Homestead Creamery

I’m starting my rotations today! (At long last! Interactions with real human beings!!!) So while I’m at orientation learning my way around the hospital, I’m leaving you with a review. :O

Disclaimer: I was not paid or compensated in any way for this review. All opinions are my own!

Several months ago and in the span of 24 hours, I heard from two local friends about the awesomeness that is the Homestead Creamery milk offered at Kroger in the dairy section. I love Kroger’s for its coupons, manager’s specials and convenience.

Kroger is pretty much where I get all my groceries, and although I regularly shop just the perimeter of the store, I rarely stop by the milk section because I may or may not be slightly lactose-intolerant, and as such, I’d never noticed this milk that they speak of.

It comes in a glass jar that you put a $2 deposit on that they return to you once you bring the jar back (this is awesome because I still have yet to find a place in the state that recycles glass). Homestead Creamery is located in Wirtz, Virginia, and since we are rather lucky souls/close-ish to the Virginia border, they actually supply the Kroger in our town.

The milk at the creamery comes from two local farms and since they’re sold in the aforementioned recycled glass bottles, they stay fresh longer and are more environmentally friendly.

Did I mention that aside from just regular milk, they also have chocolate, orange cream (tastes like a creamsicle!), and strawberry?

nomnomnom.

I decided to try out all of them and made something different with each one! Click the pictures for the recipes! :]

Strawberry Chia Pudding

Orange Creamsicle Oatmeal

Chocolate Cherry Protein Shake

This is the first “real” milk I’ve had in probably over a decade (I switched over to soy/almond/coconut long long ago) and most likely the only one I would ever get from now on. At $2.49/quart, it’s likely pricier than the standard (I have no idea since milk and I divorced a couple eons ago), but it tastes so much better that there’s just really no going back.

To sum it up:

• No hormones/antibiotics
• Minimal processing from happy cows that are mostly grass/grain-fed by what they grow
• Local-ish (well, for me) producer
• Glass bottles = no container waste! (In their video/slide show from Whole Foods, it said that 1 glass bottle takes the place of ~40 plastic jugs that end up in landfills.)

• 2%: 120 cal, 5g fat, 12g CHO, 8g protein
• 2% Chocolate: 210 cal, 5g fat, 26g CHO, 8g protein, 1g fiber
• Orange Cream: 220 cal, 8g fat, 29g CHO, 8g protein
• Strawberry: 210 cal, 8g fat, 27g CHO, 7g protein