Making Changes

Several times now I have posted about the ethics of what I eat -- frozen vs. organic vs. local produce, grass-fed meat vs. cheap meat, etc.  One thing I haven't discussed yet is my yogurt habit.  For a while I was eating three 3/4-cup servings of yogurt every day, and then I went down to two daily servings.  Even though I was buying it in quart-sized containers rather than single-serving containers, I was still producing a lot of trash: 3-4 quart-sized plastic tubs a week!  And it really was trash because the city of Ann Arbor doesn't recycle them (they will only take plastics #1 and #2).  After a while, the guilt of simply throwing out all these containers got to be too much, and I began saving them.  But a person can only use so many quart-sized containers, and my stash was rapidly expanding.  What to do?  One obvious solution is to stop eating yogurt, but I need the calcium.  This week, in her weekly reduction tip, Casaubon challenged her readers to make something instead of buying it.  One of her examples was yogurt, and she linked to a recipe from No Impact Man.  I'm all for making food instead of buying it.  In fact, yogurt is just about the only processed food I still buy, but that recipe just seems overly complicated and time consuming.  So I've decided to try the third best option (after giving it up altogether and making my own): eating less.  I'll switch one of my daily yogurt servings to milk, which is better for three reasons.  First, I can get milk from a local dairy.  No, it isn't organic, but it hasn't traveled far, which I'm coming to see is even more important.  Second, the milk from this dairy is packaged in returnable glass bottles, and reusing is even better than recycling.  Third, milk is cheaper than yogurt.  I'll still be eating one quart of yogurt a week, so I'll still be either making trash or adding to my container collection, but at least I'll be doing it at a much slower rate!

Comments

[Allisone]

I make my own yogurt all the time. I have a really easy recipe and I use my heating pad for the incubation. It isn't complicated (easier than baking bread)- feel free to email me if you want it.

[Elizabeth]

I make yogurt too. It's not complicated at all, and the only thing that's time-consuming is the stirring, but you can read or listen to your iPod while you do that.

[The Purloined Letter]

I love making yogurt in a reusable wide-mouthed mason jar. Isn't it magical to watch it come together?

[Emily]

I had no idea so many people made yogurt -- I think I will have to try it!

[Vicki in Michigan]

I have made yogurt many times, and mean to again.

I use the Whole Earth Catalog recipe, which is no work at all.

Dead easy -- just mix one can evap milk (I use no-fat), 1.5 cups non-fat dry milk, some yogurt with live cultures (I use the last quarter cup or so from the last batch, once I've gotten started, and I begin with 6 oz. Dannon plain non-fat), and enough water to make 1.5 quarts, all in a glass casserole with a lid. (if your glass casserole is 2 quarts, you can raise the amount of dry milk to 2 cups, and the amount of water to get 2 quarts total, and proceed as above)

Heat the oven to 200. TURN OFF THE OVEN just before you put in your casserole full of milky stuff. (if it's winter leave the oven light on for a little warmth)

Leave it for about 12 hours.

It does continue to yogurtize as it cools, so put the whole shebang in the fridge before the yogurt is as firm and tart as you like best. The first batch is ok, but then it gets better and better with succeeding batches. Creamy, and not as tart as commercial.

Mmm. Maybe I'll go home and make some.....