Conventional wisdom tells us that cooking at home always beats buying ready-made food when it comes to saving money. Yet recent research from France reveals something surprising that might challenge everything you thought you knew about food economics. When the cost of time was taken into account, some studies suggest industrially processed dishes can be more economical than their home-prepared counterparts. While homemade meals might save you a few cents on ingredients, the reality is far more complex when you factor in your precious time. The numbers for cooking at home don’t factor in the time you spend getting your food to the plate – from traveling to the grocery store, shopping, putting it away and then actually preparing and cooking it. Time-strapped individuals may actually do better in the drive-through.
Slice-and-Bake Cookies
When it comes to those quick chocolate chip cookies for a school bake sale, your homemade efforts might actually cost you more. The from-scratch cookies cost about 23 cents apiece, compared with Safeway brand slice-and-bake at 16 cents each. Store-bought slice-and-bake cookies not only beat homemade versions in price but also eliminate the hours of mixing, baking, and cleanup. We liked the Safeway brand almost as much as the homemade, proving that quality doesn’t have to suffer when you choose convenience.
The economics become even more compelling when you consider the hidden costs of baking. You need to buy larger quantities of ingredients like flour, sugar, eggs, and butter, many of which might spoil before you use them again. Meanwhile, that package of slice-and-bake dough gives you exactly what you need, when you need it.
Pasta from Scratch
To make pasta at home, it would cost about $1.50 in ingredients, but it would take almost an hour of labor-intensive work. You can save a little bit of time by getting a pasta maker, but considering you can grab a box of pasta from the store for $1, you definitely won’t see any savings if you do this. The math is straightforward here. Store-bought pasta wins both on time and money, leaving you with more energy to focus on creating an amazing sauce instead.
Quality boxed pasta has come a long way, and many brands now offer varieties that rival homemade versions in taste and texture. Unless you’re making pasta as a special occasion activity or hobby, for the everyday busy mom on a budget, skip it and buy the box.
Tomato Paste
Making tomato paste from scratch sounds like a noble kitchen endeavor until you realize the economics. For about $4 worth of ingredients and a whole lot of time in the kitchen, you could have a 50 cent jar of tomato paste (and avoid a sink full of dishes.) Totally better to buy this one. The store-bought version delivers the same concentrated tomato flavor without the hours of reducing and stirring.
Commercial tomato paste production benefits from economies of scale that home cooks simply cannot match. Manufacturers can process tomatoes at peak season in massive quantities, achieving consistency and affordability that makes homemade versions seem almost luxurious by comparison.
Rotisserie Chicken
That golden rotisserie chicken spinning in your grocery store’s warming case represents one of retail’s best loss leaders. We’re all busy, and picking up something at the grocery store that’s ready to eat is sometimes worth paying extra. These chickens are often priced at or below cost to draw customers into the store, making them genuine bargains compared to buying a whole raw chicken and cooking it yourself.
When you factor in the cost of seasoning, electricity or gas for cooking, and your time spent preparing and monitoring the bird, that ready-to-eat rotisserie chicken becomes an even better deal. Plus, you avoid heating up your kitchen and can have dinner on the table in minutes rather than hours.
Hummus
While many food enthusiasts swear by homemade hummus, the store-bought versions have become surprisingly competitive. The Marketside hummus selection at my store features seven varieties priced around $2.87 for containers. That means this hummus takes the ribbon for lowest price among its 11 companions on this list. When you calculate the cost of tahini, quality olive oil, and fresh lemons, homemade versions often cost more per serving.
Tahini alone can cost upwards of eight dollars for a jar, and you’ll only use a few tablespoons for a batch of hummus. Store brands have made significant improvements in taste and texture, offering varieties that satisfy most palates without the mess and expense of making it from scratch.
Sandwich Wraps and Tortillas
A package of 12 corn tortillas costs $1.65. If you buy a package of 36, it’s $1.75. Making tortillas from scratch requires masa flour or all-purpose flour, salt, fat, and considerable time spent rolling and cooking each one individually. The labor-intensive process rarely justifies the minimal savings, especially when store-bought versions freeze beautifully and taste nearly identical.
Commercial tortilla production creates thin, uniform tortillas that are difficult to replicate at home without specialized equipment. The convenience factor alone makes the small price premium worthwhile for most busy households.
Pre-Mixed Salads
Those bags of pre-washed, pre-cut salad greens might seem overpriced until you break down the actual economics. You have to buy one or two kinds of greens, an onion, some tomatoes of some kind, a cucumber, maybe some cheese and some grapes and baby carrots and croutons plus the shrimp. When buying ingredients for a single salad, you often end up purchasing quantities that far exceed what you need.
Pre-mixed salads eliminate waste and ensure you get exactly the portion you want without buying a whole head of lettuce that might wilt before you finish it. The convenience of having everything pre-washed and ready to eat saves both time and water, making it an environmentally and economically sound choice for many households.
Pizza Sauce
While homemade pizza sauce enthusiasts argue for superior flavor, the economics tell a different story. Small jars of quality pizza sauce cost under two dollars and provide enough for multiple pizzas. Making sauce from scratch requires canned tomatoes, herbs, spices, and cooking time, with costs that quickly add up to more than the store-bought alternative.
Commercial pizza sauce benefits from consistent seasoning and standardized recipes that deliver reliable results every time. Unless you’re making pizza weekly and can use up homemade sauce quickly, the store-bought version offers better value and convenience.
Frozen Hash Browns
The process of making hash browns from fresh potatoes involves washing, peeling, grating, and often pre-cooking steps that consume significant time and energy. Frozen hash browns eliminate all this prep work while delivering consistent results at competitive prices. A large bag of frozen hash browns often costs less per serving than buying the equivalent weight in fresh potatoes.
Frozen varieties also offer the advantage of portion control and reduced waste. You can cook exactly what you need without worrying about fresh potatoes sprouting or going soft in your pantry. The commercial freezing process actually helps break down cell walls, creating the perfect texture that’s difficult to achieve with fresh potatoes at home.
Garlic Bread
That loaf of frozen garlic bread in your grocery store’s freezer section represents remarkable value when you consider all the components. You’d need to buy bread, butter, garlic, herbs, and sometimes cheese to make it from scratch. Freshly made cookies, cakes and muffins cost about three times more at the store than they do when you whip up a batch at home, but garlic bread bucks this trend.
Frozen garlic bread bakes up golden and aromatic in minutes, delivering restaurant-quality results without the prep work or ingredient costs. The economies of scale in commercial production make these products surprisingly affordable while maintaining consistent quality that’s hard to replicate at home.
Chicken Wings
Fresh chicken wings have become surprisingly expensive at retail, often costing more per pound than premium cuts of meat. Frozen chicken wings from warehouse stores like Sam’s Club can offer good bulk pricing. Frozen wings offer exceptional value, especially when purchased in bulk from warehouse stores.
The convenience factor is enormous too. Frozen wings eliminate the need to separate and clean fresh wings, and they often come pre-seasoned or with sauce packets included. When you factor in the time savings and reduced waste, frozen wings become an obvious choice for most home cooks.
Breakfast Pastries
Making croissants, Danish pastries, or similar breakfast treats from scratch requires specialized techniques, multiple rising periods, and expensive ingredients like European-style butter. The time investment alone makes homemade breakfast pastries a luxury few can afford on busy weekday mornings.
Frozen breakfast pastries have improved dramatically in quality while remaining affordable. They offer bakery-style results with minimal effort, making them ideal for families who want special breakfast treats without the weekend project that homemade versions require. Between 2022-2023, the cost of bakery products and cereal saw the highest increase among individual grocery items (a 14.6% increase). By baking instead of buying pre-made products, you can save some cash, but breakfast pastries remain an exception to this rule.
Sandwich Bread
While artisanal bread-making can be rewarding, everyday sandwich bread presents a compelling case for store-bought convenience. It often works out cheaper than store-bought bread might seem true at first glance, but this doesn’t account for the energy costs, time investment, and ingredient waste that often accompany home baking.
Commercial bread production achieves consistent texture, extended shelf life, and competitive pricing that home bakers struggle to match. Organic whole wheat bread prices vary significantly between stores, showing that shopping strategically can yield better deals than making bread from scratch.
The surprising truth about food economics is that convenience doesn’t always come with a premium price tag. These thirteen dishes prove that sometimes the smartest financial decision is to let industrial-scale production work in your favor. The popular belief that it is healthier and cheaper to cook at home rather than buying ready-made meals is over-simplified. Making healthier meal choices may be more important for improving diet quality than whether meals are bought ready-made or prepared in the home.
What do you think about these surprising findings? Have you discovered any ready-made foods that actually save you money compared to homemade versions?
