Re: making yogurt. I started making my own a few months ago. I know a yogurt machine is not necessary but, I invested in a yogurt maker (basically an item that simply keeps a constant appropriate temp.) because I wanted it to be fool proof. I purchased the item on amazon for about forty dollars. I also get the yogurt starter from Amazon (it was cheaper than health food store) again because I wanted it to be foolproof. However, you can use yogurt as a starter. I don't eat dairy so I make my yogurt from soy milk and my husband's from skim milk. I figured we save about 1,200 dollars a year by making our own. We are heavy yogurt eaters and the soy yogurt is so expensive to buy. The item I purchased came with two different sized covers so that you can use the small 6 oz yogurt jars that come with it or you can use large mason jars. I always make the soy yogurt in the small jars so my DH doesn't confuse it with his dairy yogurt. He is deathly afraid of consuming soy because he believes the estrogen in it will cause him to grow breasts. but i regress. The item is
http://www.amazon.com/Tribest-YL-210...2898894&sr=8-6 Wow, it's gone up four dollars since I purchased it.