Budget

So I kept seeing the recipes for Yogurt in your Instant Pot, but… I didn’t have everything I needed, and the instructions looked way too complicated, so I never tried it.

Then… I saw one that said I only needed Milk and a yogurt starter (and that meant I could totally use one of the store bought yogurts in my fridge, because it just needs to have live and active cultures). So… I set out to Costco (my grocery store of choice) and was happy to pick up a 2 Gallons box of milk, because the recipe called for a gallon, but… I decided to just do half the recipe.

When we used to buy milk from the Costco in Oxnard, it would last FOREVER. They had 3 of the 1/2 Gallon Cartons in a box and they were Organic Horizon 2%, so we would get 2 or 3 boxes at a time and it would last us for months. When we moved to Visalia, they only sold a box of 2 Gallons in it, and it wasn’t Horizon, and they actually just switched Producers in the last few weeks, and it would be expiring in like a week. My kids don’t drink milk nearly as fast as they used to, and when the best buy date is like tomorrow, and we still have a spare gallon in the outside fridge, we have to buy a huge box of cereal, so my hubby can have cereal with milk for every meal, so we don’t have to throw milk away.

So, I was very excited to try the recipe so we could use half of the first gallon of milk on yogurt, and I wouldn’t have to also buy yogurt, or smoothies… I was thinking ahead. Plus, the Producers milk would be good for like 2 weeks from the date I purchased, it so I was also happy I’d have a little extra time if I didn’t get to making my yogurt right away.

So, I decided to make it on a Friday, completely forgetting we would be having an Ohm Hour that evening…

Here’s the recipe, then I’ll tell you my experience after…

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gallon of milk (I used whole milk, but you can use whichever milk you prefer) Just a tip, 1/2 gallon is actually 8 cups
• Yogurt starter, I used 1/8 cup of a storebought yogurt with live and active cultures, or you could use 1/8 cup from a previous batch you made at home

Instructions

1. Sterilize your Instant Pot (IP) by adding 2 cups of water to your IP, make sure the steam release handle is closed, press the steam button, then set the timer for 1 minute. After a few minutes, your IP will come to pressure and will steam the water for one minute. After it beeps, do a quick release (I put a towel over my release handle and twist it open so the steam can escape into the towel and not get water everywhere). After all the steam is out, open the lid and dump the water out.
2. Pour your half gallon (8 cups) of milk into your IP. Turn the steam release handle to sealed. Press the Yogurt button, then press the Adjust button until the displays says “boil.” The IP will now boil your milk. This will take around 45 minutes, but may take a little shorter or longer., depending on how long it takes to build pressure. After the milk has boiled, your IP will beep and the display will read “yogt.”
3. This next step is the step that requires the most attention. After the display reads “yogt”, you need to remove the metal pot from your IP and set it on the counter, with a liquid thermometer inside so that you can see when it cools to 110 degrees F. You can speed up the cooling process by adding ice packs around the pot, and stirring your milk, but I just let it sit for an hour and it was slightly over 110 degrees so I checked 10 minutes later and it was ready.
4. Once your milk has cooled to about 110 degrees, you can add your yogurt starter. Slowly add your yogurt starter as you are continuously stirring, so that your starter is mixed evenly throughout your milk.
5. After it’s all mixed up, put your metal pot back into your IP and put the lid back on. Press the yogurt button again, then press the adjust button until it displays a number. This number is the number of hours that your yogurt will culture. You can use the “+” and “-” buttons to adjust how long you want your yogurt to culture. I planned to let mine go for 8 hours since we aren’t lactose intolerant, but you should let it culture for around 24 hours if you do have lactose issues.
6. After you’ve selected the number of hours, your IP will beep and then display 0:00 as that is how long it as been culturing. This timer counts up, so you’ll see how many minutes or hours it has been culturing.
7. When your yogurt is done culturing, your IP will beep a final time and then display “yogt.” You can now transfer your yogurt to your preferred storage containers. I put mine in meal prep containers. Store your finished yogurt in the fridge. It should keep for several weeks.

So… that’s how it should be done…. this is actually how my version looked…

I sterilized my IP, added my milk,

set my milk to boil

and walked away. I came back around an hour later and it was ready for the next step. I pulled the pot out, put in the thermometer, which actually happened to be my mother-in-loves, and I’ve only ever used it when trying to make her English Toffee… which reminds me, we should try to make it this year, and as I was trying to lean it against the side of the pot, it fell in….

so I scooped it out with a spaghetti spoon… I did get it hooked to the side,

then covered the pot with a towel while I went outside with the kids to play.

After an hour, I checked on it, and it was still a little warm, so I had Alexa set another timer for 10 more minutes. After she alerted me that my 10 minutes was up, I left the kids playing on the trampoline, listening to Grim Grinning Ghosts and ran in to get my yogurt to add to my boiled milk. I used a whisk to make sure my yogurt was completely mixed in (I used blueberry, I thought it was just plain yogurt on top, since the fruit was on the bottom, but the yogurt did come out a little blue.. oh well), then I set my IP for 8 hours. I was 5 hours later that I realized we had an Ohm hour starting in 10 minutes.

I didn’t know if I should stop the IP, and potentially ruin my first batch of yogurt, or let it run, and potentially risk my ohm hour streak… so I let the Yogurt keep culturing. I still don’t know if we ruined our streak, but we would have just been completing our 3rd hour in a row since I ruined the streak a few weeks ago when I didn’t realized our Eco mode on our Nest thermostat upstairs was set wrong…. oops! Before bed, I decided to check on the yogurt, it did look pretty creamy, but as I was scooping it into meal prep containers, it was still kinda watery…. So I did what I thought I should do… stirred it up and set it to culture overnight.

In the morning it was still looking like a hot mess, just like it did when I left it the night before. I scooped it into containers anyway and stuck it in the fridge. A couple hours later when I shook the container, it was firm. So, definitely not as watery as it was in the warm pot, but the consistency still looks a little off.

I did, however, ask the kids if they wanted to try a smoothie. I usually buy them the little drink smoothies, that they love, but this time I got to make it myself, so I knew exactly what was it in, and they LOVED them! I added some of my chunky yogurt… a whole banana (that I broke into pieces), a big strawberry, a little milk, and a couple drops of strawberry stevia, then I used my immersion blender to get it into the smoothie texture that they are used to. I poured it into little Tupperware Snack cups, that I had no idea actually could use sippee top lids on them, and gave them to the kids. They all asked for seconds, so I had to make another batch.

I can definitely get used to making my own yogurt, and getting to make whichever flavors we want by adding our own fruit or ingredients. I may mix up some honey in it tomorrow for them.

Next time, I’ll start earlier, and definitely not during an ohm hour day.