Saturday, September 26, 2009

Making your own ice cream

My housemate has an ice cream maker that we both use to make ice cream from scratch to save money. My favourite pint ice cream at the store (made from coconut milk) costs $6.99 a pint. Which is far too much for a thrifty hippie to spend. Even a half-gallon of the organic ice cream will still set me back $4.99. Unfortunately, even if it's organic, it still contains way too much sugar.

So I make mine from scratch. I use two cans of coconut milk. When bought on sale and bought by the case, I can spend as little as $1.40 per can. Two cans = $2.80

Add 2 T of coconut oil. Again, I buy the coconut oil when it's on sale for $5/jar. Serving size is one tablespoon, 29 servings in a jar, that's .17 for the ice cream.

Four egg yolks. Eggs are 3.89. Eggs are .32 each, so that's $1.28 for the eggs.

1 T vanilla, refilled my own bottle in bulk, $3.80, I'm going to guess and say .23 a T.

Two farmers market peaches, $1.50

Stevia to taste, probably more around $1. Stevia is expensive, but a little goes so far.

1/2 cup sliced almonds, I forget how much they are a pound. $12, I think. I haven't bought any in a while. $1.08 for the almonds.

This makes two quarts of ice cream. $5.56 for the whole batch. I'm already ahead with three times the amount I can get at the store, or $1.39 a pint.

$1.39 for a pint of organic ice cream, especially without sugar, is a much better deal on my pocketbook and on my blood sugars.

If you don't have an ice cream maker you can still make ice cream. Mix everything up on the stovetop and put in a container in the freezer. Choose a flat, shallow pan vs a tall one. Stir up every 30 minutes for the next 4 hours. Simple, but takes a while.

2 comments:

  1. Cool blog Piper. You're welcome to crosslink to my post on Chapati's too. For 15 cents, you can't beat 'em.

    http://180kitchen.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/mccarrison-style-chapati/

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  2. Oh yeah, and I buy coconut milk by the case as well from a Vietnamese market. It's not organic, but I like it much better than Thai Kitchen or similar brands, as it tastes much better and doesn't contain any emulsifiers (guar gum, carageenan, etc., which kinda suck).

    It's much cheaper. 91 cents per can. Chaokoh is the brand. From Thailand.

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