Is it cheaper to make your own Orange Juice?
Making orange juice is so easy and you need very little equipment to do it at home. So, this makes me wonder if it is cheaper to just buy oranges and make my own juice. The thought of fresh orange juice just sounds amazing right?
We will need to determine exactly what oranges to buy, how many oranges to buy, and if the time to make the orange juice will make it cheaper than buying grocery store orange juice!
How many oranges do we need?
Before we go to the store, we need to figure out what kind of oranges and how many we need. I was looking at the Walmart app, and my store currently only has Clementines, Navel Oranges, and Organic Common Oranges in stock.
Thankfully, all of these oranges will make juice! The clementines can make juice either very sweet or a little sour depending on their age and size. The small ones may be more sour than larger ones.
Navel Oranges and the Organic Standard Oranges are both good choices to make juice as well because they will give a pretty neutral taste. This means they won’t be the sweetest, but they shouldn’t taste sour either.
There is no one juicing orange, all oranges can be juiced. Even specialty oranges like blood oranges can be used!
Squeezed orange juice is so simple to make at home. Really all you have to do is peel the oranges, and then put them in a food processor, blender, or use a hand juicer. That’s all you need to do to make fresh squeezed juice.
How many oranges for 1 cup juice?
Typically, you will need 3-6 oranges to make one cup of finished orange juice. This is a flexible number because some varieties of oranges are smaller like clementines, and some are bigger like the Navel Oranges. We would most likely need 6 clementines or 3 Navel Oranges to make a cup of juice.
How many oranges in a pound?
Most oranges are sold by the pound or in a bag of 3-5lbs. Some people prefer to individually pick their own oranges and pay by the pound. If you are not that picky or in a hurry, you can also pick up a bag of already picked oranges.
Homemade Orange Juice Costs
Let’s price out all three varieties of oranges to see if we can find a cheaper alternative to buying orange juice!
| Orange Variety | Cost | Estimated amount of juice | Cost per oz of Juice |
| Clementines | $4.22 for a 3lb bag | Typically, there is 5 clementines to a pound, so we can estimate that we will get a total of 15 oranges. With it taking approx. 6 clementine oranges to get 1 cup of juice. Total Juice: 2.5 cups of juice | (2.5 cups = 20 oz) 21 cents per oz of juice |
| Navel Oranges | $5.00 for 5lb bag | Typically, there is 2 navel oranges in a pound, so we can estimate that we will get a total of 10 oranges. With it taking approx. 3 navel oranges to get 1 cup of juice. Total Juice: 3.33 cups of juice | (3.33 cups = 26.66 oz) 18.7 cents per oz of juice |
| Navel Oranges | $0.90 per pound/ for 5lbs =$4.50 | Let’s do 5 lbs., just so we can compare oranges to oranges with the bagged navels. (10 oranges total) Total Juice: 3.33 cups of juice | (3.33 cups = 26.66 oz) 16.8 cents per oz of juice |
| Organic Oranges | $5.24 for 4lb bag | These are very similar in size to the navel oranges, so we will estimate it will take 3 organic oranges to make 1 cup of juice. A 4lb bag should hold about 8 oranges. Total Juice: 2.66 cups of juice | (2.6 cups= 21.33 oz) 24.5 cents per oz of juice |
So far, we have already found out a way to save money on oranges! It looks like by picking our own navel oranges, it is actually cheaper than buying it already in a bag. This is why Wise Buying is so important! (Check out “Wise Buying- Everything you need to know” for more ways to find the best deals.)
The winner of cheapest cost per oz of juice is definitely going to be the loose Navel oranges. Now let’s compare our homemade costs to commercially made orange juice.
| 100% Orange Juice | Cost | Cost per Oz |
| Homemade orange juice with Navel oranges | $4.50 for 26.66oz | 16.8 cents per oz |
| Simply Orange | $5.98 for 89 oz | 6.7 cents per oz |
| Great Value Orange Juice | $3.98 for 128 oz | 3.1 cents per oz |
| Tropicana Orange Juice | $5.58 for 89 oz | 6.2 cents per oz |
| Simple Truth 100% Organic Orange Juice | $4.29 for 52 oz | 8.2 cents per oz |
The price per ounce of orange juice was definitely eye opening! It didn’t matter which option we picked from name brand, store brand, or even organic. All of the store bought juice was cheaper per ounce than to make your own juice.
Why is orange juice cheaper than oranges?
This seems so backwards that orange juice is cheaper than oranges. You buy oranges in their whole form meaning they have seeds, membranes, and peels. This means a lot of what you are paying for is really just waste.
The part that we are missing at home, is that commercially made orange juice is not produced by simply juicing an orange. If companies did just make orange juice by juicing them, then they could only sell their product for a short amount of time and only at certain times of the year.
Have you ever wondered why Tropicana orange juice always tastes the same every year, whether the orange crop was affected or not? You would think that real orange juice taste would change based on the conditions and the weather of where the oranges are grown.
Almost all commercially made orange juice that is not made from concentrate, is actually put through a process where all the oxygen is removed from the juice. This also takes out most of the flavor.
The manufacturers then add flavor packs, essence of orange, and orange peel oil to make all the containers of orange juice taste the same. They also then pasteurize the juice to make it last longer on the shelf.
Typically, homemade orange juice will only last a few days, but commercially made orange juice can last almost a month.
The last reason that store bought orange juice is cheaper is because they use the ugly, misshapen, and not perfect oranges. The oranges that you buy in the grocery store are top of the line oranges that are meant to look appealing and to taste good, so they are more expensive.
The oranges that are used for juice are the ones that would not meet all the standards to be sold to the public. They are perfectly good oranges, but just don’t look the prettiest. Juice companies save money by using the second-place oranges.
Is it worth squeezing your own orange juice?
Un ornately it is just not worth squeezing your own orange juice to save money compared to buying it already made. This doesn’t mean that making orange juice isn’t “worth” it!
Typically the juice you make at home is going to be much tastier and some believe it is actually healthier than the commercially made kind.
If you live in Florida or California and grow your own orange trees, you can definitely make orange juice much cheaper than someone who has to buy the oranges at the store.
Now on the other hand, if you do buy a bag of oranges to eat, but don’t end up using them all before they start to spoil….then juice them! Yes, older oranges can actually be easier to juice and tastier because the fruit has aged.
No need to throw out oranges if they are getting past their prime, just go ahead and throw them in a food processor, blender, or use a hand juicer.
If you are not a fan of pulp, you can use a sieve or colander to remove the pulp and have nicely strained orange juice.
Homemade orange juice will taste a million times better than store bought but it will not save you any money by making it yourself.
If you are looking for more DIY cooking projects to save money, check out “Is it cheaper to make your own Whipped Cream? and “Is it cheaper to make your own Cauliflower Rice?” for more at home ways to save!
