I can never seem to get through a gallon of milk before it goes bad. One of my favorite brands is the Borden Kid Builder, which is essentially 1 percent milk, but it usually lasts only a few days before souring.
Recently someone told me to try organic milk because it stays fresher longer. So I did. My first try was the Tom Thumb O Organics label, and lo and behold, that milk was drinkable for weeks. (I drink a glass only ocassionally; mostly I use milk for tea and cereal.) I was a little surprised at how much I loved it. Soon afterward, I tried Borden’s new organic milk, thinking I would like it even better, but like the Kid Builder brand, it went bad pretty quickly.
My most recent purchase was Target’s Archer Farms brand organic milk. I liked what I saw — the "sell by" date loomed out about three weeks in front of me. And I liked the milk, too, which has so far kept up with the Tom Thumb milk as far as staying fresh.
Here’s what I think I figured out: The best chance I have of buying milk that will stay fresh is to not only buy organic, but buy organic milk under the label of the store I’m shopping in. This theory has worked for me so far, except for one surprising place: Central Market. That organic milk performed only about as well as the Borden organic milk.
One more milk contender I haven’t mentioned: Braum’s. If you’re lucky enough to live or work near one (the closest in our neighborhood is at Inwood and Lemmon), you can pick up great-tasting milk that is always fresh — Braum’s delivers only to a 300-mile radius of its farm and plant in Tuttle, Okla.
