5 Reasons You Should Make Cheese at Home

I think we can all agree that mama’s warm, home-cooked meals are always better than a packaged store-bought one. So why should our cheese be any different?  Here are 5 reasons homemaking your cheese is way better than buying it from the store. Making cheese at home may seem like a task to leave to the experts. But with such a wide variety of cheese recipes available, it is quite simple to get started, and there are many reasons to make your own cheese at home.

1. Its Healthier

Like most food, homemade is always healthier than store bought.  When you can’t pronounce 75% of the ingredients on the package, should you really be putting it into your body?  When you make cheese at home, you ditch all of those harmful types of preservatives, gums, and stabilizers in your homemade cheese that you might find in store bought ones. You choose what goes into your cheese so you get to the most whole, raw, natural ingredients. Not to mention, cheesemaking with organic ingredients also frees you from potential pesticides, hormones, or traces of antibiotics. One of the risks when buying store bought cheese is that it’s getting stripped of all the nutrients - protein, calcium, and vitamins. But when you make cheese at home, you're getting all of the good stuff and none of the bad.  Don’t forget by controlling your ingredients, you can have your homemade cheese be more diet-friendly as well, tailoring it to your needs! 

2. It’s Fun!

Making your own cheese at home isn’t just healthy, it's fun!  Cheesemaking is exploding in popularity along with sourdough making and we know why! It is so fun watching something you put time and effort into taste and look delicious. At the end of it, you’re able to take a step back and say “holy cheese, I made that!”  It is a great activity to do inside with friends and family! Kids love to make cheese. Kids love to eat cheese. If you have children, cheesemaking is a great kitchen activity. They can participate and learn along the way. If you homeschool, cheesemaking is a unique way to teach science and chemistry. Not to mention it’s a great date idea if you’re fresh out of ideas and looking for something to do from the comfort of your home.  My personal favourite is a wine and charcuterie night with the girls.

3. It’s Easy! 

Don’t get me wrong, buying store bought cheese is pretty convenient, but getting your hands dirtyis easy and rewarding! Many cheeses are super simple to make at home, such as mozzarella, ricotta, goat, feta, and cheddar. And it’s even easier to use a pre-made kit that has all the ingredients you need right at your front door which you can purchase at cheesemaker.ca. Each cheese takes less than a few hours of hands on work!  In fact, most of your time when making cheese is just waiting for the cultures to ripen the milk.

4. It saves you money

Now I know what you’re thinking…how in the world is homemade cheaper than store bought?  Well I’m so glad you asked!  Most of the necessary supplies needed to make cheese is conveniently delivered right to your front door in Cheese maker's kit.  Unlike other hobbies you don't need a lot of fancy supplies to make cheese. A large pot, a basic thermometer, cheesecloth, and a few cheese cultures will get you started on the right path. The only ingredient you have to buy is the milk. How easy is that??  By making your own cheese at home, the yield per batch will be far greater than what you will typically get in the store.  Our mozzarella and ricotta kit yields 40 batches of cheese (40 lbs)!! Which is a lot of bang for your buck.  Allow me to do a cost comparison for you. One bag of Great Value mozzarella cheese is $5.38 and contains 0.2 lbs of mozzarella.  A gallon of milk is only $4.99 and that’s all you need to make 1 whole pound of cheese!

5. Portion Control

Sometimes when you buy storebought cheese, the portion is much bigger or smaller than necessary.  Cheese Maker cheese kits have a shelf life of 5 YEARS which means you only have to buy the kit once, and then you can use as much or as little you need every time you make it!  No more food going bad in the fridge because you couldn’t eat it in time.