Whether you buy Christmas cookies or bake your own, it'll be more expensive this year. Due to inflation, the ingredients for a basic batch total around $16.
"So this is kind of my last week of intense cookie baking," said Katie Mandovi, who knows all about baking. She owns Cakes by KT in Cleveland.
"I've been in the industry for about 12 years," Mandovi said.
During the holiday season, she's extra busy.
"I am buying all the butter, all the eggs, clearly all the sugar," Mandovi said.
Those ingredients can really add up.
When asked where she noticed the biggest cost spike this year, Mandovi said eggs were the main culprit.
"Eggs, I would say chocolate's gone up a lot. And I mean, vanilla's always expensive, but I think it's gone up a little bit too," Mandovi said.
According to FinanceBuzz, egg prices are up 136% since 2020. Butter and sugar are also up 35%, and salt prices have skyrocketed 73%.
Consumer savings expert Andrea Woroch recommends buying store-brand products to lower costs.
"They are single-ingredient items that a name brand can't produce any differently than the store brand. So why pay more for the fancy packaging?" said Woroch.
Other money-saving tips include adding milk or water to store-bought frosting to make it go further and sticking with classic recipes. Try to avoid recipes with expensive add-ins, such as nuts.
Good Morning Cleveland Anchor Mike Brookbank went shopping to find ways to cut costs for this week's Price Tracker report.
This week, Meijer came in cheapest at $17.93. Aldi came in second at $18.12, followed by Walmart at $18.90.
No matter what, you need your grocery staples, and our Price Tracker is here to help. Every week, we check the prices of milk, eggs, bread, chicken, beef, and cereal at major retailers in Northeast Ohio.
