Are They For Real?

Here, Walgreens and Rite Aid (across the street from each other) typically have the lowest milk prices. The past few weeks, Rite Aid has the lowest price. Rite Aid does specify, 2% one week, skim another week, etc. It is usually $3.19 or $3.29 for a gallon.

Now I know that I live in a rural area where things tend to be more expensive…but Milk???? I pay alittle under $4 a gallon for milk. We only have 2 grocery stores here and no drugstores like Walgreens or RiteAid. I have to agree when you ask what they are smoking!

Walgreens and CVS frequently run specials for like $3.59 around here. But the best thing is they seem to compete by putting out $3 or $5 off $XX coupons, which comes in handy when combined with other offers or coupons. Prescription + Milk – $5 coupon = $Savings! They frequently sell out of milk, but that’s another story…

Actually, the cheapest place to buy milk around here is at the Thorntons. A gallon for $1.99 and this is in the burbs of Chicago!!!!

I’m in central Illinois and at all the walgreen’s in town (7), whole milk is $2.99 most all of the time. You do have to check expiration dates closely though.

I have found exactly the opposite to be true…Milk at the drug store (CVS, Walgreens, etc.) is outrageously high…what I have found is that at some of the smaller grocery stores (mom and pop Spartan stores) that they regulary have good prices on milk, although it’s not every week, so I get dry milk too and make mine stretch a week to the next sale.

Walmart $2.50

Wal mart 2.50 to 2.59 a gallon. Wallet Pop’s wallet must be thicker than the rest of ours because as far as I am concerned $5.00 a gallon for milk is not cheap!

North of Detroit we have ALDI grocery stores. They carry no name brands, only their store brands, most of which are excellent quality at a low price. Their milk, all types, usually dated a couple weeks out, sells for 2.49 a gallon all the time and they are always well stocked. That beats all the drug stores all the time, even when they offer a coupon or put their milk on sale, which is when they are typically sold out because they only allocate a tiny amount of shelf space to milk.

I don’t buy milk at drug stores because I’m a little lactose intolerant and I drink lactaid, which they never have.

Personally, I think obsessing about milk prices isn’t worth it for most people. Most of my food budget goes to eating out pre-packaged foods, prepared foods, (eg TV dinners, chicken pt pie) and meat. Bulk ingredient & staples like bread, milk, rice end up being a tiny fraction of what I end up spending. Really, a week’s worth of milk is like 2 or 3 bucks, spending time going from place to place to get it $1.00 less isn’t worth it.

no way, Here milk is the highest at drug stores. It is even higher than a gas station

Where I live, CVS has milk for $2.99. Wal-mart has it for around $3.60 and the grocery stores are closer to $3.90. I usually pick up my milk at CVS. It is just down the road and the cheapest.

I found out that Dollar General (the cheap redneck ones in the South) charge MORE for milk than the grocery store, 5.00 versus about 4.59. We don’t have any drug stores around here that sell milk! Something happened though after the 900 billion dollar bailout – milk initially went down to 3.75 at the grocery store and the price keeps falling.

Here in South TX 2 wks ago, Walgreens had a sale buy 2 Chips Ahoy cookies(2/$4) and get a free gal of milk, so that was pretty good but usaully it’s almost $4.

Find a dairy… Seriously, while I live in a pretty urban area, there is a big ice cream place/ farm not far from me which produces it’s own milk. They sell whole, skim, 1% and 2%. I was amazed to find that a 1/2 Gal. is only $1.37. It is at least $1.79 in the supermarket.

To Edward:
I think that you should speak for yourself about it not being worth shopping around for milk. I have 3 boys who all drink milk and we go through at least 5 gallons a week. If I can save even 50 cents per gallon, it adds up week after week. For me, milk is a staple.
In my experience, drug stores are more expensive and don’t have much of a selection on milk.

Where I live (Ohio), CVS and Walgreens will put milk on sale for $2.88 a gal. Walmart will match any other store in the area, even if it a hour plus away. All you have to do is tell the cashier. Most families with children go through a lot of milk. It is definitely worth shopping around for staples.

I find that drug stores are higher.
TIP: We buy milk on sale at whatever store has it, divide it into 1/2 gallon containers and FREEZE them. We get 2% so after thawed it doesn’t need much shaking to mix it up.

Jacksonville, FL
CVS has a better price than any of the nearby grocery stores here. The milk is always fresh too since they sell it for less. I haven’t compared it to walgreens price.

The natural food market has a local dairy’s organic milk for $2.99 a gallon, but averge price is about $3.50 at the supermarkets. That’s why I couldn’t believe when I saw milk at Target for $5.19 a gallon!

Sorry, I should have mentioned that’s Albuquerque, NM

To stefanie:
Well, I did start my post by saying “personally” and “for most people”.

In SD, the gas stations, which would be the last place most people would go for milk, has a monday $1 dollar off sale. It is a Shell Gas Stop, so it is around town at all of them. So I see people come in there, and buy enough milk, at $2 something, which is low for this area. I don’t know about Walgreens or Lewis Drug here.

I live in Australia, and her we pay around Au$3.43 per 2 litres of milk. I think your milk is cheap byt comparison. One American dollar is worth, at the moment, about 66 Australian cents.

since we buy soy milk,,,this applies to us not. unable to find our brand(8th continent) of soy milk at any drug store. also, since we live in a rural area…no drug stores that sell groceries around here either.

I find that 7-11 has the cheapest price on a gallon of 1% milk here at $2.99. I haven’t really checked the drug stores. I know that the grocery stores are close to $4.00 or more. We are in Keene, NH

Edward – Here in FL, us lactose intolerant types look for Smart Balance fat free milk. It tastes as creamy as the 2%, and is usually $3.59 for the half gallon, or almost a dollar less. Also, at least once a month, I find a $1 coupon in the paper. It might not seem like much of a savings, but in this economy, a little bit at a time would add up.

If there is an ALDI in your area, go to it! Not just for milk. They have unbelievable prices. My family and I can actually afford to eat healthy! Their fruits and veggies are so inexpensive. Mind you, they only have a select few- the veggies and fruits that are in season- but you will be pleasantly suprised.WELL WORTH THE TRIP!

Cow’s milk is meant to grow calves big and fat in a short amount of time. That’s not what we want for our human young.

Central Ohio CVS has milk regularly a few cents cheaper than the grocery stores (just under $3 a gallon). I have purchased milk at different drugstores more for convenience than price and found that it goes bad very quickly. I never have that problem with milk from a grocery. One drugstore manager told me he had a lot of complaints about that, but had to use the supplier specified by his chain.

I just bought 2 gallons of milk last night on sale at Walgreens for $3.29 a gallon. They usually run about $3.89 a gallon. For the identical brand at Walmart it pushes close to $5 a gallon…Target can be cheaper, but it’s their brand milk as opposed to a name brand (Oak Farms) which boasts no growth hormones. There is no mention of no growth hormones in the Target brand. Though Target also carries Oak Farms like Walmart it is significantly more expensive than their brand. The clubs are typically the only other place that are cheapest.

Was this report at Wallet Pop funded by the drugstores? Apparently some one over there believes everybody buys half-gallons–which the price quoted is for. At $2.49 and $2.99 a half gallon that is $5 and $6 for a gallon! With two little people at home who still want lots of milk, a full gallon is the only way I buy milk and it comes from one of the two grocery stores that regularly have it on sale for $2.50. In fact, I would have to say I don’t buy anything other than prescriptions and seasonal items at pharmacies–everything else is simply too expensive.

CVS and Walgreens in my town have the lowest prices on milk, all the time.

In the Denver area, Costco sells a three-pack of half-gallon cartons of 1% organic milk for $9.39. For some reason, their milk always seems to last a very long time. The milk I bought on October 15th has an expiration date of November 23rd. Even with a tiny household consisting of two adults we’ve never had any go bad, although I should mention that I use a fair amount of milk for homemade yogurt.

I rarely buy anything in a drug store and if I do I avoid Walgreens — schlocky overpriced merchandise and service with a snarl.

I live in Ottawa, Canada and I find that Shopper’s Drug Mart always has 4L (about a gallon) for $3.99. That’s at least $0.50 cheaper than the grocery stores around here and sometimes SDM puts it on sale for even less. So I would agree with the statement that milk is a drug store bargain.

I live in a small rural county in WV. The drug stores are always running milk for a dollar less than the grocery stores. WalMart is usually the highest of the 3 main grocery stores in the county. I always make them comp the price! They get mad – managers – sometimes, but I stick to my guns. After all, their policy is to meet or beat advertised prices.

Milk is always cheaper here at the drug stores. We have local Bartell’s which are the cheapest. Rite Aid and Walgreens aren’t that cheap. The local Safeway has been having sales but you have to buy 2 to get the deal. So, that’s why milk is the biggest item at drug store. They all run sales.

I’m in NC and milk is almost always cheaper here at the drug stores or the gas stations than it is at the grocery stores. I honestly can’t remember the last time I bought milk at the grocery store. It typically runs $4.00 – $4.70 a gallon at the grocery store, but is almost always $3.50 or less at the drug stores and gas stations.

Here in St. Thomas ontario Canada. If you go to shopper’s drug mart. You can buy Milk for about 3.80. That is for 3 bags of Milk. Isn’t that great. It is for Homo too which my daughter drinks.

I thought powdered milk would be cheaper so I sent my dh out to get some when we ran out of milk. It was $8.99 – MUCH more expensive than regular milk. For what it made, we figured it was more than twice the price. Needless to say, we returned it.

I have found that checking with the local dairies can be a good thing. Sometimes their prices are better than the grocery.

I buy milk from ALDI which is a low cost grocery store it cost only 2.99.

It seems that whenever some place is touted as the best place to get this or that, it stops being true once word gets out. A few years ago the cheapest place to buy milk was the gas station so everyone started buying it at the gas station, so now it’s as or more expensive as other stores.

In Michigan CVS has 2% for 2.99 all the time

I just grabbed a gallon for $1.88 in Phoenix and I wasn’t even shopping for the lowest price at the time. It was at an Arizons supermarket chain named Bashas’. But at least half of the chains have it on sale for under $2/gallon every week.

In southern ohio, the local united dairy farmers gas station has milk for $2.83 limit 2 gallons any kind of milk when you purchase 8 gallons of gas or more. you can also save your receipt and use it later within the month toward your milk purchase.

I don’t bother going to WalGreens’ for these so-called terrific bargains. They are always out of whatever is in the Sunday ads, even by mid-day on Sunday. Years ago I worked in retailing and we were required to set back enough stock for the estimated ad sales. The ads appear to be very misleading…….designed to get you into the store, where you are likely to buy something, anything, but not get the advertised item(s) because they are “sold out.”

We just lost our biggest milk company here in Alaska so we are down to the 2 cheap brands we had before. I buy the store brand (Fred Meyer)for $3.50 a gallon. I am amazed that we have the highest gas prices but lower milk prices. I have never seen milk go above $5.

Cheapest milk around here (Massachusetts) is in the convenience stores. I’m buying a gallon of 1% for $2.79. It’s over $3.50 in the supermarkets and at the drugstores!

I just bought milk this week at Rite-Aid for 2.39. Local Idaho milk too. Cheaper than the grocery stores.

we buy organic milk, so i don’t know if the price difference is negligable in either direction. reason i write: we drink a LOT of milk, and we can’t afford to buy all organic groceries. out tho’t is that we’ll try to buy organic on ‘big consumption’ items. just sharing an idea = )

Milk here in Phoenix AZ. has been on sale for months now and this week again and it is only
.88-cents! You can buy up to four half-gallons each time. Man, I sure am glad that I don’t live where some of you guys do… I would never get to drink my favorite beverage!
I think overall this area is very inexpensive compared to most places–on major things such as housing, gasoline, utilities, groceries, and so on and so forth. Not to mention that it’s a beautiful 73 degrees right now and sunny and clear! I LOVE IT!

Here in WNY the price varies under $4. lately. By the way, Wal-Mart’s store brand milk is the same as the local name brand. It all comes from the same place. The same delivery man brings it all on the same truck!

frugalandhappy, you’re so right about Walgreen’s! I don’t shop there at all because of that.

CVS is always cheaper than Bi-Lo on milk here in SC. Aldi is cheaper yet, IF you are lucky enough to live near one. I try to use my ECB’s at CVS to help with milk cost.
To Edward: milk is my single biggest food expense. My husband alone can go through one gallon per day!

Another vote for Walgreens in Florida for only $2.39 a gallon. Since I have to go past the Walgreen’s to get to the supermarkets and have to be in there once a month anyways it also saves me on gas. On that note the price of a gallon of milk at the supermarkets here are ironically about the same price as a gallon of gas.

The best thing to do is check to see if your stores sell milk at state minimums. Giant Foods in the PA/MD area does.

@25 charles
I too drink 8thContinent soy milk. I tried Silk but it takes soo gross. Sadly here DC metro area] Giant Food stopped selling 8th. I know Super Fresh Food sells it but it is $4.69! I have to check is Safeway sells it, & at what price. There is a Target that sells 8thC but it is all the way in Montrose Rockville, so it isnt worth it to drive that far for cheaper milk bc the cost of gas would make the milk still cost $5!