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frugal cooking, frugal living, Uncategorized

Save Money: Make Your Own Yogurt, It Is Super Simple.

In today’s world of inflation and the Trump tariff taxes times are rough. This is another in my series on how you can save money on groceries by simple actions.

I not exactly sure when I first had yogurt; possibly when I was in late grade school.  I do remember it was the Dannon brand and that it had some syrupy fruit on the bottom that you mixed into the yogurt.  I liked it.

In the 1970s I was doing research on Multiple Sclerosis at the University of Chicago. A fellow researcher made her own yogurt and that intrigued me. I bought a Salton yogurt maker which made 5 cups of yogurt. I used that machine for quite some time, but I lost it in a divorce.

This looks exactly like my original yogurt maker. It was simple to operate and made enough yogurt for five workday lunches.

Yogurt is one of those foods that is better than the sum of its ingredients.  It was likely discovered by accident and can be traced back to Middle Eastern civilizations as long as 10,000 years ago.  That is way before the pyramids. 

Yogurt can stay fresher longer than regular milk, is thicker and creamier, and is loaded with good bacteria that enhance gut health.  Many people who are lactose intolerant can still eat yogurt.  

Yogurt is extremely versatile and can be used in countless savory dishes.  It can also serve as a substitute for other dairy products, such as sour cream.  

The opposite end of savory is sweet, and yogurt shines there, too.  Who doesn’t love frozen yogurt, and most yogurts sold in the store are flavored and sweetened, making them perfect for a snack or for a quick breakfast. 

Yogurt consists of milk that has been inoculated with a specific bacterial culture, usually containing Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. The milk is placed in a warm environment, and 6-8 hours later, you have yogurt.

I like both regular yogurt and Greek-style yogurt.  What is the difference?  Greek-style yogurt is regular yogurt that is strained through a sieve, allowing some of the whey (the liquid) to drain away.  This makes the yogurt thicker and increases its protein content because it is more concentrated. 

You can use a bit of unflavored active culture yogurt from the store as a starter or buy freeze dried starter. You can use any type of milk, but whole milk is preferred for the best results.

Making your own yogurt is not only simple, it will save you money. A four-pack of Oikos yogurt costs $5.79 as off this writing, which yields only 21 ounces total (4 x 5.3 oz).

A gallon of whole milk can be had for as little as $2.65. This will make 128 ounces of regular yogurt or 64-96 ounces of Greek yogurt (depending on the thickness).

It is likely that you have all of the tools needed to make yogurt, but you can certainly up your yogurt making game with dedicated equipment if you wish.

These costs are for unflavored yogurt. There are dozens if not hundreds of ways to flavor yogurt, and none are terribly expensive. I’ll discuss some sweet options later in this post.

Here are the simple steps to make yogurt.  

Ingredients:

Whole Milk

Starter Yogurt culture.

Starter yogurt can be a few spoonfuls of unflavored active culture yogurt from the store, a bit of your last batch of yogurt, or a dedicated commercial yogurt starter powder. Once you are making yogurt regularly you can simply reserve a few tablespoons of your current batch in the fridge to seed your next bath. In that case, the only cost, beyond a few pennies of electricity, is the cost of your milk.

You can inoculate a new yogurt batch with a few spoonfuls of unflavored yogurt (active cultures) from the store, some reserved yogurt from your last batch, or, as in the photo above, some commercial freeze-dried yogurt culture.
Using a clean pot, heat whole milk on medium to medium-low heat until it steams and is 180°F (82°C). Remove from the heat and let cool. I use a kitchen thermometer. Pro tip: Swish and pour out a little water in your pot before adding the milk. This will prevent burning. Also, don’t crank up the heat; go slow. Heating too quickly will burn the milk on the bottom of the pot, and that is a mess to clean up. Heating to 180°F is necessary to kill competing bacteria. In addition, the heat will have a positive effect on the texture of the yogurt.
The milk will form a skin. Remove the skin using a spoon and discard.
Wait until the milk temperature is reduced to approximately 110°F (43°C). If it’s too hot, you will kill the bacteria; if it’s too cold, the culture won’t grow. Add your yogurt culture. In this case, I’m using a commercial culture. If I were using actual yogurt, I would use around two tablespoons per 2 cups. However, this is very flexible. Some recipes use more, while others use less. If you don’t have a kitchen thermometer, you can use the “baby bottle” test. Spoon some milk onto your wrist. It should be very warm but not burning. If that is the case, you are at the right temperature to inoculate.
Thoroughly stir the culture into the warm milk. Now transfer your milk into the vessel(s) that you will use for the yogurt.

Now it is time to incubate the milk to turn it into yogurt. This can be done in a variety of ways. You can placed your your container in a warm draft free spot and cover it with blanket or heavy towel. You can place it in a cooler in a bath of warm water, Both of these methods will require longer incubation times as the heat is not regulated.

Another common method is to use a slow cooker. Heat the milk to boiling then turn off the slow cooker. Wait until the milk is 110F and inoculate with around 1/4 cup of yogurt culture for a gallon of milk. Wrap the slow cooker in a heavy towel and let the mixture incubate for 8-12 hours. Give it a peak at 8 hours to see if it looks like yogurt. Too liquidy? Give it more time.

In general, the longer you incubate the thicker the yogurt. However, it will also be tangier (more sour) the longer you incubate.

There are many appliances that allow the proper temperature for a controlled yogurt environment. Using one of these appliances will give you consistent results.

Many electric pressure cookers have a low-temperature yogurt setting. Additionally, some multi-cookers and sous vide machines also allow for a controlled low setting that can be used to make yogurt. In these cases, try to incubate between 6 and 8 hours. You can always add a bit more time if your milk has not turned to yogurt.
I like using a dedicated yogurt incubator. This little guy makes 1 quart of yogurt and isn’t much bigger than a coffee cup. It was less than $20 on Amazon.
This yogurt incubator can make eight jars of yogurt at a time. You can switch out the jars for 2, 1-quart containers if you prefer. Like the incubator above, it will make yogurt in 6-8 hours. I usually wait 8 hours for the consistency that I like.

After your yogurt has incubated it is important to refrigerate it for at least several hours, preferably overnight. This enhances its favor and thickens the yogurt.

This gives you an idea of what the yogurt will look like after it has been incubated. Remember, you still need to refrigerate the yogurt for maximum flavor.
Greek yogurt is just yogurt with some of the liquid (whey) removed. You can use a sieve over a bowl with a coffee filter in the sieve. Add the yogurt and refrigerate the contraption. When the yogurt is thick enough, remove it to a covered container. I like regular yogurt, but if I want it thicker, I reduce the volume by 25%, which takes a few hours in the fridge. You can use the whey for all sorts of things, from drinks to soup. It is high in protein.
Here is a dedicated gadget to make Greek-style yogurt. It is a bit more convenient than the sieve method. It was very inexpensive and recommended if you always want to turn your regular yogurt into Greek-style yogurt.
Here is some Greek-style yogurt that I made by draining out some of the whey. You can tell that it is thicker.

You can eat your cold yogurt as is, but I prefer adding sweeteners and other add-ons.

Sweeten with honey, or maple syrup, or brown sugar or whatever you like.

Adjust the flavor with a little vanilla or add fruit or granola. The options are limitless. I know of some who actually flavors their yogurt with Crystal Light.

Here I’m flavoring some plain yogurt with leftover cherry pie filling and some nutty trail mix.
Here I added a little vanilla, honey, granola, and some fresh berries.
Last Mother’s Day, we brought my wife breakfast in bed, featuring homemade yogurt. This was plain yogurt with Maple Syrup, strawberries, and granola. The options are limitless.

Making yogurt is super easy and very satisfying. You know exactly what is in it, and you add exactly what you want. To use the example above, the Oikos yogurt is $0.26 an ounce vs. my standard yogurt make from milk at $0.02 an ounce. MY Greek-style homemade yogurt would be $0.03-$0.04 an ounce. The electricity is negligible.

Of course you will incur more cost with your add ons, but home much does a spoon of strawberry jelly or a drizzle of honey cost?

Making yogurt is very easy, inexpensive, and satisfying. The end result is chemical free and tastes fresher than store bought. Making your own yogurt vs. buying it is a no brainer.

Peace,

Mike