You can make a pound of whole wheat crackers for 85 cents, and into the oven in less than 5 minutes using recipes from Crunch! Whole Grain Artisan Chips and Crackers.

If you buy the crackers listed below at the store, they’ll cost up to 20 times more!  And most of them are not 100% whole wheat or have any whole wheat flour at all.  Their main ingredient is cheap, unhealthy white flour, so this isn’t an apples to apples comparison.  If you use white flour too, then store-bought crackers are up to 40 times more expensive than what you could bake at home.

If you bake them at home, they go from being an unhealthy snack to a nutritious delicious food that lasts for months in a sealed container, unlike bread which goes stale the next day.

Home-made 100% whole wheat flour crackers have 3.4 grams of fiber, or 14% of your recommended daily value, more than any of the store-bought below.  And home-made crackers also have no oil which is not a healthy or delicious way to get you necessary fats, use seeds and nuts, not oil.

Cost of store-bought: up to 20 times more than home-made

On July 12, 2013 I went to the local chain grocery stores – Safeway and Albertson’s — to see what the cost of commercial crackers and whole wheat flour was (5.3 cents per ounce x 16 ounces per pound = 85 cents). You could probably find whole wheat flour for even less somewhere like COSTCO.

(1) It’s whole grain if the FIRST ingredient is whole wheat flour.  See my post Dishonest Labeling: How to Tell if Something is Really Whole Grain.

Cheap inexpensive unhealthy ingredients in commercial crackers

I’ve highlighted bad ingredients in red, good ones in green.  Red can mean that the ingredient is trying to sound healthy and whole-grainish.  If a product is trying to boost the fiber content to make it look healthier I have made it purple.  Sugar is in pink, I have put question marks after sugar in the nutrition facts if I think it may be under-reported.

Back to nature Organic Stoneground wheat crackers:

Ingredients: organic unbleached enriched flour, organic safflower oil, organic ground wheat flour, organic whole wheat flakes, organic whole brown flax seed, organic evaporated cane juice, organic brown rice syrup, sea salt, leavening (baking soda, monocalcium phosphate), organic barley malt extract, organic soy lecithin

Nutrition 5 crackers 16 g, servings 11, calories 70, calories from fat 25

Total fat 2.5 g 4%

• Sat fat  0 g
• Trans fat 0
• Polyunsaturated .5
• Mono 1.5

Cholesterol 0

Sodium 125 mg 5%

Potassium 30 mg 1%

Total carbohydrate 11 g 4%

Dietary Fiber < 1g 3%

Sugars 1 g   

Protein 1 g

Vit A 0, C 0 Calcium 0, Iron 4%

Blue Star Farms organic wheat crackers made with whole wheat. Stone ground.

Ingredients, organic buttermilk, organic whole wheat flour [note this is the 2nd ingredient], organic wheat flour, organic canola oil, organic evaporated cane juice, water, sea salt, baking soda.

Nutrition 8 crackers 30 g, servings 5, calories 140, calories from fat 45

Total fat 5 g 8%

Sat fat  0 g

Trans fat 0

Cholesterol 0

Sodium 140 mg 6%

Total carbohydrate 20 g 7%

Dietary Fiber 2 g 7%

Sugars 3 g

Protein 3 g

Vit A 0, C 0 Calcium 0, Iron 4%

Blue Star Farms organic multigrain crackers made with flax, quinoa, amaranth. Stone ground.

Ingredients: organic wheat flour, organic buttermilk, organic canola oil, organic stone ground whole wheat flour, organic stone ground corn flour,  organic evaporated cane juice, organic stone ground amaranth flour, organic stone ground quinoa flour, organic flax meal, water, sea salt, baking soda, kosher salt

Nutrition 8 crackers 30 g, servings 5, calories 140, calories from fat 45

Total fat 5 g 8%

Sat fat  0 g

Trans fat 0

Cholesterol 0

Sodium 200 mg 8%

Total carbohydrate 20 g 7%

Dietary Fiber 1 g 5%  [no, 1 g is 4%]

Sugars 3 g

Protein 3 g

Vit A 0, C 0 Calcium 0, Iron 6%

Lesley Stowe raincoast Crisps. Salty date and almond crackers.

Nutrition Facts

6 crackers 30 g, servings 6, calories 130, calories from fat 30

Total fat 4 g 6%

Sat fat  0.5 g   3%

Trans fat 0

Cholesterol 0

Sodium 190 mg 8%

Total carbohydrate 20 g 7%

Dietary Fiber 2 g 8%

Sugars 7 g

Protein 4 g

Vit A 0, C 0 Calcium 6%, Iron 10%

Ingredients: unbleached flour, water, dates, raisins, pumpkin seeds, Almonds, oats, sesame seeds, flax seeds, milk ingredient (skim milk, lactic acid, citric acid, bacterial culture), brown Sugar, honey, baking soda, sea salt

Mary’s gone crackers gluten free caraway.

Nutrition Facts

13 crackers 30 g, servings 6, calories 140, calories from fat 45

Total fat 5 g 8%

• Sat fat  0.5 g   3%
• Polyunsaturated fat 2.5 g
• Monounsaturated fat 1.5 g
• Trans fat 0

Cholesterol 0

Sodium 190 mg 8%

Potassium 190 mg 5%

Total carbohydrate 21 g 7%

Dietary Fiber 3 g 12%

Sugars 0 g

Protein 3 g

Vit A 0, C 0 Calcium 4%, Iron 8%

Ingredients: organic short grain brown rice, organic whole quinoa, organic brown flax seeds, organic brown sesame seeds, filtered water, organic whole caraway seeds, sea salt, organic wheat-free tamari (water, whole organic soybeans, salt, organic alcohol).

Ritz crackers with 5g whole grain per 15 g serving

Nutrition Facts

5 crackers 15 g, servings 24, calories 70, calories from fat 25

Total fat 2.5 g 4%   There’s a missing gram of fat

• Sat fat  0.5 g   3%
• Trans Fat 0 g  (but it’s there – 15 g must be less than .5 g per serving)
• Polyunsaturated fat 1 g
• Monounsaturated fat 0 g

Cholesterol 0

Sodium 120 mg 5%

Potassium 30 mg 1%

Total carbohydrate 11 g 4%

Dietary Fiber Less than 1 g 3%

            Sugars 2 g

Protein 1 g

Vit A 0, C 0 Calcium 2%, Iron 2%

Ingredients: unbleached enriched flour, whole grain wheat flour, soybean oil, sugar, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, leavening (calcium phosphate and/or baking soda), salt, high fructose corn syrup, soy lecithin.

Kellogg Special K Cracker Chip Southwest

Nutrition Facts

27 crackers 30 g, servings 3.5, calories 110, calories from fat 25

Total fat 2.5 g 4%   There’s a missing gram of fat

• Sat fat  0.5 g   3%
• Trans Fat 0 g
• Polyunsaturated fat 1.5 g
• Monounsaturated fat 0.5 g

Cholesterol 0

Sodium 230 mg 10%

Potassium 170 mg 5%

Total carbohydrate 22 g 7%

Dietary Fiber 3 g 11%

Sugars 1 g

Protein 2 g

Vit A 0, C 0 Calcium 2%, Iron 2%

Ingredients: Potatoes, potato starch, brown rice flour, soybean oil with TBHQ, whole grain yellow corn meal, oat fiber, maltodextrin, 2% or less of salt, whey, dextrose, buttermilk powder, monoglycerides, sour cream, palm oil, garlic powder, onion powder, lactic acid, natural flavors, tomato powder, spices, citric acid, whole wheat flour, soy flour, yeast extract, cultured nonfat milk, parsley, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate.

Nabisco Wheat Thins with 17 g Whole grain per 30 g serving

Nutrition Facts

14 crackers 30 g, servings 8, calories 130, calories from fat 35

Total fat 4 g 6%   There’s a missing gram of fat

• Sat fat  0.5 g   3%
• Trans Fat 0 g
• Polyunsaturated fat 2.5 g
• Monounsaturated fat 1 g

Cholesterol 0

Sodium 190 mg 8%

Potassium 80 mg 2%

Total carbohydrate 22 g 7%

Dietary Fiber 3 g 12%

Sugars 3 g

Protein 2 g

Vit A 0, C 0 Calcium 0%, Iron 6%

Ingredients: whole grain wheat flour, unbleached enriched flour, whole grain barley flakes, soybean oil, sugar, whole grain rye, whole grain triticale, molasses, whole grain millet, whole wheat, salt, whole grain rolled oats, onion powder, soy lecithin, leavening (baking soda and/or calcium phosphate), BHT.