Bag or carton? We compared milk prices to see which saves Canadians more money

Earlier this week, some grocery industry experts predicted that the end of bagged milk sales in Canada could be near, and shoppers were shaken.

“Don’t be surprised if you stop seeing bagged milk at the grocery store a few years from now…These are mostly sold in Ontario, Quebec, and in the Atlantic Region,” wrote Sylvain Charlebois, director of the agri-food analytics lab at Dalhousie University, on X.

“Demand for large milk formats is declining due to smaller families, increased variety, and the availability of dairy alternatives.”

Charlebois referenced a recent La Presse report detailing why milk bags are losing their appeal among Canadians.

Canadians flooded Daily Hive’s initial report on the impending expiration of bagged milk with concerns that it’s an excuse for grocers to price gouge.

“Great, so they’ll get rid of bags, and those of us with families that drink a lot of milk will get gouged at the check-out,” reads one comment.

“Currently, 2-litre cartons are almost the same price as 4-litre bags. Will their price go down? Not likely. When do prices ever drop significantly? It sounds like an excuse for price gouging to me,” added another.

But does it really save shoppers more than buying milk cartons?

Daily Hive compared the prices at three major grocers to see where Canadians can save more.

Loblaws bagged milk vs. milk carton

Loblaws

Neilson Partly Skimmed 2% costs $5.89 for 4L of bagged milk, while the same carton version of the brand is already $5.19 for just 2L. If milk in bags is phased out, it will cost bigger families almost double to buy two cartons of milk.

Walmart bagged milk vs. milk carton

Walmart

Sealtest Partly Skimmed 2% costs $5.89 for 4L of bagged milk. It costs $5.18 for 2L in carton format, doubling its price for bigger families, similar to Loblaws.

Food Basics chocolate bagged milk vs. milk carton

Food Basics

For chocolate milk lovers, Beatrice 1% chocolate milk costs $6.49 for 3L bagged, while the same carton version costs $4.99 for 2L. If bags were to disappear, there would not be as big of a price discrepancy.

It’s important to note that these comparisons do not include the price of milk in jugs or bottles, as we couldn’t find those sold at these stores.

Overall, it’s clear that consumers who need milk in bulk will have to pay almost double if milk bags disappear.

You do get more bang for your buck when 4L of bagged milk costs similar to 2L of carton milk. However, if you’re just one person, carton milk might be the way to go to prevent all of that dairy from spoiling.

A Canadian staple

Bagged milk is a uniquely Canadian item readily available in eastern parts of the country, like Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime provinces.

According to Canadian Dairy distributor DairyCentral, milk bags were first introduced in the 1960s, and Canada converted to the metric system about 10 years later. This meant dairy producers had to replace and resize milk containers previously sold in imperial quarts.

“Changing a one-quart bag to a 1.3-litre bag was relatively seamless, so the three-quart bags of milk quickly became four-litre bags across parts of Canada once the metric system was fully implemented,” noted DairyCentral.