shoppingonabudget

Do you need to buy cheap Christmas gifts for friends and family? If you are on a budget, you may be at a loss for ideas. There are plenty of ways to shop for Christmas gifts on a budget, but I believe I have a very helpful tip. That tip is a jar of cookie ingredients.

What you do is put ingredients inside a jar to make cookies. The jar itself can come from the dollar store or you can purchase a case of canning jars. These are available for sale at most department stores, including Wal-Mart.

When using this gift idea, you have two options. You can put the ingredients in from scratch yourself or purchase the bags of Betty Crocker cookie mixes. Simply cut open the bag, pour into the jar, and you are good to go.

So, which approach should you take? I depends on how many jars of cookie mixes you want to make. Only want to make one? Unless you will use the leftover ingredients yourself, opt for a bag of Betty Crocker cookie mix. They retail for less than $2 and it is easy to find coupons for these bagged mixes.

If you want to make five or more cookie ingredient jars, I recommend starting from scratch. You can find a good recipe, like the original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. Add in each ingredient, but leave out those that are perishable, such as butter and eggs. Your gift receipt will add these themselves.

Once all ingredients are inside, you need to write instructions. For example, does your recipe call for water, eggs, or butter? Always state what needs to be added. Also, provide the cooking temperature, cooking length, and cooling time. Write this on a small card and attach to the top of the jar with a hole puncher and red or green string.

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