Ditmas Park/ Midwood/ Flatbush

The nutso organic milk prices in one Brooklyn neighborhood

I have kids. They drink organic milk. It’s expensive, but I’d rather not have my 8-year-old son sprout breasts prematurely. In bad brokester fashion, I never paid that much attention to the prices until I noticed that the closest supermarket is charging $6.29 for a half gallon of Stonyfield Organic. (I’m talkinboutyou, C-Town at East 16th Street and Newkirk). Eesh! How rampant is this organic milk price-gouging? As an exercise, I checked every store in a five-block radius from Cortelyou and Marlborough. Here are the results:

CHEAPEST:
Key Food (Foster and East 13th Street)*
Horizon: 4.99
Organic Valley: $3.99 (normally $4.99)

CHEAPEST: 
Met Foods (Cortelyou and East 17th)
Stonyfield $3.99 (norm. $4.99)
Horizon: $4.99 / $5.49 with dha
Organic Valley: $4.99

Superior Deli (Cortelyou and Rugby)
Amish Country Farms Organic: $5

That little Asian Grocery next to the Cortelyou Q stop
Stonyfield or Horizon: $4.99

Flatbush Food Coop
Stonyfield / Organic Valley / Natural by Nature: $4.99

MOST EXPENSIVE:
C-Town (Eat 16th and Newkirk)
Stonyfield: $6.29
Horizon: $5.99

SECOND MOST EXPENSIVE:
C-Town (Cortelyou and Coney Island Avenue)
Horizon: $5.59 / $5.99 
Stonyfield: $5.99 
Organic Valley: $5.59

So there you have it, milkists. The going rate for organic milk is $4.99, and the two local C-Towns in my neighborhood charge the most and second most for organic milk, more than all the other supermarkets, more than convenience stores and more than the Flatbush Food Coop, which is hardly known for its bargain prices. Key Foods and Met Foods came in cheapest, owing to a sale on organic milk ($3.99), the same price as Target last week (not on this list). The obvious question is this: is C-Town the root of all food price evil, or are their Ditmas Park milk prices a fluke? More to come…

*Please note that this is possibly the worst-smelling store in the Western Hemisphere. 

9 Comments

  1. Costco has three (3!) half-gallon cartons of 1% organic for $10. And it has a long “best-before” date. That’s far cheaper than PSFC. Meanwhile, the big Chinese grocery store on the corner of 60th and 8th Ave in Sunset Park often has the Amish organic milk for $3.79.

  2. Marlena

    For the record, the Key Food on Foster only had Organic Valley for 3.99 because it was on sale last week, which rarely happens. If you have a car, Fairway has really good organic milk prices. So does Fresh Direct.

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