Is it Cheaper to make or buy Muffins?
Muffins are the ultimate breakfast item on the go or a sweet treat for an afternoon snack. It’s also hard to get tired of muffins because there are so many flavor combinations available!
My kids love the mini muffin packs, but they can get pretty pricey. This made me wonder what the cheapest option for muffins would be. Let’s breakdown the cost of homemade muffins, muffins from a premeasured mix, bakery muffins, and the mini muffin packs.
How much do homemade muffins cost?
The most popular muffin in the US is the blueberry muffin, so we will use this as the basis for our cost breakdown. The recipe we are using is from The Salty Marshmallow. Click here for full recipe.
| Homemade Muffin Ingredients | Cost |
| 2 cups All Purpose Flour | 22.6 cents |
| 3/4 cup sugar | 15 cents |
| 2 tsp baking powder | 6.1 cents |
| 1/4 tsp salt | 1 cent |
| 1 cup milk | 24.5 cents |
| 2 eggs | 37.6 cents |
| 1 tsp vanilla | 3 cents |
| 1/2 cup butter | 99.5 cents |
| 2 cups blueberries (fresh) | $2.98 |
| Total Cost: $5.07 (makes 12 regular muffins or 36 mini muffins) | Cost per muffin: $0.42 |
I priced out all the ingredients at my local Walmart because they typically have the lowest everyday prices in my area.
The cost to make homemade blueberry muffins with fresh blueberries is $5.07. This comes out to $0.42 per regular sized muffin. If we were to make mini muffins, it would cost $0.14 each.
Some ways to lower this cost would be to use frozen blueberries instead of fresh blueberries. We could also just use less blueberries like only 1 cup instead of 2 cups.
If we had made this recipe with 1 cup of frozen blueberries, the total cost would be $3.83. That comes out to $0.28 per regular muffin and $0.09 per mini muffin.
Is a muffin mix cheaper than homemade muffins?
Now let’s see what the cost is if we use a muffin mix to make blueberry muffins!
| Blueberry Muffin Mix & Number of Muffins | Store & Price | Cost per Muffin |
| Duncan Hines Premium Blueberry Mix, 12 muffins | Walmart, $3.48 | Mix: $3.48 2 eggs: $0.38 2/3 cup water: $0.00 1/3 cup oil: $0.18 Total: $4.04 Cost per Muffin: $0.34 |
| Betty Crocker Wild Blueberry mix, 12 muffins | Target, $3.19 | Mix: $3.19 2 eggs: $0.38 2/3 cup water: $0.00 1/3 cup oil: $0.18 Total: $3.75 Cost per Muffin: $0.31 |
| Jiffy Blueberry Muffin Mix, 6 muffins | Warehouse Market, $1.19 | Mix: $1.19 1 egg: $0.18 1/4 cup milk: $0.06 Total: $1.43 Cost Per Muffin: $0.24 |
| Pillsbury Blueberry Muffin Mix, 6 muffins | 10Box Cost Plus, $1.07 | Mix: $1.07 1/2 cup milk: $0.12 Total: $1.19 Cost Per Muffin: $0.20 |
| Marie Callender’s Muffin Mix Blueberry, 6 muffins | Homeland, $1.25 | Mix: $1.25 1 egg: $0.18 1/3 cup milk: $0.08 2 tbsp oil: $0.07 Total: $1.58 Cost Per Muffin: $0.26 |
| Martha White Muffin Mix Blueberry, 6 muffins | Harps, $1.69 | Mix: $1.69 1/2 cup milk: $0.12 Total: $1.81 Cost Per Muffin: $0.30 |
| Ginger Evans Blueberry Muffin Mix, 6 muffins | Save A Lot, $1.09 | Mix: $1.09 1/2 cup milk: $0.12 Total: $1.21 Cost Per Muffin: $0.20 |
| Average Cost per Muffin: | $0.26 |
The average cost per muffin using a premeasured mix is $0.26 per muffin. Even if we do the cheaper version of the homemade muffins ($0.28 each), the muffin mix comes out cheaper per muffin.
I did find it interesting that the mixes that make more muffins are actually more expensive per muffin that the cheaper packs that make only 6 muffins.
Pro Tip: When buying a muffin mix, make sure that you look at the number of muffins it makes and what additional ingredients are needed. The cheapest options were the ones that only needed 1/2 cup of milk.
How much do muffins cost at grocery store?
There are two main types of muffins that you can buy at the grocery store. There are the fresh baked ones from the bakery section, and then there is the packaged mini muffins that usually come in packs of 5. Let’s break down both costs to see which is cheaper.
| Bakery Blueberry Muffins & Number of Muffins | Store & Cost | Price Per Muffin |
| Bake Shop Blueberry Muffins, 4 count | Aldi, $4.09 | $1.03 |
| Blueberry Muffins, 6 count | Sam’s Club, $5.47 | $0.91 |
| Blueberry Muffins, 4 count | Walmart, $3.98 | $0.99 |
| Grissom’s Blueberry Muffins, 4 count | Save A Lot, $4.39 | $1.09 |
| Otis Spunkmeyer, 3 count | Cash Savers, $4.00 | $1.33 |
| Average Cost per Bakery Muffin: | $1.07 each |
We know it is much quicker to just grab prebaked regular size muffins, but with an average cost of $1.07 per muffin you will pay for the convenience. This is almost 4 times the cost of making muffins with a mix.
Now anyone with small kids, know that they love the mini muffins. Since they are mini, they should cost less, right? I wish it worked that way! Let’s look at the cost breakdown.
| Mini Blueberry Muffins & Number of Muffins | Store & Cost | Price Per Mini Muffin |
| Cafe Valley Mini Muffins, 12 count | Harps Food Store, $5.09 | $0.42 |
| Baker’s Treat Mini Muffins, 5 packs= 20 muffins | Aldi, $3.29 | $0.16 |
| Entenmann’s Little Bites, 5 packs= 20 muffins | Walmart, $3.94 | $0.19 |
| Little Debbie’s Mini muffins, 5 packs= 20 muffins | Homeland, $2.79 | $0.13 |
| Hostess Mini Muffins, 20 packs= 80 muffins | Sam’s Club, $12.18 | $0.15 |
| Average Cost per Mini Muffin: | $0.21 each |
It looks like the average cost for premade mini muffins comes out to $0.21 per muffin. If you were to make mini muffins with a mix, you would end up with mini muffins that cost $0.08 each.
Fun Fact: 1 muffin equals 3 mini muffins.
If your kids love the mini muffins for breakfast like mine does, then your best option is to find them on a super sale or just make mini muffins with a small mix that just requires milk to be added.
Are homemade muffins worth it?
Hands down, homemade muffins are going to taste so much better than the kind that you can buy at the store. The downside is that any flavors you add like fresh fruit or chocolate chips are going to make the cost go up.
On the other hand, if you find a great deal on fruit or use up almost expired fruit like brown bananas, your cost can be very low.
If you don’t have any great fruit deals or items in your pantry, the most cost-effective way to make muffins is to use a premeasured mix. Typically, these mixes run around $1.00 each.
My local grocery store tends to put these mixes on sale occasionally for $0.59 each or even 3 mixes for a $1.00. In these cases, I usually go ahead and stock up on the mixes, so I have them whenever we want fresh muffins.
Another good tip for buying mixes is to look at the additional ingredients needed. The cheap mixes that only use 1/2 a cup of milk or water, came out the cheapest per muffin.
The mixes that required eggs, oil, and milk were some of the most expensive per muffins even though those mixes made twice the number of muffins.
Pro Tip: Making muffins is really simple with a mix, so this makes it a great kitchen activity that you can do with small children!
For more cost breakdowns of making versus buying, check out “Is it Cheaper to make Pickles or buy them?” and “Is it Cheaper to make or buy Meatballs?“
