I’m constantly looking for ways to streamline healthy eating in our house. One thing I’ve learned about myself in my quest to keep up a healthy diet—if it ain’t easy, I’m probably not going to follow through. That’s why I’m such a big fan of single serving yogurts. They are inherently portion controlled, super easy, tasty and full of healthy fats, protein and probiotics.
Unfortunately, there are also quite a few things that I don’t love about single serving yogurts. I really hate all the waste they create. We try to reuse our leftover yogurt containers wherever possible (and recycle if we can’t reuse), but that’s still generating way more waste than I feel comfortable with. I also don’t love the price. If you hit a good sale, you can maybe get organic yogurt for $1 per single-serving container (which averages around 6 ounces). By making my own yogurt from organic milk, I can get a full gallon of yogurt for about $5. A gallon at single serving prices=$21. That’s a hefty savings when you eat as much yogurt as we do.
I’m not sure why this never occurred to me before, but last week, as I was ogling over the giant cartons of flavored Chobani at Costco, I had a thought—why not make my own single serving yogurts? That way, I can make sure I use reusable containers and get the cost-savings of making yogurt in bulk, while still enjoying the convenience of single-serving yogurts. Bonus: I get to control the sugar-content and flavors of whats in each batch of yogurt.
I think you probably could have seen the lightbulb over my head from all the way across the store.
So after spending a small fortune at Costco (and not getting the beautiful cases of Chobani), my next stop was our local megamart to the Mason jar aisle, where I found these adorable little four ounce quilted jelly jars. For a set of 12, these set me back about $9. They are a touch smaller than your usual single-serving yogurts, but you could just as easily pick up the eight ounce jelly jars and do the same thing. I just couldn’t resist the cute little jars. And at $0.75 each, I pretty much make my money back on the first batch of yogurts! Woohoo!
For the fruit-on-the-bottom part, I came up with a lightly-sweet blueberry-chia syrup concoction that not only looks great in the jars, but adds tons of flavor, antioxidants and omega-3s. You’ll find the recipe below, and feel free to adjust it and tweak it to make it your own. I like to keep the sugar content on the low side, so if you’re into sweeter yogurts, I’d up the sugar content. And you can use whatever fruits and flavors make your heart sing.
On top, I just put my standard, plain homemade yogurt. If you aren’t into making your own yogurt (although, side note, you should be—it’s so easy and cheap!), you can just as easily buy the large tubs of yogurt and follow the same process. You’ll still be saving money over buying the single-serving versions.
Happy food prepping!
homemade fruit on the bottom yogurts - syrup
I like to keep the sugar content on the low side, so if you're into sweeter yogurts, I'd up the sugar content. And you can use whatever fruits and flavors make your heart sing.
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen fruit
- 3 tablespoons chia seeds
- 1/2 cup water
- 2-4 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until sauce is thickened.
- Spoon into yogurt jars (about 2 tablespoons per single-serving jar) or serve over pancakes or ice cream.
brilliant. will definitely be doing this!
I already have those jars and blueberry syrup so I guess I have no excuse but to try this asap. Thanks for the kick of motivation!
This sounds like a really cool idea! I’ve never made yogurt but I’ve heard it’s easy to do. My fiance eats the store-bought yogurt cups every weekday for breakfast and this sounds much better for him (not to mention a cost saver and better for the environment). Thanks for the idea!
Yeah. You may be a genius. I kind of feel stupid that I haven’t done this already. 🙂
This is so perfect! Now I just have to try to make the yogurt!
Back when I first tried Greek yogurt, I couldn’t stand the tartness of it. I swore by the Fage containers that came with the side of “jam” until one day I got the bright idea to buy a container of the plain stuff and a JAR of jam…yeah, I thought I was pretty friggin’ genius! Lol Of course now, I actually prefer it plain most of the time! There are only a few flavored ones out there that I don’t feel are overkill in the sugar department.
I’ve been wanting to make chia jam for FOREVER!! I need to get on that!
How do you make your homemade yogurt? I looked in your recipes and there isn’t a link.
Voila! https://wholefully.com/2011/05/19/yogurtmaking-101/
sorry! I scrolled back up far enough and found it! Thank you so much, I appreciate it!
Nevermind! I found it!
We do the same thing but using plain frozen fruit on the bottom (raspberries are a fav at our house) and drizzle a little honey on the top. The frozen fruit is also a great way to pack it for a school snack. The frozen fruit helps keep the yogurt cold and it is mostly thawed by the time my kid’s snack time comes along.
These look beautiful!! I’ve never made my own yogurt, although we go through a ton a week. I’m ultra-paranoid about it being ‘bad’ and making my kids sick (I think this stems from drinking bad milk when I was a kid and was told it was fine). Any reassurance you can offer?
If you have a local source of clean, raw milk, you’ll never have to worry about the milk being “bad”. Raw milk will sour, but won’t go bad unless it was handled improperly. You’ll know if you’ve made yogurt from “bad” milk, it won’t set correctly and will take on an odd spongy type texture. I have 2 dairy goats on my farm, and we make all our own yogurt, cheese, and other dairy products. We don’t have fancy equipment and I don’t spend half the day in a hazmat suit preparing a sterile milking facility. We simply wash our girls udders with warm soapy water, milk into a clean stainless steel bowl, and strain the milk before storing in a 1/2 gallon mason jar. Though we like the benefits of raw milk, you could certainly pasteurize it before making whatever cultured product you wanted, to ensure cleanliness. 🙂 Being that most people don’t have a goat waiting in the field to be milked, I often recommend purchasing a milk share (goat, sheep, or cow) from a local farmer, or one that delivers their product to your city. Do take the time to visit the farm you choose, look at the animals and assess their health and living conditions, and look at the milking area to assess the cleanliness. Ask the farmer questions about the dairy animals, any certifications they have, and any tests that have been run on the herd. Always trust your gut, if the farmer is open to talking with you and showing you around and the animals are in good body condition with clean living conditions, it’s likely that you’ve found a great source of milk 🙂
I love this! I used some honey greek yogurt, added some granola, put it in a jelly jar and I was good to go. I just got home from the farmer’s market with a box of strawberries …. and I just might need to make my to-go yogurt jars with strawberries before they are consumed by my ravenous kids!! P.S. The little bitty jars are too adorable!
Hi… Love your single serving recipe… How long can they last in the fridge?
Homemade single-serving yogurts is an AWESOME idea! I have been dreaming of something like this for a long time, but didn’t know what kind of containers to put them in. Now I know I must invest in some of those cute little Mason jars if I can find any!
Hi,
I was wondering have you ever tried making the yoghurt itself over the fruit? I mean allowing the curd to set over hte fruit? Does that happen? Instead of making a compote and adding yoghurt over it??
Thanks,
Shobha
I just tried this recipe in an attempt to replace store bought fruit yogurts, with an actual clean version. I made this with berries, honey and chia and it turned out wonderful! I also tried it with cottage cheese, as well as yogurt and it was fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing this. I’m thrilled to have found this.
Are you suppose to mash the fruit before adding it in the pan with the rest of the ingredients?
It is easier to mash the fruit up a bit once it is in the pan and heating and starting to break down!