Brand V Budget | Food | Natural Yogurt

One basic weekly shop item that I like to save on is yogurt. We have a little tradition of having fruit, yogurt and muesli/granola as a weekend breakfast.

So this is something I currently buy once a week, but depending on my diet at the time I may buy more. For instance if I am being careful I have been known to use this in smoothies, salads (to make the mayo go further calorie wise), and as a 'dessert' alternative (with honey), I've even used it to make white sauce for lasagna and moussaka.

I always used to purchase the Yeo Valley yogurt, and on several occasions it wasn't in stock so I had to use an alternative, usually Tesco's own brand standard version, then I got a little brave and tried the value one, to be perfectly honest I don't know why I didn't do that sooner.

See below for a comparison of the yogurts I have tried and what the annual cost would be. Just to be clear the only ingredient in each of the below yogurts is Milk, as I would hope, watch out however as some of the low fat yogurts on the shelves contain thickeners such as modified maize starch (cornflour I think).

All low fat natural yogurt is fairly runny, all I do, say if I want a thicker consistency is strain it myself. It might sound like a lot of work but it's much cheaper than thick Greek yogurt, and the strained ones are much nicer, but more expensive than those that contain thickening agents. To thicken, I place a non fluffy clean tea towel or piece of muslin cloth in a sieve, I then balance the sieve over a large jug/bowl, add the yogurt into the tea towel and cover, leaving in the fridge over night. In the morning you will have a really thick, creamy yogurt! Truth be told I went through a phase of making my own yogurt, but it's a fairly lengthy process and it's so much easier to just buy it.

1 pot per week @ £0.45 (52 X 0.45 = £23.40 PER YEAR) 

1 pot per week @ £0.90 (52 X 0.90 = £46.80) 

£23.40 more expensive than Tesco Everyday Value over the course of a year

1 pot per week @ £1.50 (52 X 1.50 = £78) 

£31.20 more expensive than Tesco Own Brand over the course of a year

£54.60 more expensive than Tesco Everyday Value over the course of a year

And, here's the end result, I can afford to spend a little more on a healthy sugar alternative such as date nectar or agave nectar (derived from cacti), and a really delicious granola or muesli.

Now you've read this, is this something you currently save on? If not, is it something you will consider on your next supermarket shop? 

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