Making your own yoghurt

[Notstrongandstable]

Hope this is the right place, but I'm sure someone will know...
Our local recycling is crap and I'm looking for a way to cut out plastic yoghurt pots going jn the bin.
Had a quick look at an Easiyo and was surprised by how expensive it and the sachets are. £15 for the container thing and the natural sachets would work out about £2.20 per kilo. I frequently splurge £1.57 in Waitrose Duchy thick and creamy natural yoghurt(500ml), sometimes buying cheaper supermarket brands when money is a bit tight. I like full fat thick yoghurt, can't stand the watery fat free stuff.
My question is, do you actually need to buy the sachets as it seems really expensive..I would have expected making your own to be much cheaper??!! Perhaps the taste is superior?
What is anyone's experience of making your own yoghurt?
Really want to reduce plastic waste but can't afford for the food bill to creep up with it all...

[bellinisurge]

It's on my To Do list. I saw a video about it on Prepsteaders - a YouTube channel I watch because the Stepford wife esque host is both sweet and fearsome (if you ignore the religious stuff). If you had a look there you might find a method that suits.

[Knittedfairies]

I've got an instant Pot; one of the add-ons to what is a pressure cooker is the yoghurt button. I put UHT milk in, and a pot of live yoghurt - usually the Yeo in a green pot - then press the yoghurt setting. 8 hours later I have yoghurt; ready to eat if you like it like that, but I strain it for a couple of hours then it's nice and thick. I've just put a batch in the fridge.
(The Instant Pot is not cheap so I wouldn't buy it just for making yoghurt, but I upgraded from a stovetop model - the yoghurt setting is a bonus)

[BollocksToBrexit]

When we made yogurt at school, a long time ago, we just used milk and live yogurt.

[Mustbetimeforachange]

I use my Easiyo pot which I bought years ago, but just with milk & a tablespoon full of yoghurt. just as good is a wide necked flask which is what I had as a student. The yoghurt gets tastier as you use each batch as the starter for the next. You need to warm the milk up. Again when I was a student we used to use sterilised milk or long life - just as good but cheaper & no need to heat the milk beyond blood temperature.

[SuperSange]

I don't understand why you need a machine to do it. I use a pan, a thermometer and 100ml of lobe yogurt. It takes about 20 mins to make two litres of yogurt.

[GregoryPeckingDuck]

The easy sachets are crap. Buy yoghurt starter with desired bacteria strains from a health food shop. You can then use yoghurt itself as a yoghurt starter for four or five rounds of yogurt (any more than that and it will start to taste sour). When you can’t use yoghurt as s starter anymore you start again using the yoghurt starter powder and go through the cycle again.

[GregoryPeckingDuck]

The easyo containers work really well though. Very easy to use and well worth it.

[GregoryPeckingDuck]

Oh and long life milk results in creamier yoghurt ime if you are looking to replicate the duchy flavour

[wizzywig]

Amazon sell yog makers and the cultures

[jojo2305]

I have the Easiyo too but don't use the sachets. It's very simple. Bit of natural yoghurt of choice as starter, a spoon of milk powder well mixed in to thicken and then fill the container with uht milk (am lazy and can't be bothered to heat normal milk myself). Fill Easiyo with boiling water and bung the container in. I make late the night before and leave until the following afternoon. We almost never buy yoghurt because this tastes so nice and is much cheaper. We use the last of each pot as the starter for the next batch.

[Notstrongandstable]

Thanks everyone, some great advice there.
I guess it would be significantly cheaper if just using UHT milk, plus s lot easier. We always seem to be low on fresh milk in our house!
I like the sound of the ease of the easiyo container

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

I buy the Easiyo sachets when they're on special offer e.g. £20 for 12kg worth at Lakeland. Not sure if it's still on but recently you could get a free maker WYS £20 from the Easiyo website.

They are good - reliable, you don't have to mess around with expensive starter culture, and a very long shelf life.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

We've been using one of these for at least 15 years.
www.lakeland.co.uk/3440/Lakeland-Electric-1L-Yogurt-Maker

We sterilise the pot, add a litre of full fat uht and to start a small pot of yeo valley yogurt. A tea cosy over it in the winter and leave it for about 8-10 hours. We then use a few tablespoons to start the next. Eventually it gets less effective and we start again from scratch.

We eat yogurt every day.

[HeronLanyon]

Second jojo’s Advice above. I use easiyo but rarely get sachets just follow broadlynsame steps as above recipe. Makes lovely thick yoghurt.

[MotherWol]

I do what Jojo does - the Easiyo is basically a wide-mouth thermos, so it's handy for keeping it at the right temperature. Works well with fresh milk, UHT or reconstituted dried milk. If you do buy the easiyo starter kit, don't make up the strawberry sachet that comes in the box unless you want to make the plastic tub smell permanently of strawberry flavouring.