Dairy to Doorstep: Milk Delivery for the 21st Century

I love milk. From an ice cold glass to stinky cheese to fresh whipped cream, you name a form of dairy and I’ll drool. So the idea of a milkman tiptoeing up to my doorstep to deliver my daily dairy is delightful… and not as rare as one may think. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 1963 29.7% of milk distribution was home delivery (as opposed to store bought), but by 2005 this sank to a mere 0.4%. Your doorstep can welcome you home with a bounty of milk (and/or groceries) after a long day (or for stay-at-home parents or professionals you can avoid the madness of a crowded grocery store).

Now, let’s talk ecology for a moment… The cherry on top is that in dairy delivery instances the bottles are rinsed then put out for the milkman to collect and reuse, saving the planet from single-use milk containers. Not to mention the fact that instead of trucks taking the milk to a store then everyone in your neighborhood driving separately to get milk at the store, it is one truck taking it directly from the farm to your neighborhood during non-peak driving times (less idling in traffic). If you think I’m making this up, read the Popular Science article by Francie Diep from April 2013. It doesn’t hurt either that it prevents the temptation of the junk food aisle!

Further Reading:

Connecticut Studies Milk Delivery by Bressler, Jr. and MacLeod from The Journal of Marketing, Vol. 12, No. 2 (October 1947), pp. 211-219

Home Milk Delivery: Can It Save You Money? by Bree Coven Brown from Seattle Times (August 26, 2012)

Grocery Delivery Good for Environment | Popular Science

Got Milk? Yes, At My Doorstep by Shivani Vora from The Wall Street Journal (October 29, 2009)

From Cow to Kitchen: An Overview of Milk Delivery in New Hampshire, a PowerPoint that is sure to make you want milk, cookies, and an episode of The Donna Reed Show.

Home milk delivery is an eco-friendly option :: Creamline

The Environmental, Social and Economic Impacts Associated – Gov.uk

Resource and Environmental Profile Analysis of Polyethylene Milk Containers, Conclusions were reached regarding the total energy and environmentalimpacts for equivalent delivery of 1,000 gallons of milk in high- density.

Milk delivery photos on Flickr

If you share this, please credit/link back to me please: http://evinok.com/?p=4668

I compiled the following list of dairies and dairy-affiliated service businesses (including organic farmers and grocers) that offer doorstep milk delivery. It is divided by country (United States, Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, and the rest of the world) and region (U.S. – Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific) and within region listed alphabetically.

CLICK ON THE DAIRY OR BUSINESS NAME TO VISIT THEIR WEBSITE (IF AVAILABLE).

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United States – Eastern 
Includes: CT, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, MA, MD, MI, MN,
MO, NC, NJ, NY, PA, RI, TN, VA, WI.

Battenkill Valley Creamery (Salem, NY)

Berkshire Organics Delivery (The Bershires, Massachusetts)

Bey Lea Dairy (Ocean County, NJ and surrounding area)

Calder Dairy & Farm (Michigan counties: Monroe, Wayne, Washtenaw, and southern Oakland)

Crescent Ridge Dairy (Massachusetts)

Dean Foods (Tennessee)

Ehrler’s Micro Dairy (Louisville, Kentucky)

Farm to Home Milk (Asheville, NC – 28801, 28802, 28803, 28804, 28805, 28806, 28715, 28787)

Fitzy the Milkman (Area around Marlton, NJ)

Gibson Brothers Dairy (Massachusetts)

Green Market Dairy (New Jersey)

Gumaer Farms Dairy (Stuyvesant Falls, NY) –photo by SuperDewa via Flickr of a Gumaer Farms truck

H.P. Hood & Sons (New England)

Hey Milkman! (Baltimore, Maryland)

Hornstra’s Farm Dairy (Massachusetts)

The Hudson Milk Company (New York counties: Westchester, Putnam & Fairfield)

Jackson Dairy Farm (North Carolina)

Lakeview Farms (Charlotte, North Carolina Area)

Long Valley Dairy (New Jersey counties: Warren, Hunterdon, Sussex, Somerset, Morris)

Manhattan Milk (Manhattan, New York City)

Maple Farm Dairy (Massachusetts)

Mapleline Farm (Pioneer Valley, Massachusetts)

Marcus Dairy (Connecticut)

Mountain Dairy (Eastern Connecticut)

Munroe Dairy (Rhode Island and Massachusetts)

Oberweis (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin)

Organic Milk Corp. (Northern NJ)

Pea Pod (Regions of: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Chicago, Wisconsin)

Puleo’s Dairy (Massachusetts)

Purity Dairies (Davidson County, Tennessee)

Ritchey’s Dairy (Pennsylvania towns within Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Huntingdon, and Fulton counties)

Schuller’s Dairy (Orange County, NY) – their order sheet

South Mountain Creamery (Maryland and Virginia as well as some areas of the District of Columbia) – click here for an external blog post about this place

Starlight Dairy (Yorktown Heights, NY)

Stillman Dairy Farm (Lunenburg, Massachusetts)

Triangle Groceries 2 Go (North Carolina Counties: Wake, Durham, Orange, and Chatham)

Thatcher Farms (Milton, Massachusetts)

Vale Wood Farms (Around Loretto, Pennsylvania)
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United States – Central
Includes: IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, NE, WI

Dahl’s Sunrise Dairy (Minnesota)

Dairyland’s Best (Wisconsin)

LW Dairy (Milkwaukee and Madison areas – Wisconsin)

MariGold Dairies (Wisconsin)

Milk 2 You (Omaha, Nebraska)

Oberweis (Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin)

Pea Pod (Regions of: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Chicago, Wisconsin)

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United States – Mountain
Includes: CO, ID, NM, NV, TX, UT

Andy’s Farm (New Mexico)

Boise Milk (Idaho Falls, Idaho)

Longmont Dairy Farm (Denver area – Colorado)

Morning Fresh Dairy Farm (Colorado)

Reed’s Dairy (Idaho)

Rosehill Dairy Home Delivery (Utah)

Royal Crest Dairy (Colorado Front Range)

Texas Daily Harvest (Northeast TX)

Whole Foods Delivery (Las Vegas and Utah)

Winder Farms (Utah and Las Vegas, perhaps beyond)

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United States – Pacific (incl. Alaska & Hawaii)
Includes: CA, NV, UT, WA

Alta Dena Dairy (Southern California)

Berkeley food delivery

Eat24hours.com

Hollandia Dairy (San Diego County, Southern Orange County, and portions of Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Bernadino Counties)

Holy Cow Milk (Bakersfield, California)

The Milkman (San Francisco Bay Area) – no website found

Model Dairy Morning Star Milk (Reno, Nevada)

Rockview Family Farms (Southern California)

Smith Brothers Farms (Seattle and Tacoma Washington)

spud! (Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles)

Winder Farms (Utah and Nevada, perhaps beyond)
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United States – Nationwide

Amazon.com Groceries* (nationwide)

Diamond Organics* (nationwide)

Leonard Mountain* (nationwide)

Neal’s Yard Dairy* (worldwide cheese delivery)

NetGrocer.com* (nationwide)

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Canada

Farmers Dairy (select areas of the HRM and outside communities)

Green Earth Organics (Toronto)

Grocery Gateway (Toronto)

Ladybug Organics (Lower Mainland Vancouver Area)

Organics@Home (Vancouver Area)

Share Organics (Greater Victoria, British Columbia)

spud! (Mainland British Columbia, Greater Victoria, Vancouver Island, Calgary)

Tama Organic Life (Vancouver Area)

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Republic of Ireland

Absolutely Organic (Dublin area)

Eamon Reilly, Jr. (Kells, Co. Meath)

Glen Dairies (Limerick, Clare, Tipperary and throughout North Munster)

O’Sullivan MI on Casement Street (Clonakilty, Co. Cork)

Paul Madden (Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary)

Tony Kehoe Morning Fresk Milk (Bannow, Co. Wexford)

Vincent Browne Milk Distributor (Kilbride, Co. Wicklow)

Wexford Creamery (County Wexford)
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United Kingdom

Abel & Cole (London)

Blackmount Organics* (Lanarkshire)

Dairy Crest (England)

Dairy Farmers of Britain (England and Wales)

Dale Farm (Northern Ireland)

Damhead Organic Farm & Shop (Edinburgh)

Deliver Milk (Great Britain)

Doorstep Deliveries (Great Britain)

Earth Natural Foods (London: NW1, NW3, NW5, N7, N19)

Find Me A Milkman (United Kingdom)

Forman & Field (UK Mainland, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Scottish Isles, Channel Islands, Republic of Ireland)

Grass Roots Organic (Glasgow)

Grow Wild (Edinburgh, West Lothian, Central region, Glasgow)

King’s Road Dairy (London’s Chelsea, Belgravia, and surrounding areas)

Local Food Shop (United Kingdom connection to UK local farms)

Lucy’s Dairy at Folly Farm (Charfield, Wickwar, Kingswood, Chipping Sodbury, and Wotton Under Edge in Gloucester, England)

Maison Plasse* (United Kingdom)

Milk and More (United Kingdom)

Milkman Locator (Northern Ireland)

Mollinsburn Organics (Lanaskrshire)

Natoora (London)

Neal’s Yard Dairy* (London-based, worldwide delivery)

Organics Ltd. (London)

The Organic Delivery Company (London)

The Organic Pantry (South Wales)

The Pure Package* (London)

Riverford Organic Dairy (Devon)

Somerset Local Food Direct (Somerset County, England)

Stair Organic Growers (Southwest Scotland, incl. Glasgow)

Trafford Park Dairy (Manchester)

Uber Organic (North London)

The Whole Shebang (Scottish central belt and lowlands)

Woodfield Organics (West London)

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The Rest of the World

Aussie Farmers Direct (Australia)

Biolà (Rome, Italy)

Captain Cook Convenience Shop (Sydney, Australia)

Farm Milk Co. Ltd. (Hong Kong)

Helekang (Shanghai)

Meiji (Japan)

Verka (India)

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* May not offer fresh milk (either because they focus on groceries/convenience foods or because items are shipped to your home not couriered).

Note: I scour the Internet and asked around to try to make this as complete as possible, but as they tend to be community-based businesses and not known about outside their county or state, this list is likely incomplete. As I discover more, I add them. Please let me know of any dairy delivery service not on this list so they too may be added. My compilation of this list in no way endorses any of these businesses or their products, so if you don’t like their milk, don’t blame me. 

Yes, it took a bit of time and effort to create this list not to mention the maintenance, but it’s worth it to bring you the bliss of local milk delivery. But if you really REALLY want to thank me, I have an Amazon.co.uk Wish List and an Etsy wish list. Or you can buy my son a present from LB’s Amazon wish list. Or you can comment on this post with lovely words! No matter what, be sure to follow me on Twitter and Facebook for all the latest tasty updates.

Not interested in farm fresh milk? For the most part, my list is focused on dairy delivery, though a few general grocery services are listed and some dairies also deliver non-milk food items. For grocery-focused delivery only, consult Sean P. Aune’s list of 50+ Places to Buy Groceries Online.

Photo by Lilyana Vynogradova