Monday, 9 November 2015

Confessions of a milk monitor

When I was in primary school we still had free milk - before it was 'snatched' from us. I didn't really have a taste for it so I volunteered to be milk monitor. That way I was responsible for giving it out to the other children and no one would notice that I wasn't drinking it myself. I can only explain my early dislike of milk because I'd seen how it was left out so by the time it came to the classroom it was warm and I really didn't want to drink it. As an adult I continue to have this uneasy relationship with milk and really only have it in tea or porridge. Then I found out a few weeks ago that I am perilously low on Vitamin D that helps the body retain calcium and leads to poor bones, teeth and nails. I had wondered why my nails were peeling and my teeth were so porous and now I know why.

So, my mission was to find ways to increase my intake of vitamin D and to build up my calcium stores. The nice folks at Cravendale asked us to try some of their filtered milk and comment on what we thought of it. I've known about it for years as friend of mine have always bought it, but we'd never tried it before. Despite my own attitudes to milk I've always encouraged everyone else in my family to drink it and we get through a lot.

Breakfast milk

In the morning I put out a variety of cereals for the boys to choose from and they love to pour their own milk. This can get messy, but I try to park my neat freak tendencies so as not to discourage the boys. I try to vary my own breakfast so I will sometimes make porridge for myself using had skimmed milk and half water. When we bought Cravendale and put it out the boys were fascinated by the different bottle and wolfed down the cereal as usual. So far so good. The test for me was if they would notice any difference when it was in a glass as a drink.

After school milk 

Baby Boy still has a bottle when he wakes up and when he goes to bed. I'm trying to encourage him to use a cup now so I give both the boys both a special cup that they like with a biscuit or a cake as an after school treat. Big Boy has to have a bendy straw with his Minions cup and Baby Boy likes his sippy cup. They both loved the fresh taste of Cravendale and I was more than happy that it keeps for a long time and I don't have to keep checking if it is ok for them to drink.

I'm even trying to drink more milk on it's own to break the associations I have with the stuff I had in school. Cravendale is nothing like those small glass bottles. It's fresher, lasts longer and could make me want to join the boys for a glass of milk and a biscuit. Why not - there is plenty to go round.

Lots of milk

 This post is an entry for BritMums #MilkDrinkersMilk Linky Challenge, sponsored by Cravendale linking to the Cravendale Twitter account https://twitter.com/cravendale

2 comments:

  1. You certainly brought back fond memories of free milk at school. Commenting for myself and on behalf of BritMums and thanking you for taking part

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Kate - I don't have such fond memories of it, but hopefully that's all in the past now :)

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