I know, I’m beating this dead horse mercilessly. Since one of the goals of this blog is to give tips on how to be healthy on the cheap, I thought I’d show you how to make your own Greek style yogurt for half of what you spend on the little 5.3 ounce cups. It’s really easy and requires little culinary skill.
You will need:
A fine mesh strainer
coffee filters
a bowl
a big ol’ container of your favorite yogurt
a rubber spatula
Step 1: Set the strainer over the bowl and line with a coffee filter
Step 2: Scrape the yogurt into the filter and place the whole thing in the fridge.
Step 3: After about 15 minutes lift up the strainer. See all that liquid? That’s the whey from the yogurt, the stuff you are straining out to get the yogurt all thick and Greeky. Dump the whey out of the bowl, place the strainer back on the bowl, and gently stir the yogurt with a rubber spatula, careful not to rip the coffee filter. Put back in the fridge for another 15-30 minutes.
Step 4: Repeat the whey dumping process a few times until it gets to the consistency you like. It usually takes me about 4 times. Once it’s thick enough the yogurt will pretty much just slide off the filter into whatever storage container you choose. I then divide the yogurt up into these cute half cup tupperware containers, et voila! I have my own super cheap stash of 4 single serving portions of Greek yogurt. My favorite every day yogurt is Stonyfield Farms Organic lowfat vanilla flavor. It’s neither overly tangy nor saccharine sweet and you can get a 32 ounce bucket of it for about $3. If you divvy it up into four servings then you’ve just saved about 3 bucks, and you don’t create all the waste from the little cups of single serving yogurt. Bonus to the earth.
It does take a little more time and some planning ahead, but it tastes just like the more expensive single serving Greek style yogurts, at least to me it does. Plus you can add your own mix-ins like local honey or fresh fruit. Try it and let me know if you like it in the comments.
I’ve been eating yogurt for the past few days since reading your series on the good stuff. I have been wanting to try Greek but haven’t yet. I’ll try this suggestion with the few containers I have at home since I don’t like it all watery either.
Thanks!!
You can also use a cheese cloth or even a pillow case to strain the yogurt.
Another tip: add a bit of salt to plain yogurt and REALLY strain it to make a light cream “cheese” spread for pita bread. Eat it with sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and sprinkled zaatar. I promise you’ll love it!
I have just discovered Greek Yogurt and love the thickness of it. I am definitely going to try your recipe to save some money. Thanks for the informative article.