Is it Cheaper to Make or Buy Egg Rolls?
One of the hardest parts of not ordering Chinese take-out each week is the egg rolls! We love them and they are so tasty, but they tend to be expensive.
I’ve tried the frozen egg rolls from the grocery store, and they are okay, but it is not quite the same as take out. I decided to see if making egg rolls at home are cheaper than buying them. Let’s find out!
How much do homemade egg rolls cost?
I found a simple recipe for egg rolls that didn’t call for a ton of ingredients from Taste of Home. Thier recipe does call for ground beef, so we are going to substitute ground pork because it is more authentic and it is cheaper!
| Ingredients for Homemade Egg Rolls | Total Cost | Cost for Recipe |
| 1 pound ground pork | $3.87 | $3.87 |
| 16oz pack of coleslaw mix | $1.98 | $1.98 |
| 2 tbsp soy sauce | $1.58 (15oz bottle) | $0.10 |
| 1/2 tsp garlic powder | $1.12 (3.4oz jar) | $0.01 |
| 1/4 tsp ground ginger | $2.24 (1.5oz jar) | $0.03 |
| 1/8 tsp onion powder | $1.12 (3.25oz jar) | $0.01 |
| 1 tbsp all-purpose flour | $1.16 (2lb bag) | $0.01 |
| 28 egg roll wrappers | $6.18 (2 packs of 20 ct) | $4.32 |
| Canola Oil for frying | $3.74 (48oz bottle) | $3.74 |
| Total Cost: $22.99 | Cost for Recipe: $14.07 | Average Cost per Egg Roll: $0.50 |
My local Walmart is the cheapest option for groceries, so I priced this recipe out there and it came out to a total of $22.99 if you didn’t already have any of the items.
The actual cost of the egg roll recipe itself was $14.07, and it makes 28 egg rolls. The average cost per homemade egg roll was $0.50.
It is worth noting that my local Walmart only had spring roll wrappers and not egg roll wrappers, so I had to price those out at my local Kroger.
How much do egg rolls cost at the grocery store?
Most of the time, egg rolls are found in the frozen section of the grocery store. We will price compare multiple brands and grocery stores to see the average cost of each egg roll at the store.
| Grocery Store Egg Rolls & Quantity | Store & Cost | Cost per Egg Roll |
| Pagoda Pork Egg Rolls (8ct) | Ingles, $7.98 | $1.00 |
| Chung’s Vegetable Egg Rolls (4ct) | Kroger, $5.19 | $1.30 |
| Van’s Pork Egg Rolls (4ct) | Publix, $5.53 | $1.38 |
| Fusia Pork Egg Rolls (4ct) | Aldi, $3.25 | $0.81 |
| MINH Pork Egg Rolls (16ct) | Sam’s Club, $12.30 | $0.77 |
| Chung’s Vegetable Egg Rolls (4ct) | King Sooper’s, $5.69 | $1.42 |
| PF Chang’s Chicken Egg Rolls (4ct) | Target, $4.79 | $1.20 |
| Jade Dragon Pork Egg Rolls (4ct) | SaveALot, $4.39 | $1.10 |
| Pagoda Pork Egg Rolls (8ct) | Meijer, $9.19 | $1.15 |
| Average Cost per Egg Roll: | $1.13 each |
We checked different grocery stores and brands all over the US, and the average cost of a frozen egg roll is $1.13each.
The cheapest option for frozen egg rolls was at Sam’s Club where they averaged $0.77 each. The most expensive option was at King Sooper’s where they averaged $1.42 each.
It looks like homemade egg rolls were definitely cheaper at $0.50 each compared to buying them at the grocery store!
Are homemade egg rolls worth it?
For the homemade egg roll recipe above, it will take about 1 to 1 1/2 hours to make and fry 28 egg rolls. That may be a little too much for an average dinner, but you can actually make a huge batch of egg rolls and freeze the rest for later!
I love making a huge batch one time, and then bring able to pull them out from the freezer in any amount that I want later on. If you typically only use 4 egg rolls at a time, then this recipe makes enough for 7 dinners!
Most frozen foods have a lot of salt/sodium and other preservatives in them, but when you make it at home you can skip these and make your egg rolls healthier.
Not only are homemade egg rolls cheaper, but another bonus making egg rolls at home is that you can make them any way you like. For example, you can make plain vegetable, ground beef, ground chicken, crab meat, ground turkey, or even shrimp egg rolls at home.
For more cost breakdowns of making vs buying, check out “Is it Cheaper to Make your own Hamburger Helper?” and “Is it cheaper to make your own Montreal Steak Seasoning?“
