Foody Feed – Home Made Ice Cream

Is it worth it?

I feel the need to start this with a mention of cost. To make tub of simple homemade ice cream we have ingredients to buy, so how does the cost compare to buying a tub from the supermarket? This is not a dissuasion from making it at home, quite the opposite in fact, but it is interesting that it is cheaper just to buy it than make it ourselves. Isn’t this a good indication of how corporate mass production has us hook, line and sinker.

The ingredients:

• 500ml of cream = $5
• 250ml of milk = 50c
• Sugar = 30c
• Vanilla = 30c (much more if using actual beans)
• Vodka (we will talk about this below) = $1
• Extra ingredients = a buck or two depending on if using.

So all up we are looking at about $7 for plain vanilla ice cream, $8+ if we are adding extra ingredients (I swirled blueberries in my last batch, delicious). You can buy a tub of vanilla ice cream for about $5-6 from the supermarket, so oddly, it is cheaper to buy pre-made.

This is a bit of a shame because it encourages us to take the easy option. I feel a bit sad about this, and the only thing I can say is with homemade you get pure ice cream and no extra additives or preservatives (some store-bought can barely pass as ice cream these days), plus it’s just good to know how to do and actively work your brain to create things yourself.

All you have to do is combine ingredients and freeze, making sure you whip the mix properly until it you get peaks, and churn in an ice cream maker for the most ice cream-like result. You can get away with not churning and get a nice fluffy, creamy ice cream as a result, but the maker is best.

Wondering why there is vodka in there? This is optional but definitely adds to the airiness. Given vodka doesn’t freeze in our freezers, it actually lowers the freezing point of the whole mix, resulting in less chance of the final product turning into a brick of ice. Trust me it works. If kids are involved it isn’t a lot of alcohol per serve but perhaps leave out or find an alternate like gelatine or more sugar (more sugar, yikes!).

Back to why we would make our own ice cream when we can buy it cheaper. My main argument would be so you know exactly what is going in the mix, and can control the portions (amount of sugar, extra ingredients), not to mention it tastes amazing. It also gives you the chance to be more creative and go for some crazier flavours you can’t buy at the shops (ever try turmeric ice cream? Maybe coconut cream/milk in place of dairy milk?). I guess you could buy in bulk as well and potentially bring the price down, depending on how much you want to make.

Ultimately, I recommend giving it a go, the above recipe gets you smooth delicious ice cream with minimal effort.