Homemade Yogurt: More Ways to Save for Less Effort

My plan for this summer was to hone my cooking skills and develop some techniques, as well as compile a formidable cookbook that would be a guide throughout a long semester of LSATs and thesis writing and interning. The summer is naturally the best time for students to develop these skills as we don't have the convenience of a dining hall to dissolve our motivation toward homecooking. There are the few who wholly believe that it is cheaper to eat out for every single meal. Now I love to go out to eat, but we, grounded people with perspective, know that our wallets and stomachs are much fuller from $50 of groceries than from $50 of subpar takeout.

An even better way to maximize those $50 of groceries is to learn to make from scratch those items that you spend the most on. One such item for me is yogurt. After seeing how successful people were in making their own yogurt at home, I decided to retry that experiment myself. And the results have been thick, and tangy, and delicious. And effort is minimal, just enough to provide a light study break without an intense time commitment.

Homemade Yogurt

Ingredients
4 Cups Milk
1 1/2 Cup Powdered Milk (optional, lends to a thicker texture)
4 T Yogurt with live active cultures
1 T Sugar (optional, might help the cultures develop)

Method

Heat the 4 cups milk (I like whole, I've used 2%) to 185 degrees, then cool to 110 degrees. Mix in 4 T yogurt with live active cultures and 1 1/2 cups powdered milk and 1 T sugar, then sit in the oven on warm overnight (or anywhere that will maintain a 105-115 degree temperature).

Strain it for 20 minutes or so thicker yogurt, or for 12 hours for yogurt cheese.

4 cups of yogurt, made for about $1.75. Beats $5 for 2 cups if fage total, or even $2.50-$3.00 for 2 cups of Trader Joe's Greek-style yogurt.