Is Homemade Foods Always Cheaper?

I am a huge fan of saving money on groceries, and one of the ways I do that is by making homemade versions of food products. Unfortunately, not everything homemade is cheaper than store bought.

Let’s look some different categories of handmade options to see which ones can save you money and which ones will actually cost you time and more money!

Homemade Meat Options vs Store Bought

Now I’m not talking about raising and slaughtering your own chicken, pigs, and cows. Honestly, I don’t have a yard big enough or the time to do this. I’m talking about common meat convenience foods bought at the grocery store.

We broke down the costs of making or buying typical items like Chicken Salad, Tuna Salad, Meatballs, Sliced Deli Lunch Meat, and Rotisserie Chickens. All of these are actually cheaper to make at home compared to buying them at the store.

Homemade Condiments & Spice Blends

The cost of basic items that you use in making a meal or making a meal better can really add up. So is there any savings to be had with condiments and spice blends?

We found that items like Everything Bagel Seasoning, Ranch Seasoning Mix, Taco Seasoning, Coleslaw Dressing, Salsa, Guacamole, Hummus, and Peanut Butter are all cheaper to make at home.

Keep in mind though how often you use these items and their shelf life without preservatives. You can easily make spice blends ahead of time and use them for months, but items like salsa, guacamole, hummus and peanut butter will need to be made in small batches because they won’t last as long as the store-bought version.

Other items like Pickles, Apple Butter, Montreal Steak Seasoning, and Italian Seasoning were not worth making at home. The total cost to make these items were maybe pennies cheaper than the store version, so it would usually be easier to find these on sale at the grocery store.

The one caveat to this would be if already a ton of apples getting ready to go bad, or already had the ingredients on hand and didn’t have to go out and buy the items to make them.

Homemade Sauces

Sauces are another way to really enhance a meal, but they can become expensive if not on sale. We checked out barbeque sauce, enchilada sauce, tartar sauce, and cranberry sauce and they all came out cheaper to make yourself!

The one sauce that really made more sense to buy at the grocery store was Alfredo Sauce. Unless you got an absolutely amazing deal on the cheese, there is no savings to make it yourself. (I only buy alfredo sauce on a great deal, so I wait till the price is low and stock up!)

One item that can be cheaper but not always is making your own butter. If you tend to buy buttermilk and butter at the same time, then making it yourself can be cheaper. On the other hand, if you have no use for buttermilk, then making butter will cost more than buying it!

Homemade Drinks

I swear drinks can really bust your grocery budget. So, this was an area I was really interested in checking out if the homemade version was cheaper.

We took a look at Almond Milk, Chocolate Milk, Half & Half, and Orange Juice and found that all of these are actually cheaper to just buy at the grocery store.

This is not necessarily bad news because if you were to make these yourself, they have a super short shelf life without preservatives. For instance, if you regularly drink almond milk every week, you will have to make it every few days which will take a lot of time. Whereas buying it at the store is cheaper and has a very long shelf life.

The one drink that we found that was worth making at home was Oat Milk. You can even bring this cost lower if you have a way to use up the oatmeal mush after you make it. The mush can be used for baking and cooking, so this can actually save you money in other areas as well.

One item that I was really surprised by was Ground Coffee! In most cases there was no cost difference to buying ground coffee or whole coffee beans. What was weird is that in some cases it was actually more expensive to whole beans and grind them yourself. (This just looked at cost of the coffee and didn’t even include the cost to buy a coffee grinder.)

Homemade Breakfast

I am a huge fan of quick and easy breakfasts, but that convenience usually comes with a hefty price. We checked out Egg McMuffins, Breakfast Burritos, and Instant Oatmeal and found that all of them are cheaper when you make them at home!

Homemade Breads

If you love baking or have the time to bake you can make a ton of items at home, but will it actually save any money? We found that if you make homemade dinner rolls, bagels, Gluten Free Bread, or Biscuits then you can definitely save some money!

On the other hand, we found that basic breads like sliced sandwich bread, hot dog buns, & hamburger buns in the bread maker are actually cheaper to go ahead and buy at the store. (This will totally depend on which brands you typically buy and if you prefer fancier breads other than basic white or wheat types.)

We were fairly shocked to discover that making muffins with a mix was cheaper than homemade and that making garlic bread is a toss-up depending on how cheap you can buy a loaf of Italian or French bread.

Convenience Foods

Convenience foods are really anything that is premade or pre-processed for you, so you don’t have to make it at home. They can save you a ton of time but rarely save you money.

Our cost breakdowns showed that it actually cheaper to make your own frozen Pierogies, frozen Egg Rolls, Cream of Chicken Soup, Graham Cracker Crusts, Sweetened Condensed Milk, Potato Salad, Lettuce Based Salads Kits, Pizza, and Lasagna.

We were pleasantly surprised to find out that items like Minced Garlic, Hamburger Helper, Lime Juice, Mashed Potatoes (Instant), Cauliflower Rice, and shredded cheese was cheaper to just go ahead and buy at the grocery store.

Now of course, if you already have the ingredients on hand, I will totally make these at home, but I won’t be going out and specifically buying the items needed to make them.

We also found that making your own cheese like mozzarella or cheddar was not cost effective if you typically buy store brand options like Great Value at Walmart. Depending on what brands you typically purchase especially high-end brands this could save you money but will take a lot of time and practice.

One item we found that could really go either way was frozen vegetables. This one totally depends on the season, if you grow your own, if you can get marked down veggies or find super cheap deals.

Homemade Snacks and Desserts

I am a huge fan of snacks and desserts (who isn’t?) but these can seriously add a ton to your grocery budget and are really just add-ons not actually meals. I don’t want to blow my budget on these items when I could stock up on meats and vegetables that will go towards breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Some of the money savers we found included making your own Key Lime Pie, Whipped Cream, Chex Mix, Brownies (truly homemade or a using a mix both came out cheaper), Trail Mix, Rice Crispy Treats, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Granola.

We also discovered that it was cheaper to buy vanilla ice cream, pumpkin pie, and to make cupcakes with a mix and premade icing from the grocery store.

Homemade Foods vs Store Bought Foods

I don’t want to discourage anyone from making homemade foods, but I do want to point out that sometimes homemade options are not always cheaper.

In almost all cases, homemade foods are going to taste better and be healthier for you but making them yourself won’t lower your grocery budget.

I am a huge fan of shopping deals, so when possible, I will stock up on lots of pantry staples if it comes out cheaper to do so. For instance, I can totally make my own taco seasoning for less, but if I find it mega cheap, I am going to go ahead and buy it to save time.

My favorite saying when it comes to grocery shopping is that you can save time, or you can save money. If you don’t have time to make items yourself then definitely buy them. Just try to wait till they are on sale first, so we don’t wreck our budget.

If you have the time to make items at home and are willing to put in the effort, then you could potentially save a lot of money. Items like Coleslaw Dressing and Everything Bagel Seasoning are so quick and easy to make that it totally makes sense to do it at home all the time!

Overall, I hope this list has given you some good ideas of ways to trim back your grocery budget and what foods are generally just cheaper to buy at the grocery store.