I was blessed (or cursed) with a sweet tooth. My body seems to burn sugar right up. Have you ever taken a sugar test during pregnancy? During the test, you are required to fast for an hour or two and then drink a sugary drink that is basically highly concentrated soda syrup, minus the fizzy bubbles. Furthermore, you have to drink the stuff within a certain number of minutes, and the experience is just horrible. Sometimes, they would ask me to repeat the test, because even after drinking that whole thing, my blood sugar would be on the lower side of normal, as if I never had ingested all of that sugar at all.
Of course too much sugar is not good for you. I know this. And, although I try to watch my sugar consumption and the number of bad carbohydrates I eat, I confess that I want a little something sweet each day. And of course, the rest of the family does too.
Sweets and snacks are notorious for being expensive. They aren’t something that is a requirement for living, and are in fact a sort of luxury item. But there are ways to have those sweets and still save money. Here are some of my personal ideas.
If you are in the mood for chocolate, skip the candy aisle and go for the baking aisle. Very often you can find large bags of chocolate chips that can serve the extra purpose of being a snack, but for less cost per ounce. There are semi sweet chips, milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and more.
Make your own sweets yourself from scratch. While I have never felt confident to try making fudge, other items take little time to prepare. Cupcakes, muffins, cookies, fruit cobblers, granola, and even frosting are all quite easy to make. You can make the sweets healthier and for less expense.
Check out the after-season clearance. Candy seems to be a part of many holidays. After Christmas one year, I picked up 10-packs of full-size candy bars for only $1 for each pack. I used them as movie candy. Most candy can freeze nicely, so if you find a bargain, you can stock up.
Buy generic versions of sweet snacks. There is so much variety and quality out there today, and you’ll often find that generic snacks cost less than the name brand ones. Check out my recent post: The Change in Generic Food May Help You Save.
Buy in bulk. Look to warehouse stores and even Amazon.com to buy larger boxes of sweets (as long as you don’t eat them faster because you have more). Granola bars are pretty inexpensive this way, for example. Stay away from individual packages of anything, unless they are on a special clearance deal.
Sweets for the sweet!
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