# Price of a litre of milk



## shnaek

Just back from the local shop there where I paid 1.38 for a litre of milk. It was 1.28 last week. Just wondering what the average price is nationwide? What is the best price for a litre? I had been trying to support Irish Milk, but I think 1.38 is breaking level to buy Dunnes or M&S milk from now on. What do the rest of you think?


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## blueband

not just milk, look at how much the price of potatoes have jumped up!


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## Knuttell

shnaek said:


> Just back from the local shop there where I paid 1.38 for a litre of milk. It was 1.28 last week.



Bought a 3 litre container of Milk yesterday in Aldi for €2.19 which works out at 73c a litre.

100% Irish Milk according to the labeling.

You pay through the teeth for the convenience of these mom and pop outfits,avoid them like the plague,they are really milking it.


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## Knuttell

Dunne's are also offering 3 litre of milk for €2.19 or buy 2 and get them for €4.

Works out at 67c a litre,massive difference between that and €1.38 a litre in your local shop.


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## huskerdu

Knuttell said:


> Bought a 3 litre container of Milk yesterday in Aldi for €2.19 which works out at 73c a litre.
> 
> 100% Irish Milk according to the labeling.



Aldi milk is sourced in Northern ireland. 
You can tell by checking the little oval mark on the label, with the letters EC and either UK or IE. The Aldi one says UK NI xxx, If it wa sourced in the Rep of Ireland, it would say IE, 

Centra own brand milk, SQ own brand milk are both irish and less than €2 for 2 litres. 



> You pay through the teeth for the convenience of these mom and pop outfits,avoid them like the plague,they are really milking it.



To be fair, it not all the shops fault. Large chains negotiate agressively and get their milk at a lower cost price than small shops. The extra profit is not all going to the shop.


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## Sue Ellen

blueband said:


> not just milk, look at how much the price of potatoes have jumped up!



Isn't this because of the wet weather recently though?


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## Knuttell

huskerdu said:


> Aldi milk is sourced in Northern ireland.



It has Tricolour on the lable and underneath it states 100% Irish milk,if what you say is correct then they are surely in breach of some advertising codes etc.

Though technically they are correct I suppose as well Northern Ireland is Ireland,despite that whole pesky border/territorial issue (but that's a whole different thread)


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## Lex Foutish

blueband said:


> not just milk, look at how much the price of potatoes have jumped up!


 


Sue Ellen said:


> Isn't this because of the wet weather recently though?


 
And all good country boys, like myself, hate eating wet spuds!


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## RMCF

They practically give milk away in NI, the prices are that low! I live near the border so often buy milk when in the North. Can get 2litre for 69p.

Also, back in the South, a local petrol station sells 2 litres for €1.15, so it looks like you are being ripped off.

On a different theme, I know that farmers are being fleeced when it comes to milk. They are producing it at a loss. I'd gladly pay more for milk if I thought the farmer would get a fair price, rather than the supermarket making more profit.

Getting back to food prices, 2 items that I have noticed that really went up in price over the last year or two in even the big supermarkets have been tea bags and rice.


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## Newbie!

huskerdu said:


> Aldi milk is sourced in Northern ireland.
> You can tell by checking the little oval mark on the label, with the letters EC and either UK or IE. The Aldi one says UK NI xxx, If it wa sourced in the Rep of Ireland, it would say IE,
> 
> Centra own brand milk, SQ own brand milk are both irish and less than €2 for 2 litres.
> .


 
Sorry just to correct you, Aldi 1 litre cartoons are irish but the 2litre cartoons are N.Irish. I think this is the same for Tesco and Superquinn. I actually dont think any of Dunnes milk is from the republic. 

I buy all our milk in Superquinn or Aldi for 70cent (I think) a litre. 

On a side note, all Aldi cheese is from the north also.


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## Protocol

Yes, the Aldi 1-litre tetrapak milk is from RoI.

The 2L jugs may be from NI.

I pay 1.49 for 2L milk in Lidl, Aldi, Tesco, so that's *75c per litre*.


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## Protocol

Newbie! said:


> I actually dont think any of Dunnes milk is from the republic.
> 
> On a side note, all Aldi cheese is from the north also.


 
Careful here - I strongly suspect DS milk is from RoI.

Also, lots of cheese in both Aldi and Lidl is made in the RoI, but packed in Leek, Shropshire, UK.  That means the EU circle label will say "LK xxx UK".

It's a bit confusing to see a tricolour on the front of "Irish cheese", and then to see a "LK...UK" circle label on the back.

Most of the time the label explains it by saying.............

"Produced in Ireland using Irish milk, packed in the UK"

But some cheeses are "Produced in Irl and Britain using Irish and British milk".


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## Firefly

I remember way back when a pint of milk was 32p (probably sometime in the mid 80s ). At 567ml this works out at 56p per litre. Multiplying this by 1.27 works out at 72c a litre. Granted you may need to buy 2 litres now in a supermaket to get close to this at 75c a litre, but in fairness it seems like prices have been fairly stagnant..

Of course the milk was a lot nicer back then IMO as it was creamier. I remember when we used to get milk delivered in glass bottles and the birds would try and pierce the top to get the cream - that was a country service as late as 1990...ahh that first glass of milk!


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## Protocol

Good point (or pint).

This shows that the relative price of farm outputs have been falling compared to other consumer prices.


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## Newbie!

Protocol said:


> Careful here - I strongly suspect DS milk is from RoI.
> 
> Also, lots of cheese in both Aldi and Lidl is made in the RoI, but packed in Leek, Shropshire, UK. That means the EU circle label will say "LK xxx UK".
> 
> It's a bit confusing to see a tricolour on the front of "Irish cheese", and then to see a "LK...UK" circle label on the back.
> 
> Most of the time the label explains it by saying.............
> 
> "Produced in Ireland using Irish milk, packed in the UK"
> 
> But some cheeses are "Produced in Irl and Britain using Irish and British milk".


 
This is interesting protocol. To date, I have been led by the country code in the little circle. How do I distinguish where the raw produce is from and where the item is packaged?


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## Newbie!

Firefly said:


> Of course the milk was a lot nicer back then IMO as it was creamier. I remember when we used to get milk delivered in glass bottles and the birds would try and pierce the top to get the cream - that was a country service as late as 1990...ahh that first glass of milk!


 
slighlty off topic but I remember coming on my holidays to Dublin as a child in the early 80s and for two weeks I wouldnt eat any cereal as the bottled milk repulsed me! I remember it being sort of watery with white floating cream bits. I'd be dying to get home again for a glass of 'real' milk!


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## Protocol

Newbie! said:


> This is interesting protocol. To date, I have been led by the country code in the little circle. How do I distinguish where the raw produce is from and where the item is packaged?


 
Fair point.

When the words "Irish cheese" and the image of a green, white and orange tricolour flag is on the front of the label, and then there is a UK circle on the back, that would confuse anybody.

Now obviously, they can't be lying about the tricolour and the Irish cheese on the front, so there must be more to it.

Some shops are better than others, andf they expalin the confusion.

So the label would say "Produced in Irl using Irl milk.  Packed in the UK".

However, not all shops have such details on the label.

A lad at work visited the Irish Dairy Board's packing plant in Leek, Shropshire, so that's how I know what the LK refers to on the Aldi and Lidl circles.


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## Protocol

To save costs, they send 100% of the product to Leek to be packed, then send 10% back here for sale.  Say the other 90% is sold in the UK.

[broken link removed]


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## T McGibney

I'm astounded by the partitionism evident in some of the above comments.


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## Boyd

1.38 is insane for a litre of milk, as is 1.27. Superquinn own brand milk is 80c a litre, IIRC Lidl is 75c.

Premier Dairies 1L is also less than a euro.

@OP, what shop are you buying your milk? If its Centra/Spar style convenience shop, forget about it, youre paying for said convenience.


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## Liamos

In fairness, Spar also have their own brand at €1.49 for 2 litres.


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## ajapale

username123 said:


> €1.38 is insane for a litre of milk, as is  €1.27. Superquinn own brand milk is 80c a litre, IIRC Lidl is 75c.



The best value milk at present is Dunnes €4/6litres *67*c/l (2 x 3l drums). Dunnes milk now has a tricolour on it (whatever that means!).


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## Boyd

That is cheap! No way i'd need that much milk though, im only one person! 2L a week is plenty.


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## footsteps

I think Connacht Gold now supply tesco brand milk.
I pay €2.44 for 2L most days or sometime they have the €1.88 2 litres! 

This thread is very interesting. . . [broken link removed]


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## shnaek

username123 - it's just a local shop - unbranded. Had been 1.18 at the start of the summer, and when it went to 1.28 I was less than impressed, but 1.38 just roared "STOP!" at me. I was trying to buy the odd things in there to keep the place open. It's nice to have a locally run shop nearby. But those price increases in that short period of time struck me as indefensible.


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## Boyd

Liamos said:


> In fairness, Spar also have their own brand at €1.49 for 2 litres.



Yep, actually bought that yesterday!


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## ajapale

This useful thread has been moved from the  Steam Pile to  Consumer Issues.


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## gipimann

For us non-dairyites, I spotted the Tesco own brand (value brand) Soya has increased from 85c per litre to 90c per litre in the past week.

They used to have a sign comparing their price with that of Aldi's Soya (at 85c), but the sign disappeared with the price increase, so I'm guessing that Aldi haven't raised their price yet?!


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## Firefly

gipimann said:


> They used to have a sign comparing their price with that of Aldi's


 
The constant price comparision labels in Tesco and SV with Aldi on certain products, just tells me that for the rest of the products (ie 99% of what's in a supermarket) Aldi are cheaper


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## JohnJay

Liamos said:


> In fairness, Spar also have their own brand at €1.49 for 2 litres.



Yup, and IE branded too.

My local Spar also sells Premier Milk 2lt for €1.99, which is good value.


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## flowerman

4 litres (Yes 4 litres) of Full fat and low fat mlk for 2 euro 50 cents in Iceland.
Thats the cheapest Ive seen it in Dublin.

I know its not Irish Dairy Council stamped but hey....milk is milk at the end of the day.I tried it recently and I can say that it tastes just like any other milk.

Cost Cutter shops sell 2 litres of Linwoods full fat and low fat milk for 1 euro 29 cents at the moment too.
It was 1 euro 39 cents but has come down by 10 cents for the last 3 months.



Firefly said:


> The constant *price comparision* labels in *Tesco* and SV with Aldi on certain products, just tells me that for the rest of the products (ie 99% of what's in a supermarket) Aldi are cheaper


 
Tesco are a joke.

They have upped their own brand 2 litres of milk from 1 euro 49 cents to 1 euro 69 cents.

And they want to know why they are loosing Irish customers?
Eh its not hard to figure out Tesco.


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## Protocol

Do they not have another brand at 1.49?

I think it's called Creamfields??

At least in my local store.


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## gianni

It's in my local Tesco aswell. Comes in 3 ltr cartons too.


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## Firefly

We've switched to organic milk in the past year. 99c a litre in Tesco and Aldi. Find it tastes much nicer than the cheapest stuff and in the grand scheme of things only costs a euro or two a week.


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## ajapale

2x3l milk in Dunnes these days for €4.


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## ajapale

ajapale said:


> The best value milk at present is Dunnes €4/6litres *67*c/l (2 x 3l drums). Dunnes milk now has a tricolour on it (whatever that means!).



many  years later and no change!


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