Frugal Friday

I went and did it!  I added yogurt making to my list of new, homemade, money-saving alternatives.  This was super easy, and (actually) a lot of fun...

The ingredients were easy to come-by.  The yogurt and milk I, of course, already had.  I did have to go out and purchase the dry milk.

The "billions of live, active and probiotic cultures" part of the yogurt is of extreme importance, for not only your health, but the making of the yogurt.

I took a shortcut and heated the milk in the microwave until just before boiling.  Actually, mine boiled, should have been a better watcher, but it all ended okay.

I stirred the dry milk in, and kept stirring gently until all of the lumps were gone, then I left the mixture on the counter to cool to luke-warm (about 100 degrees).

I live in Texas, so I didn't need to use a thermometer to check the temperature (even thought it was suggested).  Believe me, I know what 100 degrees feels like, and I've never, not once, described it as luke-warm!  Moving on...

I then stirred in my yogurt starter and plugged everything in to cook for about 6 hours. I chose that time because it's said to produce a less tart yogurt.

The result was, well, yogurt.  I mixed in some pureed fruit and the the kids ate it up!  I haven't done all of my calculations yet, but this could be an extreme money saver for us... much like making my own laundry detergent, dish detergent and cereal bars!