On too much sugar in flavored yogurt

[Firefly]

You could also try kefir as an alternative.  Soooo much easier than making yogurt, but tastes the same (to me, except the consistency is more like drinkable yogurt) and kefir has more probiotics.  All you do is add the kefir "grains" to milk, let them sit for 24 hours (approximately) at room temp, strain, put the grains in new milk... repeat.   I blend the strained kefir with fruit and the kids love it.

[LibraryLover]

Most "nuggets" are the ultimate franken food. Fillers, chemicals, ammonia, salt, flavoring, crazy fat content. Yeah, it is the nuggets. Among lots of other things.

I get what you are saying, of course. It's true. Yet one can make 'nuggets' out of actual chicken, and there is chicken even in a conventional 'nugget'. Margerine was born in a chemical stew. :(. I don't think it's the nuggets. Now soda? i believe conventional soda is as bad as margarine.

 

Although I can't believe I am saying (defending?! lol) the eating of fast food nuggets on occasion is less deadly than a diet with margarine as a staple. But I believe it to be true.

[momto2Cs]

To make Greek-thickness yogurt at home:

 

- buy (or make) a large quantity of plain unflavored normal yogurt

- find a strainer / sieve / colander and a large bowl or pot that it can rest in (or above) without bring terribly tippy

- slightly dampen paper coffee filters and line the colander completely, overlapping as nessisary

- dump the regular yogurt into the lined colander and set the colander (now full of yogurt) on/in its receptacle

- cover the surface of the yogurt with waxed paper or plastic wrap

- find a plate, bowl or lid that is somewhat smaller than the surface area of the yogurt and place it on top of the covered yogurt surface

- put the whole thing in the fridge

- find something in your fridge to use as a weight (I use a jar if relish) and put that on top of the plate

 

Over a few hours, the yogurt will thicken, the plate will drop, and the receptacle will gather liquid (it's 'whey' I think). Pour off (or save) the liquid and check the consistency of the remaining yogurt. End the process whenever you are happy by dumping the semi-solid yogurt out of the colander and gently pulling away the coffee filters and/or scraping gently with a soft rubber spatula. (Try not to tear the coffee filters -- they are strong enough for the process, but need a little care.)

 

You can get this to thicken almost to cream cheese if you wait a while and continually switch to smaller plates.

 

And then you can use the whey to make your own sauerkraut!

 

[LibraryLover]

Advertisers try to create markets..

They do both. It's their JOB to get folks to buy things we never knew we wanted or needed. Sometimes we say no, and sometimes we say yes. Sometimes consumers believe the hype or health benefits because it sounds so plausible.

 

Millions of dollars are spent trying to woo us (and to fudge the truth). It's a full time job to keep up.

 

 

[Tita Gidge]

I don't like yogurt.

 

I love June, though!

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one seeing her true colors shine through that rough exterior :) warts and all!

 

As to food, I grew up growing a lot of our own food. We were organic before it was a(n expensive and trendy) thing.  I grow some food, but not nearly enough to sustain us - merely to supplement.  Still, I like me some McD french fries and HCFS Snickers bars B) 

 

My general life philosophy is equally applicable to my dietary way of life: all things in moderation, don't trust anyone who profits from your choices, and if it's too good to be true it likely is.  To me that means my fries and my organic mangoes may mingle in my gut, I don't believe or trust labeling on any product, and if something tastes good with all sugar and fat removed then it's not good for me.

 

 

[LibraryLover]

It was the entire preparation of that meal that grossed me out. Does she not own silverware? Who scoops margarine out of a tub with their fingers after touching chicken? Licking your fingers and then touching food is disgusting.

There WAS a warning attached to my link. lol :)

 

At any rate, June and her family seem to have built up excellent immune systems. :)

[Catherine]

I was hoping to make it completely by scratch.  That is the part I have trouble with.  They already sell plain Greek yogurt.

 

But thank you!

You just do the process described earlier to thicken the yogurt, on yogurt youve made yourself.  That requires only a thermometer, live-culture yogurt of some kind, and milk.  Youtube has instructional videos-you het the milk to a given temperature (I don't remember what), then cool to a given temp, then add the starter and let 'er rip in a thermous. It takes about 8 hours.   

[Rbsmrter]

Yeah I tried.  It totally flopped.  I think I need a special yogurt maker thing where I can control the temperature.

 

I don't know where to get jumbo buckets of yogurt.  The Greek stuff definitely is pricey, but making yogurt from scratch is definitely not cheaper either. 

 

We love this yogurt maker. I've used it for about two years and it has more than paid for itself. You can either use store bought yogurt or freeze dried starter. I've used both with success, although I'm always very careful about checking the expiration date of the store bought yogurt (the fresher the better). It includes very specific directions for making the yogurt and it also includes a cheesecloth bag if you want to make greek yogurt or yogurt cheese, which is what you get after you strain the yogurt even longer. While it does take some time (biggest time commitment is standing at the stove to heat the milk to 180 degrees), the cost is definitely cheaper. In our area it's about $6.50 for a quart of organic Greek yogurt, while a half gallon of organic milk is around $4.50. At one time I was getting non homogonized, low pasteurized milk, which made it more of a wash, but I felt it was worth it because the quality of the milk was better.

[Rbsmrter]

DP

[Um_2_4]

Ok, I watched...... am I the only one alarmed by the color of her "mashed potatoes"?

[Mekanamom]

We use and love the YoLife yogurt maker. I love it that we can either use the little cups that come with it, or larger mason jars, depending on how much yogurt we want/need at the time.

 

My yogurt is slightly runny because I'm lazy and do not take the time to bring the milk up to a near boil before cooling it down to incubating temp. I just pop about 4 cups of 2% milk in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave again for 1 minute. Add the starter (we use yogourmet) to a small amount of the warm milk to dissolve- dump in to the rest of the warm milk, stir. Pour into the cups/mason jars, put in the YoLife and leave it for 8-12 hours. Easy, works great. We can add whatever we want to flavor it, or use it plain instead of sour cream for some meals, etc. (We actually use a lot of it as an ingredient in home made banana muffins... Found the recipe on allrecipes and it is delish.)

 

We consume all the yogurt we make weekly... The YoLife has earned a permanent spot on the counter since we do use it at least once/week. I probably wouldn't use it as much if I took the time to make it so it would thicken up more, though, lol.

[Zuzu822]

I'm gonna say no, it's not worth the time and aggravation.  It's also not cheaper.

 

 

Ok after really teasing out the price difference, I think one could save money if they ate A LOT of yogurt and made it themselves regularly.  I just would never go through enough of it to save money.

I was going to say the same thing. We are a family of six, and five of us eat yogurt daily. In a few months, the baby will too, so for us making it is a must. 1/2 gallon of organic, whole milk, plain yogurt costs me $3 to make vs. $3.99 for a quart at the grocery store. Plain Greek is $4.99. I use the Yogourmet maker linked up thread (with a glass jar, not plastic!), and I've had it so long it's more than paid for itself. I use a cup of a previous batch as starter.

 

But...there are so many of us eating it for breakfast daily, plus using it for smoothies and cooking that we buy it too. I just haven't been able to get into a twice a week yogurt making habit. :blushing:  My husband gets Chobani or Wegmans brand Greek "cups" for work and the two older boys often eat them too. It took a while to talk me into it knowing that even organic and Greek yogurt has added "stuff."

 

So anyway, we spend minimum $13 a week on yogurt ($10 for a case of the single serves and $3 for my homemade).

[LucyStoner]

They do both. It's their JOB to get folks to buy things we never knew we wanted or needed. Sometimes we say no, and sometimes we say yes. Sometimes consumers believe the hype or health benefits because it sounds so plausible.

 

Millions of dollars are spent trying to woo us (and to fudge the truth). It's a full time job to keep up.

 

Why is junk food so seemingly cheap, but real food so costly?

 

I don't disagree but I don't exonerate the consumers, especially parents, who keep these crap food sellers in business.  

 

Junk food is cheap in part because it sells in such a high volume that huge profits can be made with tiny margins.   Also, cheap (and in some cases government subsidized) franken sugars and fats are readily available at unbelievably low cost to use for these products.  

 

In rough times, many people choose to balance their budgets on their food expenditures.  So whatever is cheapest sells.  Calorie for calorie there is no cheaper food source than corn syrup.  

[LibraryLover]

Now we need chicken nugget recipes. :)

[LucyStoner]

I get what you are saying, of course. It's true. Yet one can make 'nuggets' out of actual chicken, and there is chicken even in a conventional 'nugget'. Margerine was born in a chemical stew. :(. I don't think it's the nuggets. Now soda? i believe conventional soda is as bad as margarine.

 

Although I can't believe I am saying (defending?! lol) the eating of fast food nuggets on occasion is less deadly than a diet with margarine as a staple. But I believe it to be true.

 

My kids get the occasional bagful of nuggets.  So I don't disagree.  But they are pretty bad for you and if eating them everyday then yes, you will most likely gain weight.  Nuggets have the same bad fat as oleo/margarine.  Pair nuggets with fried white potatoes and sugar water, and you have a trifecta of nutritional doom.  Ok for a rare treat, not so ok for a regular dinner solution.  American kids now eat on average of about 1/4 of their meals in cars, from drive throughs.  That's a lot of nugget.  

[LibraryLover]

I don't disagree but I don't exonerate the consumers, especially parents, who keep these crap food sellers in business.  

 

Junk food is cheap in part because it sells in such a high volume that huge profits can be made with tiny margins.   Also, cheap (and in some cases government subsidized) franken sugars and fats are readily available at unbelievably low cost to use for these products.  

 

In rough times, many people choose to balance their budgets on their food expenditures.  So whatever is cheapest sells.  Calorie for calorie there is no cheaper food source than corn syrup.  

 

No argument.

 

The poor are getting poorer, and the number of poor people is growing. And it seems cheap food is an enemy of the poor.

 

I will reiterate what I said in my first post. Nobody asked for HFCS to be put in yogurt or any other food.  The food giants did it because they could, and it made them rich.  The creation of chemical foods is not the fault of the consumer.  It's not consumer fault that millions were spent telling us butter is poison etc

 

Given the power of the food giants, and the poverty of so many people, is it even possible to put that (dangerous cheap 'food') genie back in the bottle?

[LucyStoner]

 

 

I will reiterate what I said in my first post. Nobody asked for HFCS to be put in yogurt or any other food.  The food giants did it because they could, and it made them rich.  The creation of chemical foods is not the fault of the consumer.  

 

 

Yet we live in a country where we accept the idea that government regulation of these things is "bad".  It's not th fault of any one consumer but it is the responsibility of our whole culture. We get the sort of laws and regulations that we demand.  People also vote with their dollars.  If people didn't buy it, it wouldn't be on the shelves.  I don't think a lot of what is in these franken foods should even be legally available but my opinion is clearly the political minority.  Since we reject making these things illegal, we accept that people have the right to choose them.  Plenty of people know the truth about food and choose to ignore or dismiss that information.  Plenty of people choose to eat this way and not just occasionally, every darn day of the week.  I don't think it is ok but that is the situation we live in.  Food addiction, poverty and other issues make it that much more complex.  

[KungFuPanda]

I think yogurt making saves money only if yogurt is a diet staple in your house. I'm the only on here who just eats a bowl of it regularly, but I use it a lot for smoothies and for cooking. I can go through 4-8 cups a week in the summertime.

 

It really only takes me 15 minutes to make it. I bring up the temp on the stove, then cool it quickly by putting my pot in a sink of cold water. I put the yogurt tubs in a medium-sized cooler with jars of hot water. I do this before bed and have yogurt in the morning.

 

If your family only consumes a few pots of yogurt a week, it's probably not worth it to you.