Here’s a great tip submitted by Robyn:
I save at least $200 per year by making my own yogurt rather than buying it from the store. A couple of years ago I spent about $30 on a yogurt maker (I have the Euro Cuisine YM-80, that can be found at Amazon.com), so there was some initial investment but it has more than paid for itself.
To make a batch of yogurt, I use 42 oz. of milk and 6 oz. of yogurt (usually saved from the previous batch). It “cooks” for 8 to 10 hours in the yogurt maker, requiring no attention during that time. When it’s done, I have seven 6-oz. jars of yogurt ready to go in the fridge! One jar goes to start the next batch, so from 42 oz. of milk I get 36 oz. of yogurt that we’ll eat.
I buy milk at Sam’s Club for $2.88 (whole) or $2.78 (2%) per gallon, so my cost per jar of yogurt is about $0.28. I used to pay $0.08 per ounce for the yogurt my husband liked, and about $0.11 per oz. for plain whole milk yogurt for the baby. This week, I saw a package of 6-oz. yogurt cups at Sam’s Club for $.07 per ounce, and my $200 calculation is based on that number and the assumption that I make an average of two batches of yogurt per week.
As an added bonus, my family is now eating plain yogurt with no added colors, preservatives, artificial flavors or sweeteners. Everyone loves it plain, or sometimes we add our own flavorings like honey and mashed banana, applesauce and cinnamon, berries, or whatever else we have around. Also, I haven’t tried these myself but the manual mentions that it’s possible to make flavored yogurt and to make yogurt from a number of milk substitutes. -Robyn
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I wish our milk was 2.88 – its been 4.50/gallon lately (for the cheapest store brand)!
I love making my own yogurt – I can’t eat gelatin so homemade is cheaper than buying the good kind at the store. I found a NIB yogurt maker for $2 at the second hand store, but found the individual cups to be a hassle. I use the cooler method instead, but would buy a large container yogurt maker if I could find one cheap enough.
We make our yogurt in 1/2 gallon batches by placing 1/2 gallon of milk on a heating pad set to “low” for 24 hours on our kitchen counter.
After reading this I decided I was going to do it…. so I did! On average we spend $40 a month just in yogurt and with my husband coming home from deployment that is going to go up! I made my first batch and it came out perfect but when I added sweetner and fruit it thinned out. Any suggestions on how to avoid this?
I started making yogurt when I switched to organic milk and couldn’t find an organic yogurt that I liked. I use the method in the Tightwad Gazette books using a heating pad. I buy one small container of good organic yogurt and put into an ice cube tray and freeze. To make yogurt, I use one ‘cube’ of frozen starter per quart. Put the cube in a bowl and let it come to room temp. I bring my milk to temperature in the microwave (no stirring needed), cool until “baby-bottle”warm, then add the culture.Put the filled quart jars on the warm heating pad, cover the jars with my soup pot, wrap everything with a few towels and leave it alone for 8-10 hours. Hands on time is about 45 minutes. Have never had this fail. The learning curve was a bit rough – if the milk is too hot when you add the starter, you won’t get anything. If the starter is too old, the yogurt is really sour.
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