Does Making Your Own Nut Butter Save Money?

Is it cheaper to make your own almond butter? Well – I crunched the numbers and it’s actually quite significant.

Whether you like peanut butter, almond butter or something else – keep reading to see how much you’ll save.

If you’re frugal like me, you’ll never buy at the store again!

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How These Calculations Were Done

Here’s what I did to calculate the cost savings…

1. Got the approximate cost per pound of the pre-jarred nut butter (excluding shipping if price was taken from online).
2. Calculated the approximate cost per pound when buying the nuts by themselves (up to 5 lbs — more money can be saved by buying in greater bulk). This assumes that you already have a blender for nut butter or a food processor they can use to make it.
3. Created the tables below assuming a smaller family would go through 1 pound of nut butter per week and a larger family would go through 3 pounds of nut butter.

Because I’m a regular shopper, I also have a pretty good idea of how much this stuff costs at the local store.

If I found any online prices that were completely out of the norm, I simply didn’t use them.

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Almond Butter Cost Savings

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*Assumes average cost per 16 jar of almond butter at $11.99 and 1 lb of almonds at $5.87

Almond butter is probably the most popular nut butter outside of peanut butter and it’s downright expensive.

Unless you buy the jars in bulk, a 1 pound of almond butter can cost you up to $11.99.

Buy the almond separate and making your own can save you over $900 per year on the high end!

Even if you only go through a jar a week, the cost savings is still quite significant at $318.24.

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Peanut Butter Cost Savings

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*Assumes average cost per 16 jar of peanut butter at $2.99 and 1 lb of peanuts at $2.49

Peanut butter was the only nut butter that didn’t seem to have a huge cost savings when buying in regular quantities.

It’s still worth doing if you want to be really frugal, but I wouldn’t consider it a necessity like the others.

However, if you decide to buy in huge bulk and order online, you can find peanuts for well below $2.00 per pound. This wasn’t included in the charts because I figured most people would never order such a large amount.

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Cashew Butter Cost Savings

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*Assumes average cost per 16 jar of cashew butter at $2.99 and 1 lb of cashew pieces at $9.60

You can save a ton on cashew butter, especially if you bulk the cashew pieces (which is what I used for this chart).

Cashew pieces are simply broken up cashews that are sold for less than the whole pieces. They taste exactly the same and are ideal for blending and nut butters.

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Walnut Butter Cost Savings

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*Assumes average cost per 16 jar of walnut butter at $19.30 and 1 lb of walnuts at $8.46Yes — the prices I found were that expensive

Walnut butter is ridiculously expensive. This is likely due to a supply and demand issue.

It’s difficult to even find a 16 oz jar of walnut butter without it being a blend of walnuts and another nut.

If you like the stuff, there’s really no justification to buy it out of the jar.

Even if your family consumes only 1 lb per week, you’ll be saving over $500 per year.

I’ve also been able to find walnuts per pound as low as $4.99 at my local grocery store, but I wanted to give a conservative savings estimate.

Odds are, making your own will save you a bit more than the figures quoted here.

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Sunflower Butter Cost Savings

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*Assumes average cost per 16 jar of sunflower butter at $5.98 and 1 lb of hulled sunflower seeds at $3.80

Sunflower butter or “Sunbutter” isn’t as expensive as some of the other products, but you can still save a ton buying the hulled seeds beforehand.

Almost $500 per year if you’ve got a large family!

Just make sure you buy the raw, hulled sunflower seeds.

You’ll probably have to buy around 5 pounds to get these savings, but it’s no biggie considering how long they last.

Final Word

As you can see, buying your own nut butters (with the exception of peanut butter) adds up to quite a bit of cash!

If you’re a huge nut butter fan — like myself — I’d suggest taking a few minutes each week and making your own in bulk.

You can use the extra cash to spend on a vacation or even invest for your retirement.

Happy eating!

Joey Bruno

Hey, I’m Joey. I’ve been cooking since I was a little kid and love everything about it. You can find my writing about food, kitchen appliances (such as blenders) and much more. Thanks for stopping by!