Recently, I was reading a frugal living website on tips for saving money for Easter celebrations.
One commenter said the best way to save money was to buy your Easter items for next year at the after Easter sales when the holiday items are half off.
Is this a good idea?
Maybe. If you have room to store Easter baskets and toys where your children can’t see them and if you know how to store candy properly.
Here are the candy storage tips from the National Confectioners Association:
Chocolate. Dark chocolate can be kept for one to two years if wrapped in foil and stored in a cool, dark, and dry place. Milk and white chocolate have a more limited storage time – no more than eight to 10 months.
Hard candy such as lollipops, hard mints, and butterscotches. Hard candies can last up to a year when stored at room temperature in a cool, dry location. To make sure that hard candies stay hard, sprinkle with finely ground sugar and store in an airtight jar.
Soft candies such as gum drops and jellied candies. If the packaging has been opened, soft candies should be covered away from heat and light at room temperature. Stored in this manner, the candy should last six to nine months. If the packaging hasn’t been opened, soft sweets will last about 12 months.
Candy corn. If opened, candy corn should be stored under the same conditions as soft candies and will last about three to six months. Unopened, packages will last about nine months.
Don’t mix candies that absorb moisture – such as caramels, mints, and hard candies – with candies that lose moisture, like fudge and creamy candies. Storing these sweets in the same container will cause the harder candies to become sticky.
So, it’s wrapped dark chocolate and hard candy that will last a year.
On freezing candy, chocolate lasts just as long at room temperature as it does in the freezer. If you live where it’s hot, 85 degrees, however, chocolate will melt, so it’s safer to store it in the fridge or freezer than in your cupboards.
While toffee and truffles can be frozen for up to two months, avoid freezing candy with fruits and nuts.
Another method is to use vacuum sealing in mason jars to store candy. Air is vacuumed out of the jars, leaving food in good condition without oxygen. You’ll need a vacuum sealer and a lid attachment.
Many kinds of candy can be vacuumed sealed. However, if you mix different kinds of candy together, everything in the jar may end up with the same flavor.
I did notice in the sale of Easter items, that there were individual packages of candy in a single serving. Those could be used for Halloween.
Did I buy the big chocolate bunny? No, but I did buy a small box of Ghirardelli chocolate bunny rabbit candy, six pieces for $3.49, which was marked half off. That’s on the expensive side at 58 cents for each piece.
A woman who was looking at the Easter sale display while I was there thought the prices, despite 50 percent off, were still high.
