My spouse was gifted a spool of food-grade PLA for her 3D printer from a vendor. She doesn't need it for her business, so we've been playing around with it. First up was a tofu press, because who wants precariously balanced cans and plates on the counter?
One thing lead to another and now I've been scratch making our tofu for about a month. I'm using lemon juice, not the traditional gypsum or nigeri. This gives a courser curd, which isn't an issue unless you prefer silken tofu. If you don't do soy, Burmese tofu is an option (made with chickpeas).
Bulk soybeans: $1.75/lb or $.70/block
Lemon juice: $.02/block
Electricity: Negligible, let's say $.03/block to be generous and work with round numbers.
Total cost: $0.75 per block of tofu. The cheap blocks around here are about $2, and the fancy organic ones are $3+.
This is just for the tofu. I've been experimenting with the okara (soy bean pulp that's left over). It's awesome in vegetarian meatballs, and we like the texture in veggie burgers but I'm still tweaking the spices and seasonings to get the best flavor. I just read that it can be dehydrated and ground into a flour and then added in small amounts to breads for a protein boost or used to thicken soups/stews. I'll bust out the dehydrator and try that out after our move next week.
We typically spent around $20/month on pre-made veggie burger patties and consume 2 blocks of tofu a week at $16/month. That means making our own tofu/veggie burgers only costs us $6/mo, or a savings of $30/mo or $360 a year (you can double that for some of the organic stuff). That's almost my annual car insurance bill, right there!
Yes, there is the time commitment, although it isn't much. Soak, blend, strain, and then simmer 10 minutes and wait another 10 minutes. Drain and press. It's probably 15 minutes of hands-on time. I added it to our bread baking and meal prep day routine, so it fits into time where I am already spending a couple of hours in the kitchen.
