Budget-Friendly Tips for Christmas Baking

Christmas baking is a much-loved tradition in many households. The warm kitchen and delicious aromas make for cherished holiday memories for the whole family.

Due to budget constraints, you may be considering cutting back (or doing away with) this beloved tradition. Before giving up on Christmas baking, check out these cost-cutting tips.

In The Mix

Christmas baking often calls for the use of nuts, chocolate (or other flavor) chips, and raisins. A simple way to save a little money, without lowering the quality of your holiday treats, is to cut the amount of nuts, chips or raisins used.

For example, if your cookie recipe calls for 1 cup of chocolate chips and you only used 2/3 cup of chips instead, you would be able to get three batches of cookies from a bag of chocolate chips instead of only two.

Store Brands

You can reduce your grocery bill by quite a bit by choosing store brands over name brand items. Compare the ingredients on the store brand package to the name brand package. Many times you will find the two are very similar.

Substitutions

Not only can substitutions save your recipe, they can be a real money-saver as well.

For example, if a recipe calls for one cup of buttermilk, instead of buying a carton of buttermilk for one cup and wasting the rest, put one tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar in your measuring cup, fill to the one-cup line with regular milk. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes.

Have a recipe that calls for one cup of cream? Use 2/3 cup milk and 1/3 cup butter.

Check out Robin's For Your Information for more substitution tips.

Storing your Holiday Goodies

Check out your local dollar store for decorative tins to hold your Christmas cookies and candies. Tins make festive serving containers that will keep your tasty treats fresh and look pretty on your table or place a bow on the lid and your goodies are ready for gift-giving. The decorative tins hold about a dozen cookies.

Ziploc has some festive bags and containers that are perfect for storing smaller amounts of your Christmas baking treats. They keep your holiday goodies fresh and are perfect for transporting those gingerbread cookies to the holiday party.

Depending on the size you choose, you can get between fifteen and twenty-five bags for about three dollars or four containers for less than five dollars.