There Is A Sugar Shortage Hitting Grocery Store Shelves. Here’s What You Need To Know.
*Gasp!!* Say it ain’t so, especially during the busiest baking season of the year!
There is a sugar shortage hitting grocery store shelves as we speak, and we are about to feel the pinch.
Maybe you’ve already noticed blank shelves staring back at you from the baking aisle.
You go to the grocery store, shopping list in hand, and the sugar simply isn’t there.
Could this be real?
Oh, it’s definitely real, people. The sugar shortage of 2023 is upon us, and bakers everywhere are scrambling for ideas of how to tweak their Christmas cookie recipes.
Hopefully we won’t feel the deep sting of panic like we felt during the toilet paper shortage of 2020 or the egg shortage from earlier this year!
Why Is There A Sugar Shortage?
So, what’s to blame for this crazy sugar shortage?
You guessed it!! Bad weather in and around the sugar beet and sugar cane fields are to blame for the lack of our favorite baking staple.
According to AP News, “sugar worldwide is trading at the highest prices since 2011, mainly due to lower global supplies after unusually dry weather damaged harvests in India and Thailand, the world’s second- and third-largest exporters.”
Y’all. Think of the impact here.
It’s not JUST sugar that is being affected.
Sugar is needed to make bread, candy, jelly, salad dressings, ketchup, yogurt, cereal, soda, spaghetti sauce, pre-made lunch snacks, and just about everything else you find on the shelves of the grocery store.
Higher sugar prices mean that we could see soaring prices on other staples that we keep on hand.
When Will The Sugar Shortage End?
The sugar crops are being affected right now, so it is likely we will see empty shelves — or jacked up prices — throughout the rest of the year and into 2024.
This is definitely not the news we wanted at the start of the holiday baking season, am I right?!?
What Is The Best Sugar Alternative?
Now, this really depends on what it is that you are using the sugar for.
If we are simply talking about throwing some sweetness into your morning smoothie, or topping your cereal with even more sugar, you can go with honey or pure maple syrup.
But, if you are using sugar for baking, things get a bit more complicated.
There are things like stevia, Splenda, agave, and molasses, but you definitely want to do a trial run of your baked goods before you go handing them out as gifts.
Sugar alternatives can change the taste and texture of your baked goods — and that’s not always a good thing.
You may need to tweak the recipes just a bit before they actually turn into something you might want to hand out to your besties.
Bottom line here? If you see a 5-pound bag of sugar, some brown sugar, or powdered sugar on the grocery store shelves, scoop it up. It may be awhile before you see it again.
