As the holiday season approaches, there is a rush to the grocery store in order to shop and cook meals. However, shoppers have realized one of the most crucial ingredients is missing from the shelf, butter. The United States is currently facing a national shortage of butter, leading some grocery stores either to raise the price of butter, or, at times, not have enough butter for customers. This has led many to question how they are going to make their holiday meals without one of the most important ingredients.

The inflated butter prices have caused many Americans to spend more on groceries. However, many families still purchase butter despite the recent uptick in the prices.

“My mom buys butter every week and a half,” sophomore Ben Hynes said.

Several people, like sophomore and frequent baker Maya Noyes, have had to figure out how to adapt to the shortage of butter during the national shortage, and especially during the holiday season.

“We purchase butter probably once every couple of weeks,” Noyes said. “When we buy butter, we get two boxes of it, and then we freeze one of them.”

In 2019, Noyes competed on the cooking show “Chopped Junior,” and became the show’s first champion of the 9th season. The theme for this episode was Thanksgiving, and Noyes found that butter was one of the key ingredients in her holiday-themed recipes.

“Butter was used in every single meal that I made,” Noyes said. “I used butter for crepes, I used it for latkes and I used it to sear my turkey during the second round.”

Sophomore Elyssa Grillo also enjoys baking for her family and relatives when the holidays come around. She too has found that many of her holiday-themed recipes require butter.

“I really like to make butter cookies, and I use holiday cookie cutters that add a little more festivity for the holidays,” Grillo said. “I also make frosting for cakes that require butter.”

Although butter can be one of the most important ingredients in a recipe, there are a few alternatives to butter that people can implement into their recipes.

“I would probably use vegetable oil or coconut oil as an alternative for butter,” Noyes said. “But for the holiday season, around 95% of the time we need butter for meals. Butter is a very strong component for meals.”

Besides finding alternatives for butter, some people have begun to make their own butter when cooking or baking.

“I have actually watched a lot of Tik Tok videos and Youtube clips on how to make your own butter recently,” Noyes said. “They inspired me to try it, and I think I will try it tonight.”

Grillo has always been interested in making butter on her own, and now because of the butter shortage, she believes it is the perfect time to try making homemade butter.

“[Making my own butter] seems really hard, but I am up for the challenge,” Grillo said. “If the opportunity appears for me, I will definitely try to make my own butter.”