I’ve declared this year to be the year of making as many things as possible from scratch.
From soap, to bacon, to yogurt, and hopefully during winter – cheese. Every fortnight we spend a lot of money on things I could otherwise make cheaply and I’m left wondering why. Why do I do this to myself?
Of course, there are a myriad of reasons. I’m time poor. It’s easy. Making things is hard when your children are small. I’m busy. Etc etc. But really, they’re all excuses.
Since Beth mentioned home made yogurt, I’ve made yogurt, three times. The first time curdled terribly, until I did some troubleshooting and worked out my thermos temps need to be lower – around 65C works best.
Soap is rapidly filling up all my shelves (yay, soap!) and down the track I’d eventually like to try selling some.
Cheese is a no-brainer, really. Cheese: need I say more?
So this is my new thing. I’ll be aiming to write about something new every week, talking about what worked for me and what didn’t.
If you want to read more about my reasoning, there’s an article up at Money Circle about it.
That sounds like a great plan. I’ve been making my bread, and couldn’t believe I’ve been buying sweetened condensed milk all this time when I made that. Too easy! Looking forward to seeing what else you make.
Well done, you! It’s quite easy to make mozzerella but the easiest cheese of all is just putting yoghurt into a sieve lined with cheesecloth, with a weight on top. Leave overnight so the whey drains out and you have a soft, white, spreadable cheese. I’m not sure what we would call it but my Indian friends call it paneer. It just needs salt and maybe a few herbs or your favourite spices.
Hope you didn’t throw that curdled yoghurt away because it would be great in cakes etc. Anyway, brilliantly well done. You’ll have to post on how to make soap!!
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