Is it Cheaper to make or buy Biscuits?
Biscuits are a tasty addition to any dinner plate or as a yummy breakfast item. You can buy biscuits in a can, frozen biscuits, a biscuit mix, or make them from scratch.
As prices continue to go up at grocery stores, this made me wonder if it is cheaper to buy biscuits in a can, frozen biscuits, a biscuit mix, or to make biscuits from scratch. Let’s breakdown the costs of each item and see which comes out cheapest!
How much does it cost to make biscuits?
Biscuits are very simple to make at home and they use basic ingredients that most people have on hand in their pantry. For the cost breakdown, we are going to use a super simple recipe from CookCraftLove, and you can look at the full recipe here.
| Ingredients | Cost |
| 4 cups all-purpose flour | 42.4 cents |
| 2 tbsp baking powder | 18.5 cents |
| 1 tsp salt | 1 cent |
| 1 stick of salted butter (4 oz) | 99.5 cents |
| 1 1/2 cups of milk | 35.2 cents |
| Total Cost: $1.97 (total servings: 24) | Cost per biscuit: 8.2 cents each |
I priced out all the ingredients at my local Walmart and chose the cheapest option which was store brand. The total price per homemade biscuit came out to 8.2 cents each.
How much do biscuits cost?
At most grocery stores, you will have the option to buy biscuits in a can or frozen biscuits. Both options are super simple and really just require you to put the dough on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven. Let’s look at how much these options cost.
| Biscuits | Cost/ Store/ Number of Biscuits | Cost per Biscuit |
| Pillsbury Grands Frozen Biscuits | $4.89 at Nichol’s Market/ 12 biscuits | 40.7 cents each |
| Great Value Frozen Biscuits | $4.36 at Walmart/20 biscuits | 21.8 cents each |
| Bake House Canned Biscuits | $1.65 at Aldi/ 8 biscuits | 20.6 cents each |
| Pillsbury Canned Biscuits | $3.49 at Wegman’s/ 8 biscuits | 43.6 cents each |
| PICS Canned Biscuits | $3.09 at Price Chopper/ 8 biscuits | 38.6 cents each |
| Grissom’s Canned Biscuits | $1.89 at Save A Lot/ 8 biscuits | 23.6 cents each |
| Average Cost per Biscuit: 31.4 cents each |
It looks like canned biscuits and frozen biscuits came out much more expensive than homemade biscuits. The cheapest option was 20.8 cents a biscuit at Aldi’s but this is more than double the cost to make homemade biscuits.
With an average cost of 31.4 cents a biscuit for store bought, it is much cheaper to make biscuits yourself!
If you like the convenience of being able to pull biscuits out and bake, you can actually freeze baked biscuits and biscuit dough. All you need to do is make a batch of biscuits when you have time.
If you want the biscuits already baked, just wait until the biscuits are cooled and then place them on a pan. Put the pan in the freezer for an hour until they start to harden, then place in a sealed plastic freezer bag.
You can actually do the same thing with uncooked biscuit dough. Go ahead and form your biscuits, but instead of baking them, place them in the freezer for an hour. Once they are hard, place in plastic freezer bag.
When you are ready for biscuits pull out how many biscuits you like and bake on a sheet pan in the oven. No need to defrost either!
Are biscuit mixes cheaper than homemade biscuits?
Our next option is to buy a biscuit mix to make biscuits at home. Let’s see how the cost breakdown for using a mix.
| Biscuit Mix | Price/ Store/ Number of Biscuits | Price per Biscuit |
| Wegman’s Baking Mix 40oz | $4.09 at Wegmans/ 2 cups makes 12 biscuits | 2 cups mix: $1.63 2/3 cups milk: 15.5 cents 3 tbsp butter:37.3 cents Cost per Biscuit: 17.9 cents each |
| Betty Crocker Bisquick 20oz | $5.09 at Tops Market/ 2 1/4 cups makes 8 biscuits | 2 1/4 cups mix: $2.54 2/3 cup milk: 15.5 cents Cost per Biscuit: 33.6 cents each |
| Betty Crocker Bisquick 7.5 oz | $1.25 at Dollar Tree/ 1 pack makes 6 biscuits | 1 pack: $1.25 1/2 cup water: $0.00 Cost per Biscuit: 20.8 cents each |
| Jiffy Baking Mix 40oz | $5.99 at Nichol’s Market/ 2 cups makes 6 biscuits | 2 cups mix: $1.27 2/3 cup milk: 15.5 cents Cost per Biscuit: 23.7 cents each |
| Average Cost per Biscuit: 24 cents each |
I was really expecting the baking mix to be cheaper 24 cents a biscuit when you consider that most of the mixes require milk or butter to be added.
Biscuit mix came out cheaper on average than canned biscuits, but the biscuit mix is still more expensive than homemade biscuits.
Are homemade biscuits cheaper?
When we compare the cost of homemade biscuits came out to 8.2 cents for each biscuit, it is much cheaper to make them then to buy them!
| Homemade Biscuits | 8.2 cents each |
| Frozen or Canned Biscuits | average of 31.4 cents each |
| Biscuit Mix | average of 24 cents each |
If you make a big batch of biscuits when you have time and then freeze them or even your own biscuit mix, you can save time and have biscuits ready whenever you want!
Is it worth it to make homemade biscuits?
If you have ever eaten a homemade biscuit, you know that the taste is far superior to the frozen, canned, or even biscuits from a mix.
Now that we know that you can prebake biscuits and freeze them or freeze just the raw dough, you no longer need to rely on convenience products to enjoy biscuits with a meal or for breakfast.
If I have a lazy Saturday afternoon available or just feel like baking during the week, I like to go ahead and make a big batch of biscuits. Then I know we have biscuits ready at any time for the next couple of months!
For more cost breakdowns on whether it is cheaper to make or buy, check out “Is it Cheaper to make or buy Cookies?” and “Is it cheaper to make your own oatmeal?“
