Is it Cheaper to Make or Buy Fruit Roll-ups? (Fruit Leather)

It is back to school time again and the huge prices on snacks has me thinking for homemade alternatives. My kids love fruit snacks so this is a great option to look at for savings.

Today we will break down the cost of making homemade fruit roll ups/ fruit leather and compare it to grocery store prices. This will help us determine if there is any savings to be had and if it will be worth our time to make fruit rolls ourselves.

How much to make homemade fruit roll ups?

I was very surprised to learn that there is not that many ingredients needed for homemade fruit rolls and the equipment needed is minimal as well. Basically, all you need is 1lb of fresh or frozen fruit, some lemon juice, a blender or food processor, and then an oven to bake it on low (170 degrees F). (You can add sugar, honey, agave, or other sweeteners, if you want to make it sweeter, but we are going with the bare basic option for this breakdown.)

For our cost breakdown, I am going to make a strawberry version and we will see if using fresh or frozen strawberries comes out cheaper!

Homemade Fruit Rolls	Total Cost	Cost for this Recipe
1 pound of fresh strawberries	$2.66	$2.66
1 tsp lemon juice	4.5oz jar lemon juice= $0.98	$0.03
	Total Cost: $3.64	Cost for Recipe: $2.69
1 pound frozen strawberries	Great Value 1lb bag= $2.24	$2.24
1 tsp lemon juice	4.5oz jar lemon juice= $0.98	$0.03
	Total Cost: $3.22	Cost for Recipe: $2.27

Depending on how big you cut your final fruit roll-ups you can make 4 -6 portions. I priced out ingredients at my local Walmart, so depending on where you shop, your prices may vary.

The total cost to make a batch with fresh strawberries was $2.69 and that makes each fruit roll up about $0.53 each.

If we use frozen berries instead our total cost would be $2.27 and each roll-up would cost about $0.45 each.

I think this totally comes down to preference and if you can get a good deal on strawberries or really any other fruit that you want to use. The great news is that low cost frozen options do exist so that means you can make these even in winter when fresh produce can be more expensive.

How much is fruit rolls up at the grocery store cost?

Now let’s head out to some grocery stores to see how much the average fruit rolls up costs. I am going to try to stick to the strawberry flavor just so we can compare the same fruit.

Fruit Roll Up & Quantity	Store & Price	Cost per Roll
Great Value Fruit Strips, 24ct	Walmart, $5.98	$0.25
Simply Nature, 21 ct	Aldi, $4.95	$0.24
Fruit Roll-ups, 10ct	Kroger, $3.99	$0.40
Bear Fruit Rolls, 48 ct	Costco, $13.67	$0.28
Fruit Roll-ups, 72 ct	Sam’s Club, $19.69	$0.27
Good & Gather, 10ct	Target, $3.99	$0.40
Pure Organic, 12ct	Meijer, $6.99	$0.58
Fruit Roll-ups, 72 ct	BJ’s, $20.99	$0.29
Fruit Roll-ups, 10ct	Family Dollar, $3.99	$0.40
Fruit Roll-ups, 10ct	Save A Lot, $3.85	$0.39
Simple Truth, 8ct	Fry’s, $3.59	$0.45
	Average Cost per Roll:	$0.36

We looked at a bunch of different stores and saw prices as low as $0.24 a roll (Aldi) and as high as $0.45 a roll (at Fry’s). The average cost per fruit roll at the grocery store was $0.36 per roll.

It is interesting to note that even the full organic options of fruit rolls were cheaper than making it ourselves!

Are homemade fruit rolls worth it?

If we are looking at cost alone, it is not worth making fruit rolls at home. Not only was the cost of ingredients higher, but it is also going to take 3-6 hours to dehydrate the fruit in the oven or food dehydrator.

Now normally I would say that the homemade versions are going to be healthier and have less preservatives, but I found plenty of all natural and even organic options at the grocery store for cheaper than I could make at home.

This experiment wasn’t a complete waste because occasionally we do stumble upon a great deal or are given free fruit and making fruit leather at home is a great way to use up this fruit!

We recently were given a ton of blackberries and blueberries that I have frozen right now, and I think making fruit rolls with my kids will be a fun activity and a new way to use these fruits.

Unfortunately, making fruit rolls at home will not save you money and it will cost you a lot of time and effort.