Yogurt is usually thought of as a sweet item but for me it can go both ways. It works as sweet – but instead of those over sweetened and overpriced little cups I buy a large container of full fat plain yogurt. If you want to go sweet, add a dollop of jam of the flavors of your choice, and the jam has other purposes too. It can also double as sour cream or creme fraiche in savory dishes, and used as a dip and dressing base.
When you are on a budget, and can’t get to the market for whatever reasons it is good to have multi-purpose items. If you have strawberry yogurt, you just have strawberry, if you have plain you can make strawberry, blackberry, apricot, pineapple just by adding jam. Or you can add cucumber and have tzatziki, or you can dollop it on a burrito ala sour cream, or mix with ranch for a dressing/dip.
Be very careful of cross contamination. Always use a clean spoon for each container. If you bring dairy into the jam, or sugars into the dairy they will begin to go bad much sooner. Plain yogurt is fermented and as such has a quite long shelf life. Jam is one of the original “preserves” so it too will last until you use it as long as you are careful to keep it clean.
