hotzcatz]

Our household uses several gallons of milk each week, although it's not used as a drink but added to things such as coffee, tea, cereal, etc. We should look into almond milk, perhaps. I've heard soy milk has some sort of hazards from GMO soy crops or some such, I didn't pay much attention to it at the time.

There are a lot of other economic indicators used other than the price of milk, but they may not relate to what's available in the Virgin Islands. Hmm, maybe the price of milk versus the price of rum, if it's with you folks, huh? Does the Virgin Islands still have any sugar industry? Ours is gone, now, so not a lot of sugar to make rum although we can always make okolehau from ti roots, I suppose.

[HiloDiver]

hotcatz, our sugar industry was over years ago, but we've recently added a second rum distillery. The island imports molasses, I don't know from where. Cruzan Rum is the local favorite; Diageo recently started producing Captain Morgan rum here on island. Cruzan Rum is incredibly inexpensive here; a big bottle is only $12.99. That same bottle would go for about $24-ish in South Florida. I haven't checked the price of the Captain, I'll have a look next time I go shopping.

I don't ever notice people buying or drinking milk here. They probably do, I just never noticed. OTOH it never occurred to me to notice until yesterday when I began to wonder why my friends in the states, and people on this forum, always say "I can't believe you're going to move there, milk is so expensive!" We usually answer that with "so what? We don't drink it." I'll have to take a look at how many locals are buying milk next time I go shopping. I would think it would be close to spoiled here. There are many things we don't buy frequently here because of our experience with those things being spoiled or not real fresh unless flown in by a specialty grocer.

[SkyBob]

Originally Posted by Joliefille

You guys beat me to the almond milk! I buy the quart size at Target usually for 2 or 3 dollars and last us for weeks.

Wow. That means almond milk is 8 to 12 dollars a gallon. A bit more expensive than the expensive regular cow milk in the islands.

DebbyDiver, the cost of milk may be mentioned as the indicator of the cost of living because everybody buys it. It is a staple, except to you and everybody you know.

[HiloDiver]

Originally Posted by SkyBob

It is a staple, except to you and everybody you know.

Hence the irony.

[hotzcatz]

Ah, just dump some milk on their head, they'll give up after awhile. Trolling while wet and sticky shouldn't be much fun. This forum doesn't usually go up in flames like many of them do.

I haven't priced the rum around here, although I've seen the Captain Morgan brand at the grocery. Maybe you'll get sticker shock from rum prices instead of milk prices!

Do the Virgin Islands produce much of their own produce? We ship in a LOT of mainland produce although it comes by air so it's pretty fresh. Well, as fresh as anything harvested two weeks early and spending ten days in shipment can be. We do have a lot of farmer's markets around here which have stuff locally grown. Some of the markets are more particular about where their vendors get their produce, but some of the markets are 100% produced in Hawaii stuff. If it is going to be expensive, it may as well be good. Sometimes at the farmer's markets it is less expensive and locally grown which is the best way, IMHO.