Taking Advantage of Holiday Baking Sales

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Welcome to November! There are so many things I love about November. Full on fall weather, Facebook is full of thankfulness instead of grumblings (well, about 5 days after the elections are over), yummy foods, Black Friday, time with family. But the thing I get most excited for is the sales on baking items.

There is never a time of year where things like flour, butter, and sugar are so inexpensive besides the holiday season. Starting in November, you start to see those baking staple items hit the lowest they will all year. You might see a bit of a sale again around Easter but those sales aren’t quite a good.

As someone who makes most everything we eat from scratch, the baking sales are basically my Christmas. My frugal side just gets all giddy when I see butter back below $3 a pound. I love how cheap I can purchase flour. And the coupons! I’m getting excited just thinking about it!

Here are some ways that you can fully take advantage of of the holiday baking sales.

Clean Your Freezer and Pantry

Yup. The freezer again. Butter and flour can both be frozen to keep fresh for months.You want to make sure that your freezer is cleaned out and organized so that you have space to put your goodies. You want to do the same with  your pantry. This also helps you know how much of each item you already have on hand.

Watch for Coupons

Not only are baking items on major sale this time of year, you can also find a lot of coupons for things like chocolate chips and evaporated milk. Keep an eye on the coupon page here and check Facebook. I like to “like” pages like Nestle and Eagle Brand so that I know when they have released a new coupon. I also sign up for their e-mail newsletters for the same reason.

Know Your Prices

In my opinion, there is no time when it is more important to know your prices than during the holiday baking sales. It can be so easy to see an item in a sales flyer and think it is a great deal because you are caught up in the excitement of the sales. But often, the item isn’t all that great or you can still get a store brand for cheaper. Before the sales really start to take off, start writing down the prices of the baking items you usually buy so you will know if the sales are as good as they seem.

Know Your Menu

This is more than just knowing what you will be baking for the holidays. This is knowing how much of each item you tend to use over the course of a year. If you know that it takes you almost a year to go through a tub of shortening, it probably isn’t worth stocking up on that. You will be wasting money when you have to throw out unused expired product. But if you know you go through a bag of flour each month all year long, that would be a great thing to stock up on and find the room to store.

These four simple ways can help greatly when it comes to taking advantage of all the great holiday baking sales we see this time of year.