Milk confessions and DIY organic yoghurt

I have an admission to make. One most people gawk at upon hearing, when my hubby puffs his chest cockily and dobs me in to our peers... or anyone who will listen really.

I budget and spend $5 on each 2 litre bottle of milk we consume.

That's right, $2.50 PER LITRE of milk consumed. We go through 20 bottles a month. $100 on milk.
"But why, when you can buy milk for $1/litre?!" says hubby.

I know people who pay $7 for 2 litres of raw milk, for bathing in of course.
No, ours isn't raw milk. We can't find a reliable source of raw milk in our area, our cow is dry and the goats are now dry too. This is the next best option and it just happens to cost $5 for 2 litres.

$1 milk comes from cows fed multiple antibiotics and GM canola feed to improve their milking qualities. We know this, hubby used to work in an animal feed plant and physically made dairy cattle feed himself!
Our milk is organic, it CAN'T contain those antibiotics and GM feed we want to avoid and it just happens to be $5 for 2 litres.
The farmers of these $1 milk cows are given attrociously poor wages for their milk. They can't afford to treat their animals better even if they wanted to! They can barely feed their own families.
The big supermarkets are crapping all over the dairy industry AND I WILL NOT SUPPORT THAT!

I get migraines from conventional milk, Miss 6 reacts behaviourally to conventional homogenised milk and dairy products.
Our milk is the only organic, unhomogenised, farmer friendly, antibiotic and GM free milk that we can get in our town.
THAT is why I budget and pay $5 for 2 litres of milk... and I believe it's worth it.

Of course, our expensive milk doesn't come without sacrafices. We buy half the yoghurt we could eat if allowed to. We also sacrafice other areas of our food shopping, just to gain the best health benefits from our food we can at any given time.
We certainly can't afford to buy organic fruit and veg and I personally think supermarket 'fresh' 'organic' ranges are a crock of male cow manure once you know what they're allowed to do to it once it's off the farm. I prefer to grow my own where possible, thankyou.
We have to sacrafice a lot to afford the good stuff, but with the good stuff one can MAKE those things they sacraficed.

This means FRUGALITY. Take the time to make your own bread, yoghurt, kefirs, cheese, crackers, biscuits, cake and pudding treats.
You can save money, increase your food intake and even your food vitality and nutrients if you dare to grow a few things for yourself.

Today, I am frugalising yoghurt. Let's turn that $5 milk into a $6 saving!
2 litres of milk makes 2 litres/kgs of yoghurt.
$5 for the milk, about 10 minutes actual work and 24 hours time and you have 2 kg's of yoghurt.
2 kg's of organic yoghurt at the local large supermarket is $11. That's your $6 saving for every two tubs of yoghurt. You've essentially doubled your yoghurt for free. All you need to do is save a starter from your last store bought tub of REAL yoghurt, organic or at least plain natural full of cultures and maybe a few of your old sauce jars and lids, enough to hold up to 2 litres of liquid.

So next time you're about to finish that tub of organic or natural yoghurt full of live cultures, grab a bottle of milk instead and save yourself some money.
The health benefits in homemade yoghurt are heaps higher and stronger too.
Have I mentioned you can make cheese from your yoghurt?

I have shared the slow cooker yoghurt recipe on the old page before, but not sure about here on The Homesteading Hippies.
So here is a link with both the slow cooker method and the stovetop method for those who would like to take a hand at the traditional method.