Store-Bought vs. Homemade Dinner Rolls: Which is More Budget-Friendly?
For some dinners like pastas, meats with sauces, or just a salad always taste better with a dinner roll on the side! We love to use those dinner rolls to soak up all those juices and sauces.
As an avid baker, I love to make bread, but I wasn’t sure if making dinner rolls was actually cost effective since they seem pretty cheap at the grocery store. Let’s take a deep dive into the numbers to find out if it is cheaper to make or buy dinner rolls!
How much does it cost to make dinner rolls?
For our homemade dinner rolls, we will be using a basic recipe from Allrecipes.com. Click here for full recipe!
| Homemade Dinner Rolls Ingredients | Cost |
| 2 cups All Purpose Flour | $0.22 |
| 2 tbsp white sugar | $0.05 |
| 1 packet of dry instant yeast | $0.28 |
| 1/2 tsp salt | $0.00 |
| 1/2 cup milk | $0.11 |
| 1/4 cup water | $0.00 |
| 2 tbsp butter | $0.28 |
| Total Cost: $0.94 (makes 12 rolls) | Cost per Dinner Roll: $0.07 |
I have priced this recipe out at my local Walmart, so your costs may vary depending on your local stores.
The total cost of homemade dinner rolls is $0.94. That comes out to about $0.07 per roll.
How much are dinner rolls at the grocery store?
Now let’s head to the store and see what the costs of dinner rolls at different stores typically run!
| Brand & Number of Rolls | Store & Price | Price Per Dinner Roll |
| Great Value 12 ct bakery rolls | Walmart, $3.24 | $0.27 |
| Publix 12ct bakery rolls | Publix, $3.97 | $0.33 |
| Member’s Mark 24ct rolls | Sam’s, $4.96 | $0.20 |
| The Fresh Market 12ct bakery rolls | The Fresh Market, $5.99 | $0.49 |
| L’oven 12ct butter rolls | Aldi, $2.89 | $0.24 |
| Wellsley Farms 20ct rolls | BJ’s Wholesale, $4.89 | $0.24 |
| Sister Schubert’s 20ct rolls | Save A Lot, $8.25 | $0.41 |
| King’s Hawaiian 12ct Butter Rolls | Target, $5.69 | $0.47 |
| Kirkland Signature 12ct rolls | Costco, $7.45 | $0.62 |
| Kroger Classic 12ct white rolls | Kroger, $1.79 | $0.14 |
| Pepperidge Farm 12ct Country Rolls | Wegman’s, $3.79 | $0.31 |
| Stroehmann Brown ‘n Serve 12ct Dinner Rolls | Tops Markets, $4.69 | $0.39 |
| Bridgford 24ct Parkerhouse Style Rolls | Market 32, $3.29 | $0.13 |
| Average Cost per Roll from the Grocery Store: | $0.32 |
We checked 13 different grocery stores and warehouse clubs, and overall, the average cost per dinner roll was about $0.32 each.
Even the cheapest option which was Bridgford 24ct Parkerhouse Style Rolls still came out to $0.13 each. That was about double the cost of homemade rolls.
Is it cheaper to make or buy dinner rolls?
After our cost comparison of making dinner rolls versus buying rolls at the grocery store, it is definitely cheaper to make dinner rolls yourself! Homemade dinner rolls came out to be about $0.07 each and store-bought rolls were about $0.32 each on average.
The next important factor to consider after cost is the time that it takes to make versus buying dinner rolls. On average, it will take about 1 hour and 30 minutes to make dinner rolls from scratch.
The great thing is that you can go ahead and make a huge batch of rolls, and then freeze them. This means on a Tuesday night; you can pull a few frozen rolls from the freezer and have homemade rolls in just a few minutes in the oven.
To me this is a slam dunk, to just go ahead and make dinner rolls yourself instead of buying them! The great thing is that making rolls at home is actually really easy if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook.
If you don’t have a stand mixer, and your family loves dinner rolls, you may want to stock up on them when they are on sale, so you have them for future dinners!
You can also make biscuits or garlic bread instead of dinner rolls! To find out more, check out “Is it Cheaper to Make or Buy Garlic Bread?” and “Is it Cheaper to make or buy Biscuits?“
