Is it cheaper to make trail mix or to buy it?
For years, I have wondered if it's cheaper to:
a) make my own trail mix with Aldi ingredients
or
b) buy the pre-mixed Aldi trail mix
If I didn't have a blog, I'd probably just spend the rest of my life wondering.
But since I do have a blog, I have a reason to figure out detailed stuff like this.
I bought a bag of Aldi trail mix, dumped it out onto a sheet pan, separated out each component, and weighed it.
This was a boring job, which is why I put some earbuds in.
Pre-made Trail Mix Weights
Here are the weights of the items in the trail mix.
- Raisins: 10 ounces
- Peanuts: 7 ounces
- M&Ms: 6 ounces
- Almonds: 3.5 ounces
- Cashews: 1 ounce (this is not a very cashew-heavy mix!)
Trail Mix Ingredients (Aldi prices)
I bought all the trail mix ingredients at Aldi, and here's how those prices break down.
Raisins: $0.14/oz
Peanuts: $0.12/oz
M&Ms: $0.27/oz
Almonds: $0.35/oz
Cashews: $0.43/oz (This explains why there are so few cashews in the mix!)
Pre-made Trail Mix Prices per ounce
The price of the pre-packaged trail mix goes like this:
10 ounces raisins: $1.40
7 ounces peanuts: $0.84
6 ounces M&Ms: $1.62 (the priciest ingredient)
3.5 ounces almonds: $1.22
1 ounce cashews: $0.43
Cost Results
The DIY version adds up to $5.51.
And a bag of the pre-mixed trail mix costs $4.89!
So, the pre-made trail mix is actually cheaper than making your own.
Who knew??
Of course, there are ways that you could make this mix more cheaply.
- M&Ms are not a great price at Aldi (this is true of most brand name products at Aldi); by buying seasonal ones after a holiday, you could easily cut the price of the M&Ms by more than half.
- You could use chocolate chips instead of M&Ms, since they're far cheaper per ounce.
- You could opt to make your mix without cashews, since they're the most expensive per ounce.
- You could buy nuts from Costco and probably get a lower price on something like bulk almonds.
But the point of this post is: if you are buying all the ingredients at Aldi, it's actually cheaper to buy this particular mix ready-made.
If you'd like to try making your own, though, here are the cup measurements of what was in the Aldi bag.
This makes an exact replica of Aldi's Mountain trail mix. If you can get M&Ms cheaply, or if you use chocolate chips, this is cheaper to DIY. But if you buy all the ingredients at Aldi, it's cheaper to buy the premade mix!
Aldi Trail Mix
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Other Comparisons
A compilation of my detailed price comparison posts for your perusal.
Is homemade pizza cheaper than takeout pizza?
And is it cheaper than frozen pizza?
Does homemade bread really save money?
A comparison between homemade bread and super-cheap white bread; which comes out on top?
Is it cheaper to make trail mix or to buy it?
I separated a bag of trail mix into its components to find out.
Are smoothies in a bag faster? or better?
I'll tell you now, they aren't as tasty.
Are homemade pudding pops cheaper?
A nitty-gritty comparison of this popular kid dessert.
This blog post made me smile because I could easily see anyone in my family doing this experiment.
When my son was in middle school he scored a win in a science fair by doing a comparison of unpopped kernels in various types of popcorn. So much fun counting the kernels and giving bag after bag of popcorn to our neighbors. (Redenbacher's air popped won).
I noticed, too, that it doesn't pay to buy brand names at Aldi. I go to Aldi and get what I can except brand names, then to Walmart, then to Publix, then to Harris Teeter if needed. Usually the Aldi and Walmart are enough.
Thanks for the trail mix study; I hope you had fun!
This is perfect timing.. is trail mix on everyones mind? I actually never purchased it as it is pricey.. I always have raisins and peanuts at home.. I do keep cashew around as it is a nut the husband can eat without his tongue breaking out....and it is the only nut kid 3 will eat... I do purchase the bags of chocolate chunks or the mini chips.. So my mix is likely more pricey...but I pack it in small quantities in their lunch to eat with yogurt or as a snack!
Sonia has trouble with an itchy mouth when she eats nuts and seeds. But sadly, even cashews are an offender for her! There's not really a way to make trail mix that she can eat. Poor kid!
Its not officially "trailmix", but I like to mix a few dry cereals together with raisins, craisins and chocolate chips. It gives the same kind of experience as trailmix without seeds and nuts.
Can she do coconut? If so, ribbon coconut would be a nice addition (instead of tiny shredded coconut).
Or hemphearts?
Just a couple ideas!
Yes, mercifully, coconut is not a problem! And the dry cereal is a good idea too; things like Chex would work great.
Have you tried making trail mix based on granola instead of nuts?
Interesting experiment. I think this particular comparison isn't really on the ball for two reasons:
1. You can't buy just the amount you need, so one's actual cost isn't just what does into the trail mix. (Sidebar: Wegman's stores often have a trail mix bulk bar, where you can buy typical - and some atypical - trail mix ingredients.)
2. Why would you exactly duplicate a pre-made mix, when you could make exactly what you like? This problem also occurred when you were comparing homemade bread to store-bought, and wrestled with the problem of what to compare, because your homemade is the equivalent of artisan, while store-bought is a lower-quality product but is what a cost-conscious person would be buying.
That said, I'm fascinated by the fact that the mix is about the same price as DIY.
1. For sure! You have to have the room in your grocery budget to buy the separate ingredients.
2. When I make trail mix, I don't ever exactly duplicate a store-bought mix. I only did that for the purposes of this post, in case someone else wanted the measurements I worked so hard to get. Ha. Usually when I make trail mix, I just dump things into a bowl until it looks about right to me. I haven't the faintest idea of my proportions!
This is a seriously great cost comparison! Thanks for taking the time to do this.
We make our own trail mix and it's definitely cheaper than the pre-made mix because of the reasons you mentioned:
We get our nuts from Costco
We use chocolate chips from Aldi
We don't include cashews
I usually make my own simply because of a peanut allergy. Peanut-free premade mixes are hard to find and usually pretty pricey.
This was a pretty interesting experiment. I often wonder about the breakdown of products like that.
Count me as someone who found this interesting and it made me smile--I totally wonder about things like this even though I don't even eat trial mix. Thanks for doing this!
That was a really interesting post!
I wonder things like this too!
Thanks for putting in all the effort so we can benefit from the results.
I was surprised how many raisins there were! I always thought those type of mixes were mostly peanuts!
I usually make my own for a couple reasons: I like to customize my mixes and one of my daughter has a peanut allergy.
I was also surprised about the vast quantity of raisins!
I award you the gold star for the research into trail mix. I pictured you sitting there sorting -- peanut, raisin, peanut - oops! cashew! -- peanut, raisin.... Your figuring this out was near and dear to my dorky heart. I also weigh and perform per-ounce costs on some things.
Since I can't stand roasted peanuts (but love peanut butter, so yes, I am odd), I don't buy trail mixes, nor do I make them, but I used to make granola occasionally. Making granola at home, as you know, is way, way cheaper than store-bought, so I assumed trail mix would be, too. Not always, though, is it? I can see it would be cheaper if you sourced the ingredients at their cheapest sources, but just walking through Aldi, I would have assumed assembling the mix at home would have saved me money. Now I know! And now I wonder what else I assumed would be cheaper homemade, that isn't. Hmmm.
Well, first I took out all the raisins and weighed them, then all the almonds, and so on. The only hard part was picking out the cashews from the peanuts...they blend in!
I knew it! We love the indulgent one and we add more nuts. It has lots of PB and white chocolate chips, craisins, raisins...stuff I know would be more expensive to buy separate.
My sister in law used to buy those seasonal M&M's and mix with cocktail penauts and raisins. She would then put it into a festive container as a treat for the kids and ship it to us with our Christmas gifts. I loved that idea so much I started making it after every holiday that I could find half price M&M's! (: You could also add mini pretzels, which are fun to crunch with the chocolate.
There must be a special good quality to cocktail peanuts with sugar. Every fall, a secretary where I worked would mix cocktail peanuts with candy corn as a treat, and it was addictively much better than the two ingredients eaten separately.
Yes! It's a salty sweet combo, which is so good.
Very interesting!
I have looked at trail mixes at Aldi before, and maybe it was a different brand, but the raisins were all coated with hydrogenated oil. It's been a long time since I looked at them (probably 3 years or more), so maybe they've changed? I would be interested in knowing if the nuts and raisins are straight up nuts and raisins, or if they have added ingredients (in the nut mix).
This!!!! I’ve been analyzing our grocery budget and struggling with snacks. I feel like we spend too much on them - and most are mixes or not “from scratch” items. When I try to research other options, they seem even more expensive (as in mix cheese-it’s with x, y, z when we just snack on them plain). PLUS, I’m in a busy season of life and don’t feel like I can make stuff from true scratch unless there’s a large difference - and there doesn’t seem to be much anymore (PLEASE anyone correct me if I’m wrong and can’t see the forest for the trees). We don’t eat out and I make all our meals but I just don’t seem to be able to find a way to lower the cost of snacks.....thoughts???
The best snacks I have found for a low cost are pretzels or home cooked popcorn. I can usually get a big bag of the mini pretzel twists for just a buck or 2, and I purchase popcorn kernels to cook in a pan on the stove. BTW--pretzels with a little bit of sharp cheddar are seriously YUM!
Rejena
I don't like raisins and so I do like making my own just because I can put in dried cranberries or cherries etc. instead. Thanks for doing this. It is fun to know these little nuggets of knowledge.
What an interesting task! What were you listening to? Anyway, I've never made my own "trail mix", but I think I'll start as I don't like the ratios in the mixes, too heavy on raisins for my tastes. Thanks for all your research and tedious sorting. You're a gem!
I think I was listening to John Mayer on Amazon music.
What a fun post! I wonder about this kind of stuff all the time.
Thanks - I like this post! And I love your scale!
Wow! I’m genuinely surprised by this, even though I should be used to how well Aldi takes care of their customers. Thanks for the cost comparison, I’m gonna go buy some trail mix!
I buy my trail mix( same type as yours) at Sprouts when its 2.99lb. Its called Wild West mix.
I make my own version of trail mix that's cereal, mini-marshmallows. pretzels, basically, anything that sounds good to me. The advantage of M&Ms over chocolate chips is that they don't melt as easily.
Thanks SO much for doing this comparison. My husband absolutely LOVES trail mix so I've wondered off and on whether I could make a DIY version.... one that he likes and one that would be less expensive. The mini chocolate chips are nice, less expensive option as well if you want to try DIY, instead of M&Ms. I will also stock up on the pre-made if I find it BOGO at some of the local supermarkets... like Harris Teeter, Food Lion or Safeway. Thanks again!
Thanks for doing this post! I've been making my own for a few years and usually mix 2 containers of unsalted peanuts, 1/2 - 1 container of cashews, 2 bags of the dried tropical fruit, and however many chocolate chips look good. Overall it costs about $10 (all from Aldi) and makes enough to last us all month. But now I know that I shouldn't feel bad about just buying a bag for my husband to keep in his desk at work. 🙂
I love posts like this! I make my own trail mix from Aldi ingredients but I make it tailored to our house. I don't use whole nuts because it's my 3 and 5 year old who eat it without supervision so I don't want chokeables. Also, one of them is allergic to milk so we use mini marshmallows or candy corn for the sweet component (plus we have a dog, so chocolate chips unsupervised would cause an expensive vet trip or a dead dog).
I make my own for the simple reason that I do not like raisins or other dried fruits and it's nearly impossible to find trail mix or granola without them. None of us will eat them (and there are very few foods that aren't liked by someone around here), so they get wasted. I like to add seeds to mine instead of the fruit 🙂
That's always a benefit of doing homemade...you can make it just the way you like it!
This generated a lot of comments. Loved the post, but I couldn't help but think of the joke going around in my circle that: "Trail mix is M&M's with obstacles."
Isn't that funny? Sometimes the premade stuff really is cheaper! But unless you have the tenacity to price and weigh everything (like you did here!), it's hard to know the difference.
It IS funny that it's cheaper to buy the pre-made trail mix. But, one issue that wasn't mentioned is that, when you make your own, you can customize it. So, if someone in the family does not like raisins or you want to UP the nutrition value and lower the sugar content, you could add sunflower seeds and use fewer candy bites. You could also add clusters of toasted oatmeal or use carob chips made with honey.
I love these kinds of posts, as I like knowing the math breakdowns, but I like OTHER people actually doing the math for me. 🙂
No big deal but you wrote "7 oz of raisins" instead of "peanuts" at the end of the post, just thought you would like to fix that 🙂
Oh, thank you! I just fixed it.
Thanks for this post! I didn't even realize I needed to know this, but as I read through the post it occurred to me that this was a question I have had for some time. 🙂 With camping season fast approaching this info will be super helpful...now if we could just get Aldi in Western CO...a girl can dream!
Thanks for this post Kristen, I think it's a really good reminder to think about what we buy & is it the best value for money - & well done on your measuring! I recently did a similar thing comparing store bought nut bars to making my own handful of nuts for an afternoon snack. I did it partly to see if I could save money & partly to reduce the amount of added sugar in my diet, from name brand supermarket it worked out that 35g of mixed raw cashews, macadamias, & almonds is about $23/kg (1kg is about 2pounds) but the nut bars are $32/kg & contain a lot of added sugars. I could reduce the cost of my nut mix by adding other things like sultanas but I just started off with very simple to get me in the habit of making my own. I will add things eventually like dried fruits that have sugar but the nut bars have a few different sugar syrups as well.
This is one of the many reasons I love your blog. Your curiosity takes us so many places!
I make my own trail mix with Costco pecans (which I toast lightly first), raisins, and m&m's. Peanuts are ok, but we love pecans much better.
I have to laugh at this post, because if I have trail mix I always end up separating it as I eat it 🙂
This is one of the best blog posts I've read for a long time.. I just love that you followed your curiosity and put in so much effort to diligently find the answer... the even funnier thing is, I live in the UK and I've never seen nor eaten trail mix, so I have no idea why I clicked on this!
Haha, well, at least it was entertaining to you! Trail mix is really delicious...you should give it a try. 😉
I found a delicious trail mix somewhere that contained peanuts, pepitas, raisins, dried crans, and chocolate chips. I was able to buy some decent-size packs/containers at Aldi and make a large container-full of it for fairly cheap - probably way less than individual packs. If I really wanted to, I could by things at our farmer's market for even less. Looking at yours, I can see why that one would come out more expensive - especially with those cashews!
My problem is that I LOVE trail mix. One measly pack is never enough for me, and I want to have a lot on hand to eat or take along for lunches. So even if it's slightly more by doing it myself, I have a lot "loose" to use, instead of messing with special packs.
You are hilarious. Thank you for your time.
Bj's bulk prices July 2021
Bjs Pre-made bag - $9.99
Bjs bulk buy diy bag - $7.35
7% Cashews - $0.38/oz
35% peanuts - $0.14/oz
9% almonds - $0.25/oz
19% M&Ms - 0.21/oz
30% Raisins - 0.16/oz
TY, I have wondered. Have you done the cost comparison with check mix?
Hmm, I have not! That would be a little more tricky because I'm not sure how I'd buy some of the elements of Chex Mix separately.
Hi and thank you for this analysis. I was more interested in the % of each component rather than the price. I did a similar analysis of Walmart Trail Mix and Costco Kirkland Trail mix. I did not sort an entire bag, I took 200 gram samples (top, middle, and bottom of bag). I've summarized my results (% by weight) and added yours below:
Costco Walmart Aldi
Peanuts 27.3% 33.7% 25.5%
Raisins 23.4% 33.3% 36.4%
M&M's 14.9% 21.4% 21.8%
Almonds 17.5% 6.5% 12.7%
Cashews 11.3% 5.1% 3.6%
Choc Cov Peanuts 5.6% 0.0% 0.0%
Thanks for this. I've wondered about the trailmix cost but not to the point of doing all the work. A sort of hidden benefit I like from buying premixed ones is occassionally raiding the mix for something I want to try in a recipe but don't usually buy, like dried cranberries for a new salad recipe the other day.
@Ringo, Once in the course of raiding a bag of trailmix for pecan pieces, I realized I couldn't tell them apart from walnut pieces. I had to look for photos online! And I still couldn't do it without constantly consulting those photos, lol, so I tossed them both into whatever recipe I was trying and couldn't taste the difference either. Weird things you learn while 'cooking'.
We don't have Aldi's where I live but, we have WinCo. WinCo has a bulk section where you can purchase just the amount you need from bins. I compared Safeway Trail Mix $9.99 for 30 oz. with WinCo. I'm not nerdy enough to determine the percentage of each ingredient, I averaged the cost of Peanuts, M&Ms, Raisins, and Almonds. It came to 23 cents/ oz.
My version saved me $3.09, and I got a higher quality product since the ration of Safeway's mix isn't 25% each.
PS I visited SC, NC and TN last year. I saw a Aldi store and pulled over to tour the store, taking pictures of the products and prices that were unbelievably low to me.
I would not normally be nerdy enough either! But sometimes Blogger Kristen does things that Regular Kristen wouldn't bother to do. Heh.
I've never done an exact cost comparison, although it does sound right up my alley!
I have been making my own trail mix for years, especially after my kids grew up and left home, because neither my husband nor I care for raisins. He'll eat them although he won't be excited about it, but I can't deal with raisins! I'm the will pick the raisins out of a oatmeal raisin cookie rather than accidentally bite a raisin kind of person! By making my own trail mix I never have to deal with a stray raisin sneaking into my mouth!
Thanks for the info! This reminds me of some of the articles in the old Tightwad Gazette book....which is now available online as a pdf, and I believe it is free. (Although if you have to print it, the ink and paper aren't so free...)
I can appreciate why you would do these experiments. But, honestly, this is exactly why so many people will not commit to super saving--big waste of time unless one is already spending a lot on any one product. Especially when the differential was less than a dollar for the trail mix. To me, you didn't factor in the time it took to do all this weighing, buying, etc. THAT was time in your life that perhaps, I say perhaps because it is your life to assign your time to, might have been better used elsewhere.
Long ago, someone very wise told me that time was our greatest commodity and that while focusing on prudent use of whatever fiscal resources we had was essential, most of us would fail miserably and squander our "free" time (the equivalent of our disposable income.)--something you literally cannot buy or replace.
From then on, I looked carefully at how I was spending both my time and my money. And I had to make decisions about how much I was really saving. When resources are limited, you have no choice but to cook all the time at home (although NOT necessarily cheaper depending on number of people cooking for, etc.), clean your house and do any/all chores because there simply was no alternative.
But as I moved ahead in my job, with more demanding work and longer hours (and yes, a better salary), I realized that having food delivered, hiring someone to clean and getting groceries delivered, for a few examples, was a better use of my then very limited free time. When it was a choice of cooking or shopping or cleaning, and I could get in a nap or sleep a bit later, or spend more time with friends and family, that's what I did.
I don't mean to criticize but I do think one can overthink expenses.
I remember telling a friend, bragging actually, that I had found much cheaper prices for some snacks that I was enamored of at the time. My friend looked at me and said: Well, imagine how much more you'd save if you didn't eat them. Not to mention how much better it would be for your health. I was gobsmacked. She was so right. It was so obvious that I had to laugh at how I had missed the boat entirely on conscious spending!
FYI: I am not comparing your trail mix to my prepackaged (and no way else to get them) snack favorites.
I had to remind myself of this over the years. Especially when I would see two-fer offers for fresh foods, dairy and poultry and stock up. It took a lot of weeks of ending up tossing stuff (freezer was packed; regular fridge, no big garage size ones in city apt!) out because I never had the time to cook and no space to freeze.
I went through a period of a lot of takeout and delivery. And I tracked that money. Given that I usually got two dinners and one lunch worth of food out of whatever I ordered (and often more, as I did freeze), it saved me both precious time and money.
One afternoon, I started scribbling down what I spent on takeout versus cost of the ingredients. (I did an online comparison of prices.) SPent maybe an hour tops. I, too, found that given this is a one-person household, it was "cheaper" to get takeout, albeit being selective.
This is no longer quite as valid given the escalation in takeout/delivery of restaurant food in our neighborhoods but then again, the increase in grocery ingredients is also way up, up, up. I only work part time now and have somewhat more time. My health is such that I don't have a lot of energy and have had to factor that into things as well.
In the end though, we must consider the time we spend (shopping, planning, prepping, cooking, etc.) and assign a value to that as well. Is it always the better / best use of our times to do cost-cutting experiments? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
But I love your commitment to conscious spending (this is how I think of it and how it motivates me and makes me NOT feel deprived or punished) and your experiments. And I love this blog because it makes me THINK about how I live and what I choose. Always a good thing.
I see your point, certainly! From a time perspective alone, this was a silly little project. But since I write posts not just for myself, but for others, and since part of what I do is try to provide entertainment, I decided this was worth my time.
I definitely do not suggest that everyone do things like this. Generally, I think it's fine to just do guesstimates of things and be satisfied with "close enough is good enough".