Is it Cheaper to Make or Buy Pierogies?
Growing up with a half Polish mom, we ate a lot of pierogies for dinner. We mostly ate them boiled and then pan fried with sausage, onions, and bell pepper. This was hands down one of my favorite meals growing up!
Over the years, I still make pierogies for my family as a yummy comfort food, but the price of frozen pierogies continue to go up. This made me wonder if I can make them cheaper at home. Let’s find out!
How much do homemade pierogies cost?
I recently came across this recipe for Pierogies from King Arthus Baking Company. For the full recipe, click here.
| Homemade Pierogies Ingredients | Total Cost | Cost for this Recipe |
| 2 cups All Purpose flour | Great Value 5lb bag= $2.24 | $0.23 |
| 1/2 tsp salt | Great Value 24oz container= $0.64 | $0.01 |
| 1 egg | Great Value 12ct large white eggs= $2.63 | $0.21 |
| 1/2 cup sour cream | Great Value 8oz container= $1.16 | $0.58 |
| 4 tbsp butter | Great Value 16oz box= $3.98 | $0.49 |
| 1 cup of mashed potatoes | Idahoan 4.1oz pouch instant potatoes= $1.44 | $0.72 |
| 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese | Great Value 8oz shredded cheese= $2.22 | $1.11 |
| Total Cost for Ingredients: $14.31 | Total Cost for this Recipe: $3.35 | Cost per Pierogi: $0.08 |
Thankfully most of the ingredients for homemade pierogies are ones that I always have on hand, but just in case I did not have any of these ingredients, I priced them out at my local Walmart. (They tend to have the cheapest prices in my area.) The total for all ingredients would be about $14.31.
Depending on where you live and where you grocery shop, your totals may vary. I also used a package of instant potatoes for this recipe. If I had used leftover homemade mashed potatoes, this recipe would have been even cheaper.
The actual cost of the ingredients that were used in this homemade pierogies recipe is about $3.35. This recipe makes approximately 40 pierogies depending on size, so that comes out to about $0.08 per pierogi.
How much do pierogies cost at the grocery store?
Now let’s head to a couple grocery stores and get some prices on premade pierogies.
| Store Bought Pierogies & Quantity | Store & Price | Price per Pierogi |
| Mrs.T’s Classic Cheddar, 12 pierogies | Ralph’s, $4.79 | $0.39 |
| Kasia’s Potato & Cheese, 36 pierogies | Costco, $14.92 | $0.41 |
| Mrs.T’s Classic Cheddar, 48 pierogies | Walmart, $10.98 | $0.22 |
| Kasia Potato & Cheese, 12 pierogies | Sprouts, $5.99 | $0.49 |
| Mrs.T’s Classic Cheddar, 12 pierogies | Albertsons, $5.79 | $0.48 |
| Golden Pierogies Potato & Cheddar, 12 pierogies | Von’s, $6.89 | $0.57 |
| Mrs.T’s Classic Cheddar, 24 pierogies | Kroger, $7.99 | $0.33 |
| Bremer Potato & Cheddar, 12 pierogies | Aldi, $2.99 | $0.24 |
| Poppy’s Potato, Cheddar, & Sour Cream, 8 pierogies | Meijer, $1.89 | $0.23 |
| Holy Perogy! Potato & Cheddar, 16 piergoies | Lucky’s Market, $5.89 | $0.36 |
| JJ Frozen 3 cheese, 32 pierogies | Gordon Food Service, $3.99 | $0.12 |
| Average cost per Store Bought Pierogi: | $0.34 |
We checked 11 different stores and a couple of different sizes and brands. Overall, the cost per pierogies from the grocery store were about $0.34 each.
Now some places like Gordon Food Service came out pretty cheap at $0.34 each, but other places like Von’s came out to $0.57 each.
When we compare these prices per pierogi to the homemade version only being $0.08 each so much cheaper.
If you are not sure how to cook pierogies or looking for new ideas, check out “9 Different Ways to Cook Frozen Pierogies.”
Is homemade pierogies worth it?
If we are basing our decision on homemade pierogies just on cost, then homemade is definitely cheaper. On average homemade pierogies were about 76% cheaper than the store-bought kind.
Another great benefit of making pierogies at home is that you can control the ingredients. You can literally flavor and fill the pierogies with any items you like from fresh herbs, different cheeses, and even adding more vegetables like shredded carrot, sauteed mushrooms, and more.
I personally, plan to start making pierogies to use up leftover mashed potatoes and whatever else I have available in the fridge.
If you love the convenience of having frozen pierogies, then you can pre-make a large batch and freeze them too! The homemade recipe made about 40 pierogies but we typically only use about 12 each time we make dinner.
That means one batch can easily make 3 meals. According to King Arthur’s recipe, after you make the dough and fill the pierogies you can pop them in the freezer. I would lay them out on parchment paper on a sheet pan and freeze first, then put them in a Ziploc style bag for storage in the freezer.
On average it takes about 1 hour to make pierogies, so I think that is very easy to do on a weekend afternoon. Plus as a way to use leftovers, I am all about eliminating as much food waste as possible.
Sometimes it gets difficult to re-use leftovers, so instead of my typical homemade pizza or scrambled egg, I will be adding homemade pierogies to the mix!
For more cost breakdowns of making versus buying, check out “Is it Cheaper to Make or Buy Enchilada Sauce?” and “Is it Cheaper to Make or Buy Breakfast Burritos?“
