Their Milk Comes in Bags
One of the most puzzling aspects of Canadian culture is bagged milk. Bags of milk appear in a few other nations (India, Scandinavia, Poland, Israel, Hungary, Argentina and Uruguay, according to Wikipedia) but Canada is the largest nation where bagged milk is a common sight.
It's one of the few truly Canadian images. Maple leaves, Canada geese and beavers all appear in the United States, but not bagged milk. It's the one iconic Canadian symbol that refuses to cross below the 49th parallel.
And it completely confuses and scares Americans.
Bagged milk is one of the easiest ways to spot a Canadian. If you present a Canadian with a plastic bag filled with white liquid they will say "Oh, a bag of milk." An American presented with the same scenario will tilt their head slightly to the left and blink repeatedly. Bagged milk is a completely bizarre sight to an American. They can't understand it. Some Americans have even been known to run away from bagged milk. It's that powerful.
Apparently bags of milk are more environmentally friendly. They use less plastic and take up less space in landfills. Even if that's true, you have to wonder what was going through the mind of the first person who decided to put a liquid into a bag. It boggles the mind. The two things seemingly do not go together. You don't see bags of juice or bags of vodka do you? Though, I think the vodka bag would probably sell quite well.
There are few things that are more Canadian than bags of milk. Jugs of milk are almost unheard of in the Great White North. A few convenience stores sell them, but real Canadians want to drink their milk from a thin piece of flexible plastic. It's the truly Canadian way.
Perhaps it's the fact that the milk bag more closely resembles a cow's udder. But then again, you don't see Canadians running around and drinking directly out of cows, now do you? No, we save our energy for moose chasing and beaver racing.
It's one of the few truly Canadian images. Maple leaves, Canada geese and beavers all appear in the United States, but not bagged milk. It's the one iconic Canadian symbol that refuses to cross below the 49th parallel.
And it completely confuses and scares Americans.
Bagged milk is one of the easiest ways to spot a Canadian. If you present a Canadian with a plastic bag filled with white liquid they will say "Oh, a bag of milk." An American presented with the same scenario will tilt their head slightly to the left and blink repeatedly. Bagged milk is a completely bizarre sight to an American. They can't understand it. Some Americans have even been known to run away from bagged milk. It's that powerful.
Apparently bags of milk are more environmentally friendly. They use less plastic and take up less space in landfills. Even if that's true, you have to wonder what was going through the mind of the first person who decided to put a liquid into a bag. It boggles the mind. The two things seemingly do not go together. You don't see bags of juice or bags of vodka do you? Though, I think the vodka bag would probably sell quite well.
There are few things that are more Canadian than bags of milk. Jugs of milk are almost unheard of in the Great White North. A few convenience stores sell them, but real Canadians want to drink their milk from a thin piece of flexible plastic. It's the truly Canadian way.
Perhaps it's the fact that the milk bag more closely resembles a cow's udder. But then again, you don't see Canadians running around and drinking directly out of cows, now do you? No, we save our energy for moose chasing and beaver racing.
Posts
I.V. drips are in bags aren't they?
"But then again, you don't see Canadians running around and drinking directly out of cows, now do you?"
Tom Green.
Personnally, I wish I could buy big old jugs of milk. It seems like someone is always leaving just a dribble of milk in the bag because "it's not empty yet so I don't have to change it!" And don't get me started on the snippet which is always getting lost.
I bought some bagged milk today.
The most annoying thing about it is that it's difficult to properly position the bags you aren't using so that they don't fall down in the fridge.
They do create less waste however.
And yes, I forgot about Tom Green. We like to pretend he's not Canadian.
Americans don't have bagged milk? o.O
I remember growing up as a kid and being let to try putting the bag in the milk container and cutting the corner for the first time. Also, who can forget the little individual sized bags they would serve you in public school in your choice of chocolate or white. You'd have a little straw you'd get to push in, it was fun.
As for the storage of unused milk bags, I thought everyone had a narrow shelf for that, most Canadians I know do.
Drink Milk Love Life! ^___^
Vodka does come in bags:
http://www.englishrussia.com/?p=305
The vodka bag is awesome.
I've never had those personal sized milk bags, but I've heard a lot about them.
We used to get milk boxes in public school.
It's true, it's true. We all have a re-usable bag-sized jug to slide the bag into to stop it spilling over, and some of us even have a little corner cutting device on a magnet that sits on the fridge so you don't have to go hunting for scizzors.
Practical. Canadian.
The last time I bought a milk bag holder it came with one of those corner cutting devices with the magnet on the back. I was amazed.
That's such a great invention. It's on my fridge right now.
i guess we phased out bagged milk out west... i remember them when i was a kid but i haven't seen them forever! all we have now is jugs and cartons.
hmm. i wonder, did they ever come in chocolate? chocolate bagged milk!
Chocolate bagged milk would be amazing.
Thanks for reading.
Oh boy howdy do we have bagged chocolate milk. It's very cost prohibitive, but it definitely is available in Ontario grocery stores. The part that is baffling about bagged milk is that we put 4 litres of milk into 3 bags. It just seems so random that we put 1 1/3 litres per bag.
I've never thought about that, but you're right James.
Milk Bags are 1.3 litres, which is actually very strange.
Why are they not one litre each?
Neilson packages chocolate milk in bags. Given how much of it I can drink in a sitting it's a good thing I can get it 4L at a time. There's even a picture of it here:
http://www.neilsondairy.com/en/products_chocmilk.htm
Bottoms up!
I must find these chocolate milk bags.
Thanks for reading!
We were able to buy bagged milk in Michigan. The difficult bit was cutting it on the right angle for the first few uses.
Was quite space-saving when camping, though.
... What?!?!!? In Alberta we don't sell bagged milk... Must be some eastern thing.
I cut the front and back corners of the bag of milk, while my girlfriend cuts just the front. This is a huge debate between us and we would love to hear your thoughts? How do you cut your bag?
I only cut the front.
It works fine that way and it saves having another tiny little piece of plastic fall between my fridge and counter to be lost for eternity.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
We used to cut the front, and the back. Now we just have a spike jug. Drop the bag in, the spike pokes a hole in the bag (as a spike should) and out comes the milk in the jug, and throw away the bag. voila! done in less than 10 secs (most times ;) )
you, are an idiot
I have lived in Canada my whole life, and I have never seen a bag of milk
everyone i know buys jugs of milk....not unheard of at all
learn something why don't you
Hmmm... I guess the bags of milk in my fridge are lying to me then.
Thanks for the warning.
you said, "Jugs of milk are almost unheard of in the Great White North"
if they're so unheard of, then how come that's all i ever see
you are an ASSHOLE for accusing me of lying
^ Good point.
Thanks for reading.
;)
I've got some chocolate bagged milk in my fridge RIGHT NOW, because it was on sale. I ended up seeing this post because I was googling bag milk to see where a post I just wrote, a "tutorial" for Americans, if you will, would come up in the rankings.
Wow. You are kind of an asshole.
Bagged milk is only popular in eastern Canada. But even then, not everyone there drinks bagged milk. Plus it's rare everywhere else.
Statistically, if you were to show bagged milk to a random Canadian, most of the time they'd be confused.
It'd be nice if you'd do some research before posting.
They sell milk in bags in Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota and I think I've seen it in Michigan too.
How do you figure it creates less waste in the landfill? You can either get a .25 deposit for returning the jug or, if you are too lazy to do that, you can recycle the jug. Great article though! As an American living in Canada, I've always hated the bags of milk! It's true. I do run screaming profanities when the stupid thing collapses on itself and spills all over the counter! And yes, I do use the stupid pitcher!
Bag milk was phased out in most parts of the USA because the bags were not recyclable. American kids might not remember bag milk, but there certainly was a period when bag milk was common in the US.
It's kind of odd, but it seems that Canadians think that bag milk is a uniquely Canadian thing.
Actually at one point you could buy juice in a bag but it didn't catch on.
Seems to be a little COTU complex going on here by everybody.
In the seventies there was bagged milk everywhere. Just because you do not have it now does not mean that it was never there.
Just because they still use bags in Ontario does not mean milk bags are "Canadian" (unless you believe that what qualifies something as Canadian).
Whoever it was that said "Statistically...blah, blah, blah...you should do some research next time": just because you say something is "statistically" empirically true does not make it so. The reality defence is no defence at all (kind of like most eastern hockey teams).
Saying "It seems a bit odd, but it seems that Canadians think that bag milk is a uniquely Canadian thing" is ironically self absorbed.
Anybody who has ever used a gallon carton knows why they tried bag milk; anybody who has ever dealt with milk bags open in the fridge knows why they were rejected (not recyclable...yeah right, the land of no deposit no return bottles).
The Centre of the universe is not where YOU live (it's where I live, dummy...)
My brother drinks milk like it's going out of style so we go through like milk so darn much.
I really hate it when people leave empty or near empty bags in the container. x.x
Oh and I remember there actually being juice in bags. They came from Reid's Dairy and they were available in small take anywhere sized packages with a straw you stab it with and also a large one you put in a milk holder thingy. Mmmmm.... It was the best effing juice ever. I miss it.