Easter is just around the corner and a delicious staple of the holiday is not sweet on the budget this year. We are talking about the cost of chocolate and those bunnies, but we are finding some tricks to save.

David Branch, sector manager at the Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institue, says consumers have not lost their appetite for chocolate, but are cutting back on how much they buy as prices have been high. Branch says, "... what is driving that is the overall cost of cocoa." Which is a key ingredient in chocolate.

Branch says it's all due to weather issues, declining the cocoa crop over the past couple of years. He says, "People are buying less units because the price has gone up." Relief is coming and Branch says maybe by Halloween prices will drop, but until then there are some ways to save money.

Branch says you can zero in on the type of chocolate you are buying. Branch says, "It takes less cocoa to make milk chocolate which in really high end chocolatiers, where they have 50 or 70% cocoa and their specialty, those are going to go up more."

Another way to save, look for chocolate with filling options.