Is it Cheaper to make or buy Guacamole?
To be honest, I could eat a whole bowl of guacamole in one sitting with tortilla chips. Saying I love guacamole seems like such an understatement to me. Unfortunately, it can get a little pricey to buy guacamole at a restaurant or at a grocery store.
Thankfully, guacamole is super easy to make and doesn’t use that many ingredients. This made me wonder if making guacamole at home is cheaper than buying premade at the store. Let’s look at the cost breakdown to find out!
How much does homemade guacamole cost?
For our cost breakdown we will be using a very basic guacamole recipe from All Recipes. Click here for full recipe. You can change out the ingredients and add your own seasonings if you like!
| Homemade Guacamole Ingredients | Cost |
| 3 avocados | $2.04 |
| 1/2 cup diced onion | $0.78 |
| 1 tsp garlic, minced | $0.05 |
| 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped | $0.70 |
| 3 tbsp chopped cilantro | $0.44 |
| 1 lime (juiced) | $0.38 |
| salt and pepper to taste | $0.00 |
| Total Cost of Homemade Guacamole: $4.39 (18-2 tbsp servings) | Price per Serving: $0.24 |
The total cost of making homemade guacamole is $4.39. There will be approximately 18 servings of 2 tablespoons. That makes each serving cost $0.24.
We could lower this cost a little bit by using jarred minced garlic a bottle of lime juice.
Pro Tip: We recently found a bag of 3 ripe avocados in the clearance bin at Kroger for only $0.99! Keep an eye out for deals on ready to use avocados in the produce section!
How much is guacamole at the grocery store?
Even easier than making guacamole is just buying it ready to eat at the grocery store. Usually that convenience means that you pay more, so let’s see the cost breakdown.
| Premade Guacamole & Number of Servings | Store & Price | Cost per Serving |
| Mild Guacamole, 7 oz, 8 servings | Publix, $4.97 | $0.62 |
| Simple Truth Guacamole, 8oz, 8 servings | Kroger, $3.99 | $0.49 |
| Sabra Classic Guacamole, 16oz, 15 servings | Walmart, $5.87 | $0.39 |
| Southwest Guacamole, 10oz, 10 servings | Aldi, $3.55 | $0.35 |
| Original Guacamole, 16oz, 16 servings | The Fresh Market, $8.99 | $0.56 |
| Made Fresh Guacamole, 16oz, 16 servings | Earth Fare, $10.39 | $1.03 |
| Average Cost per Serving of Premade Guacamole: | $0.61 |
The average cost per serving of premade guacamole bought at a grocery store is about $0.61 per 1 oz (2 tbsp). This is about $0.37 more expensive per serving than homemade guacamole.
The cheapest option was the Aldi brand, but it still came out to $0.35 per serving with the homemade option being $0.24.
Is homemade guacamole worth it?
Everyone that I know that loves guacamole has different taste preferences. Some like it super smooth and almost like a paste. Others like it chunky or restaurant style.
Then you have to keep in mind how spicy you like it. Some prefer a very mild taste and other’s love lots of cilantro or even hot salsa mixed in.
This is the reason that homemade guacamole is totally worth! Not only is making it yourself much cheaper but you can make it exactly the way you like it.
We prefer not to add onions or cilantro to our homemade guacamole. Instead, we add some premade salsa to our chunky avocado.
Every once in a blue moon, we will see premade guacamole on a super sale or even on manager’s special. These are times that I may buy a few and freeze them for later. You can even freeze the little individual serving cups to use later too.
For more cost breakdowns on buying versus making it, check out “Is it Cheaper to make or buy Tuna Salad?” and “Is it Cheaper to make or buy Meatballs?“
