They have always been a little pricey, I didn't mind for the quality, but I can not justify buying it at these prices. Store brand and a few others are still reasonable for the moment. I really like the melting wafers and have been able to find them on Amazon for a bit cheaper. This is a 50/60% increase.
Yes I know there have been issues with chocolate production and the tariffs. I'm simply showing the prices and venting.
I also noticed in my grocery store the isle by the checkouts that usually has seasonal candy was filled with stuffed animals and other valentine's gifts that were not chocolate. I'm thinking a lot of people will be looking for chocolate alternatives this Valentine's.
by Purple_Moon_313
48 Comments
I never used to consider prices when baking but have started to the past few years. A chocolate chocolate cake has become decadent in more ways than one
There has been bad harvests of cocoa , the supply is limited and this effects prices . It will get more expensive, cocoa used to be luxury item and not an everyday item.
Ethical cocoa is even more expensive, so cheap means slave and child labour.
It’s not just them it’s most baking brands. I’m still using store brand cocoa (sadly, it’s just not that great) because everything else from Hersheys onward was over $7
I think I saw Ghirardelli cocoa for $9 the other day and winced
Yep, valrhona is now $25-28 for 8.8oz. It’s hard to justify.
I noticed that chocolate prices have more or less doubled in 2-3 years, so not surprised.
I bought an 8 ounce bag of Ghirardelli cocoa powder at Walmart a few weeks ago for $6.49 and thought that was expensive. I went back yesterday to get more and the same bag was $7.97. I left without it, feeling sad because I just can’t spend that much on cocoa powder.
I know, we all going to be baking out in the street pretty soon.
I used to cook with Valhrona or Callebeaut but had to start using Ghirardelli this year because their prices are still much less expensive than the other two.
I just don’t cook with chocolate as much as I used to.
You’re better off buying Dove promises on sale, unwrapping them, and chopping them up yourself. At least this is what I did last weekend. 🤷🏻♀️
Can I ask where you live, generally? It’s $12 for the 24oz bag in FL (which is still entirely too expensive).
For me, I live in Delaware, it’s $6 for the smaller bags of 60% cocoa chocolate chips. Sometime $0.5-1.00 off depending on sales. But yeah, it’s definitely gotten expensive. I try to do store brand dark or semi sweet more now than I have in the past.
ShopRite had the bars for $3 a few months ago and I sorely regret not stocking up 😭
Try buying in bulk if you will use enough of it. Ghirardelli is easy to find at the supermarket, but look into Callebaut, Cacao Barry, Guittard and TCHO by the pound or kg. I know chips of varying qualities (both real chocolate and coating) are available in a 5kg box and a 20# box, and blocks/bars can be less expensive by weight than chips. Just keep in mind that shipping drives up the price, so picking it up might save money if you are getting a lot.
One of the grocery chains near me routinely has these for $8-9. The other (the chain a relative claims is the bougie one, but isn’t Wholefoods or anything like that) usually sells them for $6, and they’re frequently on sale for $5. I really don’t understand how the disparity can be this big.
The first pic is of 12 oz bags. The second pic is of 24 oz. Of course the price is almost double.
I’ve started using Trader Joe’s pound plus bars. 45 mins to the closest one, so when I go I stock up. You can’t beat $8/$9 for a lb or chocolate.
Aint
200 g of baking chocolate drops in Europe costs the equivalent of $5.25 is USD.
Baking chocolate is not cheap in Europe either.
I’m going to keep looking too for cheaper I thought it was only me feeling this way. I don’t buy Starbucks anymore so if I buy one expensive bag of this a month at least I can look at it this as an indulgence for my baking needs
Prices have become outrageous.
I used to use Guittard and Kerrygold for my giveaway cookies. Now I’m just using Toll House and Kirkland butter.
ALL prices have become this way, not just chocolate sadly.
A regular sized bag of Butterscotch chips at my local grocery store was $6!!! 🥲 and then I effed the cookies I was making up and almost cried lol
I’ve started buying Tony’s chocolate bars for baking. They are cheaper and target has sales for them quite frequently.
choc chip pricing is literally fucking insane
Yes!! I saw the price increase yesterday at my favorite grocery store. BUT they had an end cap display of Ghirardelli for $4.49 a bag. They rang up at $6.99 but the service desk lady overrode the price and honored the $4.49 price. I bought a dozen bags.
Unfortunately, this will cut severely into my baking. Probably good for my weight. But it does suck.
Walmart has Ghirardelli 12oz semisweet chips for $5, but they’re $8-9 at my grocery store. I want to save money, but I also don’t want to shop at Walmart, and I won’t buy Nestle even if it’s the only option.
you wouldn’t happen to be californian, would you?
Ugh. I still splurge. Went back to nestle on a cheap whim. They were DISGUSTING.
All prices have become outrageous.
At this rate.. why not use Guittard? 😂
I’m from San Francisco and living in San Francisco now… Guittard is the superior option. 😂❤️😂
It’s insane how much prices have just gone up and up. At Kroger now for the 6th year in a row they’ve raised the standard price of their 12 packs of soda to $11.99 each, when during covid they were litterally still $4.99 each, they’ve gone up in price 118% since 2020, while also offering worse deals if you get several cases at once from like 4-5 for the price of 2-3 to 3 or 4 for the price of 2, when the price of 2 is the price of 4 12 packs in 2020
Maybe they’re going to start paying their child slaves
I ordered Ghirardelli chocolate chips the other day… Went to reorder the very next morning and they went up over $2 😔
I get them for right under $5 at Walmart. But the are around $8 at other stores in my area.
There’s also a chocolate shortage. Climate change is affecting harvests and driving prices up.
Try Trader Joe’s!
Cocoa had a huge spike in price this year, so the price of chocolate is skyrocketing worldwide.
In Germany a 400 g bag of Callebaut couverture is going for 13,2€ (A bit over $15 usd). While buying a 1 kg bag reduces the kg price to 29€ ($34 usd) and a 2,5 kg bag reduces the price to 26€ ($30 usd). Valrhona is even more expensive at 45€ ($53 usd) per kilogram.
These are of course top shelf ones that you can’t even get in the supermarket and have to buy directly from the brand itself or in specialised stores.
But supermarket quality is also getting more expensive at almost 11,5€ ($13,5 usd) per kg.
The 12oz is $7.12 where I live, but damn, that’s still about $3 higher than they were a year ago.
They have gone up $2 more for a 10oz bag since I bought them last month! It’s insane
Chocolate chip prices where I live are insane. And they never seem to go on a good sale. Instead, I buy the giant chocolate bars from Trader Joe’s and chop them up. Works pretty good!
Going along with the comments about bad harvests and rising prices… NYT had an article sometime last fall talking about cocoa prices and how it’s leading to a rise in white “chocolate” candies and also “chocolatey” candies that aren’t chocolate by definition. When you look closely at the seasonal Halloween and Christmas candies last year you can really notice a difference in the flavors being introduced
IMO Harris Teeter is inherently overpriced across the board. Better regional grocers available, at least here in NC.
My local grocery store had them on sale before Christmas for $4.99/bag. They are now over $7. I will be sad when my stock runs out.
Everytime a coworker asks for something with chocolate, I bite my lip a little because I have to use this chocolate for its quality and it is too damn much. I’m glad we’re discussing this. TOO DAMN HIGH
Welcome to the future. 😭 It sucks. I have found some better pricing by shopping around. But yeah, we’re on track to price people out of chocolate. They’re going to have to shrinkflation it and start selling 1/2 bags.
Prices have become outrageous.
Priced in real money, gold and silver, they haven’t really moved much. But that’s a conversation for another sub.