Kitchen Experiment #3: Homemade Yogurt

Did you know you can make your own yogurt?

Before I started reading The Frugal Girl's blog, I had no idea that people made their own yogurt. The thought just didn't occur to me. Growing up, my mom always bought the store bought stuff--the single serving flavored variety. Though my taste for yogurt has varied over the years, I've always loved smoothies. In the past year, I've made around 3-4 yogurt smoothies per week, meaning I required 3-4 single serving yogurts per week.

All of those little yogurt containers add up to be more than you'd think. Each serving is 6 ounces and costs about $0.65. The single servings cost about 10.8 cents per ounce. On the other hand, homemade yogurt costs about 2.7 cents per ounce. A gallon of homemade yogurt is about $3.49. An equivalent amount of single serving yoplait would cost about $13.87. Since I eat so much yogurt, I could certainly save a lot of money by making my own!

The reason it is so much cheaper is because yogurt is essentially fermented milk. All you need is one gallon of whole milk to make one gallon of yogurt. Initially you need a starter of active cultures (one cup of unopened store bought yogurt), but once you make this initial investment, you can use your homemade milk as a starter.

We bought a quart of plain Dannon to use as a starter. It cost about $2.50, or $10 per gallon. While cheaper than single servings, homemade is much cheaper still.

I didn't think the homemade yogurt was too difficult to make. I followed this recipe from The Frugal Girl. She uses photography to illustrate her recipes, which I found extremely helpful.

I only made 3 quarts worth because I was worried we wouldn't be able to finish all four (plus the dannon we had bought) in one month. 

Boy, was I wrong. I absolutely love the homemade stuff--it is richer, creamier, and more healthy than the kind you get at the store. I feel good when I eat it because I know there are no artificial colors, sweeteners, or any other additives. Just milk.

Do you have any suggestions for my next kitchen experiment? I don't think I'll be making crackers like I planned (we have a surplus right now) and I'd love some more ideas! Leave a comment below!