Author Topic: Expenisve Yogurt Maker Gift  (Read 3553 times)

yogagirl95

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Expenisve Yogurt Maker Gift
« on: December 30, 2013, 09:38:33 AM »
So my family draws names for gifts at Christmas. It is a $50 limit, and I usually put things on my Amazon wish list. Things like smartwool socks, a heart rate monitor strap, etc. This year I also put a $40 yogurt maker with glass jars. Well my mom got a $130 Cuisinart yogurt maker ( no glass jars!!)
Kinda defeats the purpose of me SAVING money by making the yogurt. Plus I really wanted the glass jars ( it has a large plastic bin). I have the receipt but closest locations is 75 miles, she did not buy it at amazon ( would of saved $30) but a kitchen store in a mall. SIGH

Don't know if I should return and get what I want or just deal with it. Like I said it defeats my point, although I did go over slightly my limit when I drew my SIL name, she needed a vacuum and I spent $60 getting it on sale.

Greg

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Re: Expenisve Yogurt Maker Gift
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2013, 10:10:55 AM »
I would return it and get the one you want, and then some.  If it ever comes up mention the importance of the individual glass jars for how you want to use it, health of glass vs. plastic etc.

Find our how long you have to make the return, and then plan some other reasons to go to the mall if you can.

the fixer

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Re: Expenisve Yogurt Maker Gift
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2013, 10:30:07 AM »
I just looked up that unit on Amazon, since I'm looking for easier ways to make yogurt. IMO the most time-consuming part is heating and cooking down the milk, which this unit doesn't help with at all. All it does is incubate. That's not very useful. I would try to plan a trip out to the store's location sometime in the next month or so, and find something else useful to do on the way.

Slightly off-topic, but my method for making yogurt is this:
  • Take two 32-oz yogurt containers and place a dollop of yogurt in each of them. Let them sit out on the counter so the yogurt reaches room temperature by the time you're ready for them.
  • Heat a half gallon of whole milk on the stove. Use as low heat as possible, and keep stirring to prevent a skin forming or the milk scalding on the bottom of the pot.
  • Using a candy thermometer on the side of the pot, wait for the temperature to reach 180-185 degrees F. To keep the heat as low as possible, I start the burner on a lower setting and gradually ramp it up as the milk gets hotter.
  • Turn down the stove a bit to keep the temperature constant, and stir CONSTANTLY for 15 minutes. This makes the yogurt thicker in the end.
  • Turn off the stove and immerse the pot in a larger pot or bowl filled with cold water. Stir occasionally and monitor the "coolant" water temperature as it heats up, dumping and refilling if necessary. Wait until the temperature reaches about 115 degrees.
  • Meanwhile, start preheating the oven to 350 degrees, but after one minute turn the oven off. Keep the oven light on. (when I do this with my oven, it keeps a temperature of about 115 degrees F, depending on how far from the bulb you measure/place the yogurt)
  • Once the milk has reached its target temperature, pour it into the two 32-oz containers, stir it up a bit to mix with the starter, cap, and place in the preheated oven for ~8 hours. Monitor the temperature about once per hour if you can, trying to keep the yogurt at about 105 degrees. If it gets too cool, turn the oven light back on. If it's too hot, turn the light off and possibly crack the door open.
My yogurt has never failed using the above method, even when I leave the oven unattended for a few hours at a time or overnight (when leaving, it's better to let the yogurt get too cool rather than too warm). The only specialty items I use are a candy thermometer, and to monitor the oven I use a cheap infrared heat gun. With some ingenuity you can probably get by with only one of those two thermometers. But as I mentioned, the biggest hassle is all the attention and stirring required to heat and thicken the milk. This week I'm going to try using an electric mixer on its lowest setting to keep the milk "stirred."

Other improvised incubators to try if you don't like using the oven:
  • A cooler heated with jars of hot water. (I tried this at first and found it to be clumsy to regulate temperature. The inside of the cooler also gets very humid and it dissolved the glue holding my candy thermometer together. If you're lazy and don't clean out the cooler when you're done it will grow mold/mildew)
  • Wrap the yogurt containers in a heated blanket. You could even connect this to a timer to get the heating to shut off automatically.
You can get small glass jars by reusing old jam/jelly/peanut butter/coconut oil containers. We get lots of jars this way.

FIence!

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Re: Expenisve Yogurt Maker Gift
« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2013, 11:02:51 AM »
I agree with the others that you should find out what the time limit is to return it, and then find some other reason to go to the mall area. As another poster mentioned, this machine is kinda pointless for your purposes anyway. Do you think you might even be able to get cash back with receipt? If they make you take store credit, you can probably find something much more useful for the amount of money anyway.

I'm really interested in if you plan to express your displeasure (nicely!)/already have, and tell her that the gift defeats the purpose. I am wondering because my MIL is pretty famous for doing this same thing, every year for every gift recipient. No matter what is asked for, and no matter how specific you are about WHY you want a particular item or model, she will always "splurge" to "treat you" to a perceived deluxe model of the same thing. (I once asked for a single sauce pan in a particular color - making it very clear that I wanted to develop a collection of pans that were each a different color -- and she bought me a $500 set of pan sizes I will NEVER use, all in a single color, from an online retailer that did not accept returns after 14 days.) No one has figured out the right thing to say to stop her, or even get it to sink in that she's making no one happy by doing this and is wasting her money.

yogagirl95

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Re: Expenisve Yogurt Maker Gift
« Reply #4 on: January 01, 2014, 05:46:39 PM »
Thankyou for the recipes and directions. It is much appreciated! I have decided to return, I have the receipt and I will just get $ back. I have 60 more days so I should be good, just hate to waste the gas but will try and find other things to do.

MrsPete

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Re: Expenisve Yogurt Maker Gift
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2014, 10:38:43 AM »
A big off topic, but you can make yogurt in a crock pot, which you probably already have. 

 

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