Half the time at the grocery store, you’re paying extra for packaged foods just to avoid washing a spoon. But with inflation, shrinkflation, and every other kind of ‘flation’, it’s worth thinking about cutting back on a few luxuries. While some things are absolutely better bought than made, plenty of so-called ‘essentials’ are laughably easy to throw together at home — and way cheaper.
Here are 10 foods that are cheaper to make than buy at the store.
Bread
It only took a global pandemic for all of us to figure out that making your own bread isn’t quantum physics. Bread is flour, water, yeast, and salt. That’s literally it. So, I have no idea why the price in the grocery store is so high.
The average price for prepackaged white bread is $1.84, while whole wheat goes for $2.68. But if you’re buying fancy breads like sourdough, expect to fork over as much as $12 a loaf.
Homemade versions can cost pennies per slice, especially if you buy flour in bulk. It takes a learning curve to get it right, sure, and it won’t save you enough for a summer house, but it is a lot cheaper than buying a loaf every week, it’s cleaner, and you get the smug satisfaction of knowing you baked it yourself.
Recipe: King Arthur Baking
Salad Dressing
Store-bought salad dressing makes sense if you’re in the “time is money” camp and have dollars to spare for convenience’s sake. But if you’re on team “every cent counts,” you’ll realize making it at home isn’t as heavy a lift as it sounds. Most brands charge $3 to $5 for what’s basically pantry runoff — plus preservatives, gums, and gross additives. A basic vinaigrette at home will cost you about a buck, as long as you’re not splashing olive oil like you own an estate in Tuscany. If you’re not sure where to start, here are easy homemade salad dressing recipes for ranch, vinaigrettes, honey mustard, and others that use pantry basics.
Soup
There are grocery stores where a single can of soup — especially the premium stuff —costs over $5. That’s when you, my friend, are paying for convenience, not ingredients. What’s crazy is that you can make soup out of anything but a shoe, and all it takes is a pot and some water. And when you make a big batch of soup, you’re feeding yourself for days — for cheap. It’s one of the most forgiving dishes that allows you to improvise as much as you like.
Croutons, Crackers, Breadcrumbs
Two words: stale bread. That’s the common denominator here, and yet you’ll find all three packaged, priced, and marked up like this stale bread went to an Ivy League school or something.
Croutons go for $2 to $4 a bag. Breadcrumbs, same deal. Crackers can cost twice that, depending on the brand. But if you’ve got a loaf that’s gone a little dry, you already have everything you need. Cube it and bake it, and call it croutons. Blitz it in a food processor, and you’ll have breadcrumbs. Flatten and crisp it in the oven, and there go your crackers.
Guacamole
Guacamole has no business being this expensive. In 2025, a mid-range tub — Sabra, Trader Joe’s, Good Foods — goes for $3.50 to $5 for 8 to 10 ounces. That’s up to 60 cents an ounce for something that’s just avocado, lime, onion, and salt. Maybe a jalapeño if the brand’s feeling bold.
Meanwhile, you can find cheap avocados, add a few pantry basics, and you’ve got fresh guac for half the cost. It takes just five minutes, a fork, and a dash of self-respect. That’s it.
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Smoothies
Like soup, a smoothie is another example you can make with anything — and better at home — using whatever fruit is ripe or about to go bad.
Grocery store smoothies go for obscene prices like $4 to $8 a bottle, depending on the brand. But if you’ve got a banana that’s too brown, berries, half a sad apple, or even frozen mango from a bag, you’ve already got the base. Add water, milk, yogurt, or whatever you have. Most of the time, what you make at home will cost under $1 per serving — and you’ll actually recognize what’s in it.
Granola
Store-bought granola is one of those foods that pretends to be healthy (it’s not) but costs like it’s been imported from another galaxy.
A 12-ounce bag from brands like Bear Naked or Purely Elizabeth will run you $5 to $7 in 2025. That’s up to 60 cents an ounce for toasted oats, sugar, and whatever mix-ins they decided to toss in — dried blueberries if you’re lucky, chia seeds if you’re not.
Making it at home is cheaper, especially if you are fine with basic and don’t need the fancy schmancy addition. Oats in bulk are dirt cheap, and you can use sweeteners like honey or maple syrup. Add a handful of nuts or seeds if you have them, or don’t. I personally squeeze an orange and sprinkle some cinnamon or nutmeg for flavor. Bake it once and portion it out — it’ll last for weeks and cost a fraction of what you’d pay for a bag that’s 40% air.
Pancake Mix
Pancake mix typically consists of flour, baking powder, and salt. If you’re making pancakes more than once a month, it’s cheaper to just throw the dry stuff together yourself. Make a big batch, keep it in a jar. When you want pancakes, scoop, add milk, melted butter, and Bob’s your uncle. Most store-bought mixes cost $4 to $7 a bag, and you’re mostly paying for branding and shelf life. The difference in effort is one measuring spoon, whereas the price adds up fast if it’s a weekly habit.
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Yogurt
Making yogurt at home takes time — there’s no way around it — but once you learn the process, it’s easy to repeat, and the cost savings are worth the hassle.
In 2025, a standard 32-ounce tub of plain yogurt costs around $3 to $4, depending on brand and quality. Homemade yogurt, made with basic whole milk and a small amount of store-bought yogurt as a starter, costs about $1.50 for the same amount. If you buy milk in bulk or on sale, the cost drops even more.
There are a good number of videos and places that show you in detail how to do it, but they lack the know-how. What you do is heat the milk, cool it to the right temperature, add a starter culture (which is usually a store-bought yogurt), and let it sit for several hours undisturbed.
Hummus
Hummus looks bougie on the shelf, but it’s dirt cheap to make at home. A tub will run you $2 to $6, and you barely get enough to cover a week’s worth of celery sticks. Dried chickpeas, a spoonful of tahini, a squeeze of lemon, and some olive oil come together for a batch triple the size at a fraction of the price. Tahini costs more upfront, but it lasts through multiple rounds — possibly the apocalypse — so you end up with far more hummus for your money.
More Cheap and Easy Recipes From Cheapism
- 40 One-Pot Meal Recipes to Always Keep on Hand — These low-mess, multi-utility meals (sheet pans, skillets, Dutch ovens) make cooking at home feel almost effortless—great if you hate doing dishes after dinner.
- 15 Quick and Easy Sheet-Pan Dinner Ideas — Just prep once, roast everything together, and boom: fajitas, salmon with green beans, loaded nachos—all in one pan. Perfect for busy nights.
- Cooking Solo? Try These 20 Cheap and Easy Meals for One — Single portions, minimal effort: think omelets, baked sweet potatoes, one-pan pastas—great ideas when take-out feels wasteful but you want fast.
