Is it cheaper to make your own Whipped Cream?

Whipped cream is one of the best parts about dessert. Whether you are having pie, or ice cream, or a cake, you can add a dollop of whipped cream to make it something extra special. It’s not as heavy as traditional icing and whipped cream is typically less calories too.

As summertime approaches it is time to start thinking of barbeques and potluck dinners. It makes me wonder if it is cheaper to make this easy dessert topping rather than buy it. Let’s look over the costs of buying whipped cream at the store, if homemade is better, and if there is any cost savings to be had.

How much does a whipped cream cost?

There are 3 main varieties of whipped cream that are available at most grocery stores.

1. Whipped Dairy Cream that comes in a can with nitrous oxide to “whip” it fresh when you hit the nozzle.
2. Whipped Topping (nondairy) tubs that come in the freezer section
3. Powdered Whip Topping that is found in the baking section. (You mix it with milk of your choice to create the whipped cream)

All three of these options can range in prices from fairly cheap to pretty expensive. Let’s compare pricing:

Type	Cost	Cost per Oz
Reddi-wip Dairy Whipped Cream (in 13oz can)	$3.98	$0.30 per oz
Great Value Whipped Cream (in 13oz can)	$3.28	$0.25 per oz
Cool Whip Whipped Topping (8oz tub)	$1.97	$0.24 per oz
Great Value Whipped Topping (8oz tub)	$0.98	$0.12 per oz
Dream Whip (powdered whipped topping mix – (makes 4 cups/ needs 4 cups of milk)	$3.63	$0.11 per oz plus the cost of 4 cups of milk

Based on these choices, the cheapest option is the Great Value Whipped Topping 8 oz tub that only costs $0.98. It is going to be hard to beat this price point.

How do you make whipped cream?

Whipped cream is very easy to make and really just involves using a whisk and heavy whipping cream. Some people like to add additional flavorings and sweeteners like powdered sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, or cocoa powder.

Whipped cream can be made by hand with a handheld whisk, but if you are making a lot of whipped cream your hand will get very tired.

The easiest way to make whipped cream is to use a stand mixer or a hand-held mixer with the beater attachments. This makes a smoother and more consistent whipped cream with soft peaks.

Fun fact: Heavy whipping cream and heavy cream are very similar. The main difference is that heavy cream has a higher fat content. Technically you can use either one to make whipped cream, but you may have a slight texture difference that most people won’t be able to notice.

One of the tricks to making whipped cream is to make sure that the heavy whipping cream, the bowl, and the whisk is very cold. You can actually put your bowl and whisk in the fridge for a little bit before you start to make whipped cream.

Is homemade whip cream better than store bought?

Hands down homemade whipped cream is so much better and healthier than the tubs of whipped topping that you buy in the freezer section.

Homemade whipped cream is very comparable to the real dairy cream that comes in a can. I feel like the texture is better of the homemade whipped cream, because once the can of cream gets warm or towards the end, it is very melty.

Both homemade and whipped cream in a can is very temperature sensitive and needs to stay cold. If you are making a dish to be served outside, you will be better off with the nondairy frozen variety.

Is canned whip cream real?

Yes! Whipped cream in a can is real cream. If you look at the ingriendent list on the back of the can it should look like this:

Cream, Water, Sugar, Corn Syrup, Nonfat Milk, less than 2% of: Mono- and Diglycerides, Natural Flavor, Carrageenan. Propellant: Nitrous Oxide.

What isn’t real, is the “whipped topping” that you find in the freezer section. Most are labelled as nondairy and have an ingredient list that looks like this:

WATER, CORN SYRUP, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (COCONUT AND PALM KERNEL OILS), SKIM MILK, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF LIGHT CREAM, SODIUM CASEINATE (FROM MILK), NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, XANTHAN AND GUAR GUMS, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, POLYSORBATE 60, SORBITAN MONOSTEARATE, SODIUM POLYPHOSPHATE, BETA CAROTENE (COLOR).

Hey wait! That looks a lot like nondairy creamer…. Yes, you are right! Did you know that whipped topping was actually invented first, and scientists later were able to modify it into nondairy creamer that melts in hot liquids like coffee?

For more information about nondairy creamer, check out “What happens if you drink expired Powdered Creamer? (Coffee Mate).

Nondairy whipped topping is really just water, corn syrup, and oil that is made to taste and feel like real dairy whipped cream. It also has a much longer shelf life.

Can I freeze homemade whipped cream?

Let’s say you were trying to use up a bunch of heavy whipping cream before it went bad, and you made just way to too much homemade whipped cream. Can you freeze it?

Absolutely! We will need to take a little effort to freeze the whipped cream, but it is super simple. Some people like to make little dollops or mounds on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Once the little mounds are fully frozen you can transfer them to sealed plastic Ziploc bag. They will last for a couple of months in the freezer.

If you want to get super fancy you can show off your piping skills and make pretty whipped cream rosettes or fancy swirls. I tend to just use a spoon and try to make all the mounds roughly the same size.

This makes it super easy to freeze them in the perfect shape. When you are ready to use it, you can pull it straight out of the freezer and drop it into hot chocolate or put it on a piping hot pie!

Is it cheaper to make your own Whipped Cream?

So, let’s compare the numbers, we know that real whipped cream in a can runs about $0.25-0.30 an ounce depending on if you buy name brand or store brand.

We also know that all you really need to make whipped cream is heavy whipping cream. It takes 1 cup heavy whipping cream to make approximately 2 cups of whipped cream.

My local Walmart sells three different options for heavy whipping cream, so let’s see if any of these will be cheaper than store bought whipped cream.

Heavy Whipping Cream	amount of whipped cream made	Cost	Cost per oz
Great Value Heavy Whipping Cream (16oz)	32 oz whipped cream	$2.58	$0.08
Land O Lakes Heavy Whipping Cream (16oz)	32 oz whipped cream	$3.56	$0.11
Horizon Organic Heavy Whipping Cream (16 oz)	32 oz whipped cream	$4.98	$0.15

It looks like it doesn’t matter which heavy whipping cream you pick, making homemade whipped cream will in fact be cheaper per ounce than buying the real dairy canned whipped cream in a can!

Most people already have vanilla extract and powdered sugar at home, so really the only main cost is the heavy whipping cream. If you had to buy additional flavorings your savings may be a little less, but the taste will definitely be worth it!

For other DIY kitchen projects to save money, check out “Is it cheaper to make your own Deli Meat?” The savings potential is huge!

Don’t forget to read “Is it cheaper to make your own Half and Half?” or “25 Cheap food that fills you up when you are broke!” for more helpful tips and tricks!