Here are three quick and easy ways to save money on your dairy expenses without cutting your usage.
Make your own buttermilk.
You will need some buttermilk to use as a starter. We just buy the smallest sized, most natural buttermilk from the grocery. Pour about 1/4 – 1/2 cup buttermilk into a quart size canning jar (or whatever container you wish to use). Fill the rest of the jar with milk and shake. Now set it on the counter and whenever you go into the kitchen give it a shake.
Let it sit out on the counter for…. well until it starts to glop up like buttermilk and smells nice and buttermilk-y. I have read that it can take up to 24 hours or so, but for me it is usually done within 12.
Store in the refrigerator and be sure to save some to start the next batch.
Make your own yogurt.
You will also need a starter for this. We use Stoneyfield Whole Milk Organic or Dannon All Natural, plain, unflavored yogurt. Set the yogurt in a glass bowl, covered, on the counter so that it can come up to room temperature. (You will need 1.5 T per quart of yogurt.)
I usually make a gallon of yogurt at a time because it will keep nicely for about a month and since we can make it inexpensively we eat yogurt.
Heat however many quarts of milk that you want to make into yogurt to 180F. I use powdered milk to make all of our yogurt (I can’t tell a difference in taste) and when I mix it up I add an extra cup of powder per gallon of milk. Heat slowly to attempt to avoid scorching.
Remove from heat and let cool, stirring occasionally, to about 115F. While the milk is cooling prepare your quart jars. Make sure they are clean and dry, you don’t want any competing bacteria. Yuck!
Turn on your oven light while your milk is still cooling. You want your oven to be warm, but not over 100F. You can use an oven thermometer if you have one. Temps over 100F are OK, but the yogurt will have a sharper flavor.
Once the milk is cooled to 110-115F, pour some into the starter bowl and whisk, blending well. Then pour that mixture back into the pot with the rest of the milk and whisk thoroughly. You want to be sure the starter gets through all of the milk.
Put the jars in the oven. I set mine on a cookie sheet so the don’t tip as easily.
Let them sit in the oven for 4-6 hours. It may set up more quickly, but the best flavor is achieved if you let it incubate for at least 4 hours. The longer the incubation the more tart the flavor.
I have forgotten and left it in the oven over night. It was still fine, but boy was it strong. Not our favorite yogurt. Yikes!
Take your fresh yogurt out of the oven, and refrigerate. Yum!
Use powdered milk in your cooking.
I use powdered milk in my cooking. While my family does not like the taste of powdered milk for drinking, no one can tell the difference in taste when I cook with it. This is an easy way to save money especially if you buy your powdered milk in bulk.
I’m sure that some of you use healthy raw milk and I know that these recipes would be delicious with that, but we just use regular milk (or powdered milk) from the grocery store.
How do you save money on your grocery budget?
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Hey Kimberly, You have inspired me to try more from scratch. This gives me a chance to teach my daughter more too since we will be learning together. I made my own refried black beans today: DEEE-Licious!! I looked up a recipe for english muffins and will try this soon. Do you ever freeze refried beans? Thanks for being an inspiration but I think I have already told you that! :>) LLS
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MomStarr,
I usually freeze the beans after I have cooked them. Then it is simple to just thaw and re-fry or throw into a soup or casserole.
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I’ve often thought about making my own yogurt. I just might have to try this recipe.
My blog has several posts on saving money at the grocery store. Just check my archives for, “What’s Cooking?”
We feed our family of 10 (currently at home) for less than $500 / month. And, this includes a very athletic daddy and two athletic high school sons. So, we have some big eaters.
Blessings,
Laurel
mama of 13
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noel Reply:
October 16th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Laurel, what is your website. i’m trying to get our budget down too! we only have a family of 5, but it just seems so crazy!
thanks,
noel
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Raising Olives Reply:
October 16th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Hi Noel. Laurel’s website is I’m “Ghana” Adopt. Sorry for not letting her speak for herself, but I’m not sure she is subscribed to comments on this post.
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I also use yogurt in place of buttermilk for baking, I don’t really notice any change in flavor.
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I’m glad to see others making homemade yogurt. I don’t heat mine quite as much- as I’m trying to head to all raw yogurt… we get our milk from a local farm who sells raw milk. She makes yogurt there. Hers is raw and “runny”, kind of like drinkable yogurt, not something you could eat from a bowl. Thanks for sharing!
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Raising Olives Reply:
June 26th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Erica,
Would you mind sharing how you prepare your yogurt? We also purchase raw milk and would be interested in knowing how you fix yours.
Blessings,
Kimberly
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I make homemade yogurt too, but I have to be a little more precise with the temps. Otherwise, all the lactose will not get eaten up – and I am VERY lactose intolerant.
Anyway, I use a dehydrator that keeps it at an exact temp, and viola! Perfect yogurt everytime!
~Brenda
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Great idea, but we don’t own any quart jars. Would it matter if I put the batch in a glass pyrex/corningware and then divided into resealable containers once cooled?
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Raising Olives Reply:
September 21st, 2009 at 6:52 am
Nicole,
Using other glass containers would work just as well. Are you talking about the yogurt or buttermilk? The buttermilk would need to be covered, but not the yogurt.
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I will have to give the buttermilk recipe to my husband as he LOVES the stuff. Me? Not so much. LOL BUT I will have to give the yogurt a try. My kids LOVE yogurt and I do to.
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Thanks for posting this information about the buttermilk. I am always going to the store to buy it and I am making some today. My oldest daughter was excited about learning this too.
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I make yogurt too! (I feel like a pioneer at times. LOL)
As far as saving money, BEANS. I like to add beans to dishes instead of meat. I mean, I reduce the amount of meat and use beans for that instead. Beans are cheaper and also very nutritious.
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So I’m new to all of this, so just in the “oh this is interesting” stage – not yet “tried it” stage. My whole family likes yogurt that is commercially flavored. When do you add flavoring? After this process is done, or during one of the steps? Thanks for your help.
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I have finally gotten the hang o making yogurt. lol, I use a machine to keep the temp consistant. I do however add 3 tbs of fresh yogurt instead of 1 1/2, I also add a little extra powdered milk to my milk We like our yogurt thick and creamy.The girls told me this time it was the best I ever made and want me to make more this weekend. Kimberly what do you serve yours with esp in winter when berries are scarce?
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Kimberly @ Raising Olives Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 5:54 am
My kids will actually eat it plain. We also top with granola or crumbled granola bars, fruit preserves or jam, real maple sugar or sugar and a bit of vanilla extract.
I’m having some issues with my comment system. Will you please let me know if you get an email notification of this reply? Thanks!
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My family (Finnish) used to make “yogurt” by putting a tablespoon of starter in a bowl (regular sized cereal bowl), filling bowl with raw milk (cream and all), covering with a cloth (the handy dish towel – clean of course!), putting in a warm sheltered place (kitchen counter) and let it sit until the consistency you like is reached. Determine the consistency by jiggling the bowl. The cream rises to the top and becomes hard if left out too long. Somehow this yogurt is more mellow than any I bought until I tried Brown Cow plain yogurt.
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Kimberly @ Raising Olives Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 8:10 am
What a neat way to make yogurt. Maybe when we start buying raw milk again…
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