Random Stuff

Freecycle and the yoghurt maker I’ve always wanted

Sunday, January 24th, 2010 | Cooking, Money Saving | No Comments

Ever since I was about 13/14 and my neighbour got BEL yoghurt making machine I’ve always wanted one.  It’s strange really as I don’t have any recollection of the yoghurt being especially nice. I do remember putting lots of sugar in it, so that must have meant it wasn’t all that great but hey it didn’t stop me wanting one!

The BEL

Over the past year or so I found myself hankering after one more and more.. It didn’t have to be a BEL but the whole thing of simplifying and  making things from scratch – knowing what goes into the food you eat made me think about it all the more. So I looked about and the first one really that stood out purely because it was everywhere was the easiyo sold by places like Lakeland ltd, QVC, Julian Graves etc… on the plus side they don’t require electricity but the problem…. well you have to buy these special yoghurt culture packs. I didn’t like that idea.. I want to be able to male my yoghurt as and when without having to go to a special shop to get the special packs. So I looked some more.. and found various other electric yoghurt makers from around £20 upwards.

Thing is, honestly, I couldn’t justify the cost to buy one new.. I mean for years I’ve wanted one, but it could just be all too much effort for not a great result.  I don’t recall that much about the taste it might make me heave.. then I’d be really sick at spending the money!  So I decided to bide my time, keep an eye on ebay, the for sale section of the various forums and… of course freecycle!

Then a belated Christmas present came my way in the form of a freecycle post offering no less that the original BEL yoghurt maker! I was quick with my response and kept my fingers crossed.  To be totally honest on the one hand I really, really wanted to get this but on the other hand it was a fair distance to travel and kinda against ‘MY’ ethos of freecycle.  But… Luck came my way and it was offered to me, I waited a few days to collect to try and justify the journey.. maybe find something to get/do on the way, but in the end it was a dedicated journey just for the yoghurt maker.

The long awaited BEL yoghurt maker…

Nice individual pots

So far since picking it up I’ve made two batches of yoghurt, the first batch I made with Semi-Skimmed UHT milk and a couple of teaspoons of some natural yoghurt I had in the fridge.  Unfortunately I left it on too long, it was supposed to be on for 6 hours and I swear I turned it off before I went to bed but when I came down in the morning it was still on. The yoghurt was still edible in fact it was  absolutely fine just more of a fromage frais style set yoghurt.

The first batch of yoghurt

The second batch I made with Evaporated milk diluted one to one with water and a couple of teaspoons of yoghurt from the previous batch as a starter.  This made an extremely creamy yoghurt which was very nice.. but with 9% fat in the evaporated milk I don’t think I’ll be making it this way again.  I Shall try again with the semi-skimmed UHT milk but make sure I switch it off after 6 hours. I also have some soya milk so will give that a try as well.

Obviously It uses electricity, but with evaporated milk costing 50p a can and UHT costing a little less, it’s a pretty cheap way of getting your yoghurt fill!

Tags: freecycle, yoghurt making, yogurt making

Strawberries! Thank you freecycle

Monday, March 16th, 2009 | Environment, Gardening, Life, Money Saving | No Comments

Tonight on my way home from work I picked up two small carrier bags of strawberry plants that were offered on my local Freecycle… Two small carriers but boy were there lots of strawberries in there!

So in almost darkness I set about splitting and potting them up, several in a large pot and some in singles in small pots. I ran out of compost with still a dozen more to plant.. currently not sure how would be best t o keep them until i can get more compost, I don’t want them drying out and going to waste!

Tags: freecycle, strawberries, Strawberry