4 Staple Baking Ingredients That’ll Cost You Less At Sam’s Club

Whether you’re a part-time baker who pulls out the flour solely when you’ve got a birthday party to plan or a regular cookie and pie enthusiast who can craft anything out of baking essentials, you know that purchasing everything you need isn’t cheap. As grocery prices have climbed over the last few years, those baking staples like sugar, butter, and eggs (especially eggs) have gotten increasingly more expensive. 

Videos by Sporked

But if you have a Sam’s Club membership, we’ve got good news: There are certain baking staples that are far cheaper here. Yes, there’s a bulk discount at play, but there are also items used in so many popular baked goods recipes that are a standout value and cheaper overall hiding at this warehouse retailer.

Cocoa Powder

Brownies, chocolate cookies, chocolate cakes, and even chocolate ice cream — there are plenty of ways to put cocoa powder to use when you’re whipping up homemade treats. And if your chocolate-rich recipes call for cocoa powder, we recommend stocking up at Sam’s Club.

Sam’s Club sells a supersized 23-ounce bag of Hershey’s Cocoa 100% Cacao Natural Unsweetened Powder for about $12. That’s just around $0.30 per ounce — a price that’s slightly cheaper than Costco’s very own container of the same cocoa powder and the kind you can pick up at your local grocery store in a much smaller (and pricier) package. Where else can you get a name-brand baking staple like this on the cheap? Only at Sam’s Club.

Unsalted Sweet Cream Butter

Butter goes in just about everything when you’re baking, so odds are you’ll need a lot of sticks. And you should plan to stock up at Sam’s Club, not the grocery store. Here, it’s easy to pick up 16 sticks of salted or unsalted sweet cream butter for about $10 — and yes, that’s a total of 4 pounds of butter. At Costco, the very same amount of private label butters will run you about $1 more.

That $10 supersized pack of butter is also excellent in quality. The unsalted butter a Sam’s Club in particular is wonderfully rich and delivers when you’re whipping up frosting; it’s a must-have if you like your cakes and cupcakes frosted with rich, decadent butter-based buttercream.

Granulated Sugar

Sugar is another pantry must-have whether or not you’re a regular baker — and if you aren’t whipping up cookies every weekend, you might wonder if you actually need a 10-pound bag from Sam’s Club even if it is a value. But frankly, the price on granulated sugar is so good at Sam’s Club that you can easily package whatever you don’t use to last you months on end.

Sam’s Club’s very own Member’s Mark Granulated Sugar is priced under $7 for a 10-pound bag. Upgrade to a brand name — C&H Pure Cane Granulated White Sugar, to be exact — and you’ll pay just under $7.50 for the same amount. Compare that to the same C&H 10-pound bag at Costco, and you’ll save more than $1. And don’t even look at those grocery store prices, because they simply can’t beat Sam’s Club when it comes to value.

Eggs

Baking requires you to crack a lot of eggs, and you’re going to want to make sure you’re getting the cheapest ones around. That’s why we recommend heading to Sam’s Club, where you’ll save significantly and be able to pick up more than a single dozen or two. Sam’s Club currently sells two-dozen packs of eggs for less than $5. 

Compare that to Costco, and the savings are noticeable. The competing warehouse retailer also sells two-dozen packs of eggs, but at the higher price of $6. You’re paying a dollar and change more for the very same bulk product (and you won’t notice any kind of quality difference). So, save yourself some extra cash and pick up all the eggs you need for baking and other cooking ventures from Sam’s and nowhere else.