Holiday baking doesn't have to be a big, expensive production. With a little planning and some careful shopping, you can turn out a generous parade of cakes, cookies and candies on a less-than-generous budget. Here are five tips for baking up a storm without breaking the bank:
1 Shop for spices carefully. If you are making recipes that call for just a few teaspoons of seasonal spices like ground cloves or allspice, skip the bottles on supermarket shelves and find a store that sells spices in bulk. Buying just the small amount you need right now will be cheaper than paying for a whole bottle that will likely just sit on your shelf getting stale for the next year or two. If you're making a recipe that calls for a large amount of spices, shop at ethnic markets, where the prices are cheaper and the selection is usually fresher.
2 Take a trip to a restaurant supply store. Well-stocked restaurant supply stores will have sturdy baking equipment, bulk ingredients like chocolate chips, sugar and icing, and even packaging for giving your baked goods as gifts — all for much less than you would pay at a grocery or craft store.
3 Split expensive ingredients with friends. If you have friends or family nearby who also like to bake, consider splitting the cost of expensive ingredients like vanilla beans by ordering in bulk together.
4 Look for sales on staples and stock up. You can't have too much butter, flour and sugar during the holiday baking season. Keep an eye out for sales and snap up more than you think you'll need when you find a good price. (Or sit down before you start shopping and figure out exactly what you'll need for the next couple months of baking. Then buy that plus a little extra to cover any mistakes or last-minute baking.)
5 Use what you have. This goes for ingredients, but also for equipment. If you don't own a springform pan, skip the recipe that calls for one. Immersed in the buy-buy-buy mentality of the holidays, it's easy to become convinced you need to make that recipe that calls for 15 ingredients you don't have, baked in a special mold you don't own. You don't. Remember that the recipes your loved ones come to look forward to every year are often the tried and true, the ones that don't require any special ingredients or fancy equipment.
Do you have any tips for holiday baking on a budget?
Related: Holiday Cookie Baking: 5 Pantry Preparation Tips
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-buy nut pieces / chopped nuts..sometimes they are less expensive, and you can skip the step to chop them!
-substitute less expensive nuts when possible
-use molasses and white sugar (1 T.molasses + 1 cup white sugar = 1 cup brown sugar) as a substitute for brown sugar. This way, you only have to buy white sugar and molasses, and no need to worry about hardened brown sugar!
You can freeze butter indefinitely, which I do. I'll buy several pounds when it's on sale and then freeze what I don't use. I'm down to my last two pounds right now, actually, so I'm going to stock up soon for my holiday baking. :)
Dried fruit and nuts are also cheaper in bulk or from co-op stores. Resist the 8 oz bags of walnuts in the baking aisle! They're probably not nearly as fresh and cost way more. You can also buy what you need if you get them in bulk. Just because it costs $6/pound doesn't mean you need to buy a whole pound.
I usually spread my purchases out over the year in anticipation of the baked good/candy making extravaganza :)
Another way to save money would be doing sweets which are labour intensive, but the ingredients are cheapish (and you can just gift a small amount, since they are so labour intensive). Some places you can also forage some nuts or fruits for fre and use them.
If you want cheap vanilla beans and you live in Oregon, New Seasons sells them in their bulk aisle for $1 a piece.
good post!
buy vanilla beans on ebay; sooo much cheaper and then you can make your own vanilla extract (just add vodka or rum or brandy). needs to sit for a few months but ridiculously cheaper. good for your own use and makes great gifts!
buy flour/sugar in bulk from sams or costco or restaurant supplier. pennies on the dollar cheaper.
dont bother with expensive cookie sheets from department stores. I buy aluminum 1/2 sheet pans from restaurant supply stores and silicone mats (silpat or equivalent; amazon or ebay) and have never looked back. the benefits are too many to list...
the bulk bins are good, but depending how much you use, it's not always cheaper.
A note on restaurant supply stores: Check to make sure they are open to the public. There are some that will not sell to you if you don't have credentials.
There are plenty of better places to buy them, but if you're stuck buying (common) spices at the supermarket, check out the latin foods aisle. Often you'll find the same spice for half the price.