Milking it for all it's worth...

I've decided that I like milk in quarts.

Okay, I didn't promise any amazing revelations here, did I?

Nevertheless, I really like milk in quarts.

Last week, the mystery item at Publix was a half-gallon of milk. (In case you're not a Publix regular--which you should be if there's one near you, because they put Kroger and WalMart and SuperTarget to shame-the "mystery item" is an item that Publix sells for a penny with a $10 purchase on Sunday and Monday, and only with a coupon from the Sunday paper.) Problem was, when I got over there, they had no fat-free milk in half-gallons. I pointed that out to the guy stocking the dairy case, he mentioned it to the manager, and she told me that she would give me two quarts for the same one-cent price.

There's something about a quart bottle that just feels right. It's a solid, substantial, cylindrical hard plastic bottle of milk--none of that softer, milky plastic like they use in half-gallon and gallon containers.

It's also just the right size. I don't drink that much milk, so even with a half-gallon, I always had that last third of a container that was almost sour--not so much so that I found it undrinkable, but jsut close enough that it really didn't taste good. Couldn't bring myself to waste it, though, so I'd try to power my way through. No such problem with a quart, though. Even at my slower rate of milk consumption, I can polish off a quart of milk long before the expiration date.

Sure, I'll pay more per ounce for a quart than for a half-gallon. But every now and then, you decide that it's just not that important to make the most frugal choice. 'Sides, I don't pay three bucks a cup for that bitter brew they call Starbucks coffee, so I guess I can splurge half that on a quart of milk instead...

(Milk sidenote: is there anyone out there other than me who remembers when Oreo cookies had a filling soft enough that, if you squeezed the cookies, some of the filling would goosh out of the edges? You remember things like this when the milk is good enough...)