Yogurt makers....

LearningToSave.

hello all,
well our family eats a huge amount of yogurts......will it be more economical to buy a yogurt maker and make my own? are they easy to make? idea of cost? and if any of you have them do you have any recommendations as to which one to get?

Curry_Queen

I bought the one from Lakeland which makes a litre of yoghurt at a time, although I have made half this quantity at times with just the same results! Think it cost about £20 but it's already paid for itself in what I've saved from making my own


Here's the link for the yoghurt maker I bought, as they also sell a different type which I think works out very expensive! :eek:

MATH

I make yoghurt using my slo-cooker. I heat UHT milk to blood temp in the micro and then pour into a barely warm crock with sugar, live culture and any flavours like vanilla. Switch the crock onto keep warm for about 30 mins then turn off and leave the crock in the cooker, after a couple of hours I dib my finger in and if it is begining to feel a bit cool I turn back on keep warm for another 30 mins. After five hours I chill and use as required or seive if I want it thicker. It takes a bit more watching than a yoghurt maker but I can make 4 litres of thick , creamy yoghurt at a time so only need to do it twice a week. The yoghurt lasts about a week in the fridge if you can keep people away from it that long. HTH

apprentice_tycoon

The yogurt will cost as much as you want it to - the basic cost is just one pot of yogurt to get you going then UHT milk after that. The expensive bit is what you put with it, you could be quite economical with fresh fruit or go dearer with fruit compotes or frozen blueberries etc.

I have used the electric ones that have little glass pots, wide mouth Thermos flasks and the lakeland bulk one that C_Q mentioned. Out of them all I prefer the lakeland one, I bought this at a boot sale for £2.00 so it was the bargain of the week that week!

Whitefiver

I have bought an Easiyo from Julian Graves (or Lakeland). It works just fine, and appears foolproof. I don't use the Easiyo powder though but full fat UHT milk out of the box, with half a cup of dried skimmed milk powder + a soupspoon of the previous batch. Turns out like thick Greek Yoghurt.

Can do it in a flask too I believe, but I have no experience of that.

Regards,

White.

frosty

A friend gave me her yogurt maker because she had never used it, I have seen them at carboot sales for £1.00,we use stewed apples to flavour our yogurt,we had heaps of windfall apples so we stewed them and store them in jars in the fridge, we have just started on the rhubarb it tastes really nice in yogurt.

carol_a_3

I made it in a food flask years ago and it turned out just fine, had to heat the milk in a pan with a "milk saver" in the bottom first. I'm tempted to get a proper maker now though from Lakeland.

Sweet_Pea_2

I have a youghurt maker like Curry Queens and it makes lovely yoghurt. I use a spoonful of the previous batch yoghurt, UHT milk and a spoon of dried skimmed milk powder. I also use "Crusha" milkshake flavouring as my lot like strawberry flavour yoghurt. (Its tons cheaper than the powder mixes that Lakeland sell) It turns out lovely, and its dead easy too. I was buying the big tubs of Yeo Valley or Muller before and this works out loads cheaper. The kids like it because they dont like yoghurt with bits of fruit in, so you can add fruit or not depending on what you like.

Curry_Queen

What milk powder do you all use?

I was using Marvel until it ran out last week and instead I bought the cheapy Tesco one that comes in a bottle shape plastic carton, but I can't say I'm impressed with it. Marvel usually dissolves on contact with the liquid but this morning I put some yoghurt on to make and when I added the Tesco powder it went all lumpy and took me ages to squish the bits out and get it to dissolve

Whitefiver

Hi Curry,

I use Sainsbury's cheepo (well relatively cheepo, anyway) skimmed milk powder. Works for me, but I do give my easiyo pot a *good* shake to mix it all up.

Regards,

White

larmy16

I bought some of the YeoValley thick Organic greek yoghurt, but when I got it home, I noticed it had no mention of live cultures on the ingredients.

Have you used it before for home made and do you think it will work?

TIA