I noticed when reading the Adventures of an American Girl in Germany that she showed pictures of U.S. gallon milk jugs and said the standard German equivalent is 1-litre tetrapaks of long-life milk (H-Milch).
She may well be right – I would have said the common type is 1-litre tetrapaks of fresh milk.
There also appears to be a difference in frequency of full-fat and low-fat milk. The U.S. gallon jug has 1% fat milk. In Germany I usually see 3.5% or 1.5%. There are even half-litre cartons, and there are also bottles.
Personally I don’t like the taste of heat-treated milk (there’s some new stuff in the refrigerated department that lasts for 2 weeks or so that I haven’t tried), but then I can buy milk next door if I run out. But maybe a lot of people do buy the H-Milch.
In Britain, the system has changed over the years. I most often see one-pint or two-pint plastic jugs that fit in the fridge door (although probably American fridges have bigger doors). Here are two pictures of a British fridge:
I looked on the Net for a milk bottle picture, and I found ‘old-fashioned milk bottle’ next to what I would call a ‘new-style milk bottle’. I can remember two shapes of bottle. There are so many antique milk bottles out there that it’s difficult to find definitive pictures. Many at Milk bottle of the Week. Then there’s a Euromyth that the EU wants to ban the UK glass milk bottle (still the standard if you have milk delivered, I believe).
Here’s a picture of a variety of milks from a dairy.
I haven’t seen the new milk that you mentioned, but then I haven’t been inside a grocery store for a couple weeks and I simply go straight for the H-Milch. But, I’ll definitely look and give it a try if I find it! :)
As for the British milk jugs in the fridge you show – they look like American Quart Milk judges.
Tesco offer pretty much whatever size you want: 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and even 6 pints. There might also be a 3 pints version, not sure. You need a large fridge for the 6 pints version though, the bottle is huge!
Not to forget the metric versions, which either come in jugs or cartons. The largest cartons are 1l only though.
You can also get the 4 pints version into the fridge door, you just have to turn it sideways ;-)
Anna: sorry, it seems rather rude to accuse you of bad taste in milk! I really hate having to keep buying fresh milk myself, although I think the low-fat stuff keeps better than the whole milk. I just thought the whole subject was interesting.
Armin: yes, I shouldn’t forget Tesco. That’s what my brothers do now – order most things from Tesco on the Internet and have them delivered. Mind you, a couple of quart jugs of milk could replace weights.