Hey! Have you entered out Discount School Supply Giveaway! No? What are ya waiting for?
I’ve told you about Parker’s blenderized diet.
And how expensive it is proving to be.
So, I’ve been working on ways to bring the cost down. I can purchase a quart of organic whole milk for about $4.00. But I prefer to offer up yogurt because of it’s probiotic qualities. But a pint of organic whole yogurt runs me about $3.00.
Ouch.
Making a quart of my own yogurt saves $8.00. (Minus the cost of the 1/2 cup of powdered milk I use which I am too tired to figure out right now.)
(Well, except for the one time purchase of a small container of organic whole milk yogurt for my culture. Now that I’ve made a batch of yogurt, I can use THAT for my culture for all future batches.)
The cast of goodness:
1 quart organic whole milk
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
1 small container organic whole milk yogurt with live cultures
Pour your milk into a pan.
Add your 1/2 cup of powdered dry milk. Stir well.
Heat milk on medium high heat until it reaches 180 degrees. You only want to scald the milk, not boil it. You can use a thermometer to know when you have reached 180 degrees, or you can look for the ring of small bubbles that will from around the sides of your pan. ( I used a thermometer.)
When your milk has reached 180 degrees, remove it from the heat. You are going to need to let this cool down to 100 degrees. You can just let this happen by itself, OR you can put it into a sink of cold water.
When your milk has cooled to 100 degrees you will want to add your yogurt culture. My recipe called for 4 ounces of yogurt. But my container was 6 ounces, so I just added all of it.
Stir. Get all the little lumps of yogurt blended in well.
Now you can simply pour your almost yogurt into jars and put those jars into your yogurt maker.
WHAT? You don’t have a YOGURT MAKER?
Yeah. Me neither.
I mean I looked at them. And almost fainted at the cost. Hellllo…..trying to save money here.
But since I am nothing if not cheap, beyond poor, amazingly resourceful, I researched another way. A way that required only what I already had on hand.
I poured my almost yogurt into pint jars. (Here is where I let you know how totally over. the. top. I am with cleanliness when I make yogurt or can. My jars are always clean and HOT from the dishwasher, right then and there when I am engaging in these activities. This is one area where OCD pays off. )
Then I place the 4 pints of almost yogurt into a small cooler that was originally made to hold a 6 pack of soda. You can also use a cheap styrofoam cooler.
I filled up any spaces with clean cup towels.
Closed ‘er up!
Then I added more insulation. This is actually a liner my boys use inside their sleeping bags when they go snow camping. (Snow camping. Can you believe there are actually people who like to camp in the snow? blech.)
I placed the whole kit and kaboodle on the counter, right next to my oven. Cause there is ALWAYS some part of of my oven that is cooking something.
Nine hours later……..(Okay, mine was closer to 12 hours. Shoot me.)
And you have yogurt!
This stuff tastes so good. Much better than store bought. But it won’t be quite as thick as the store bought stuff because companies use things like pectin to thicken theirs up.
There are other ways to make yogurt. If you don’t have a small cooler, you can put your almost yogurt into your oven and use the oven light for a heat source. You can even use a heating pad for your heat source. And your crockpot. So many different ways! Do a search on YouTube and you’ll find all the details.
The idea here is to make due with what you have on hand, rather than spending anywhere from $30.00-$100.00 on a yogurt maker.  Plus, if you are like me, I need to find a place to store one more thing like I need a hole in the head, kwim?
And because I know there are those of you out there that don’t do cow milk, here is a recipe for coconut yogurt.
You can kiss me later.
ps: Macey’s here in Utah is hosting a case lot sale right now. Country Cream non-fat milk is on sale for $8.88 a can. It tastes better than the milk from the LDS cannery. And $8.88 is a great price. I only had the funds to pick up 2 cans, but that’s two cans more than I had before!
Twitter: marriedlife
Jan 11, 10
If I had any motivation right now I might try that coconut yogurt since I love yogurt and can’t have it! However… I think it will have to wait until after we move and have this baby!
My sister-in-law makes yogurt in her crock pot I believe… I don’t know how, but I do have one of those!
wow Tammy you make it sound so easy!! I just might have to give it a try!!
Hi Tammy, here in Australia we have this system: http://www.easiyo.com/instructions/
It’s cheap and really fast and simple to use and you can easily adapt it to make yoghurt from your own ingredients…
I have always wanted to make my own yogurt. I love yogurt but the yogurt you buy at the store is full of sugar and other ingredients that scare me. Plus, now living in Seattle, unfortunately I don’t have a Whole Food near by with Brown Cow yogurt, which I love. Making yogurt seemed like such a daunting task, but you made it look quick and easy. You finally motivated me to give it a try.
I live an hour north of seattle. haggen’s has brown cow. But there are other brands that are better, and even more pricey.
I’m always telling people how Down syndrome is easy—it’s my children’s duelling food issues that will land me in the closet with a bottle of wine and a box of Baker’s Chocolate.
I’m not sure how to make this work, since the corn residue in most dairy bothers Mason…and I’m not sure if he can tolerate coconut…but you’ve inspired me to look into it, since I haven’t yet found a yogurt that Mason can tolerate.
Thanks for the post!
Wow! This is neat – my kids love yogurt too so I will have to try this! Thank you for the idea!!
Twitter: MommaHopeful
Jan 12, 10
You amaze me. Honestly.
You touch my heart…
I used to make home made yogurt all the time. I would pour the yogurt mix into recycled plastic containers, set them into a pan with water, and leave them in the oven overnight on the lowest heat setting. By morning I had custard style yogurt. I experimented with flavors and my favorite was orange-cream, made by mixing powdered orange drink mix into the mix. I think I might try making some again. You have inspired me!
Wow, I am so impressed. I like your blog and has great info on it. I was so envious when you said your oven is always warm.. That would be my families dream come true.
Twitter: therextras
Jan 13, 10
Thanks for the coconut recipe!
Tammy, do you think you could add fresh fruit to this recipe? Or would that make it too watery? Thanks so much for putting this up!! 😀