Freeze-Dried Candy: Cost per Bag and What to Charge
Freeze-dried candy sells for far more than the candy it starts as, so here is what a bag costs you. Enter your candy price, how much candy goes into a batch, how many bags come out and what a bag and label cost. The page adds electricity and pump oil for the batch, then gives you the cost per bag and the price that leaves the margin you pick.
Each bag costs you $2.22. This is the example batch until you change the numbers.
- Cost per bag
- $2.22
- Cost per batch
- $35.47
- Profit per bag
- $2.22
- Profit per batch
- $35.47
The math, line by line
- Candy: 3 lb × $6.00 = $18.00
- Electricity: 1,100 W × 24 h ÷ 1,000 = 26.4 kWh × $0.18 = $4.83
- Pump oil: $16.00 ÷ 25 batches = $0.64
- Bags and labels: 16 × $0.75 = $12.00
- Machine wear: $0.00
- Cost per batch: $35.47
- Cost per bag: $35.47 ÷ 16 = $2.22
- Price at 50% margin: $2.22 ÷ (1 − 0.500) = $4.43
- Sales from the batch: 16 × $4.43 = $70.95
Send this result to someone: the address bar holds every input.
The same batch at three margins
With your inputs, a bag costs $2.22. What it sells for depends only on the margin you want. Margin here is the share of the price you keep, so a 50% margin means the price is double the cost.
| Margin | Price per bag | Profit per bag | Profit per batch |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30% | $3.17 | $0.95 | $15.20 |
| 50% | $4.43 | $2.22 | $35.47 |
| 70% | $7.39 | $5.17 | $82.77 |
What stores charge
A Chowhound cost breakdown found freeze-dried Skittles at Walmart for close to $6 a bag, or $1.08 an ounce, while regular Skittles run around 30 cents an ounce on average (Chowhound, those are their figures). Compare by the ounce, because bags differ in size. Your price per bag divided by the ounces of candy in it gives your price per ounce:
| Bag holds | Your price per ounce | Chowhound's store figure |
|---|---|---|
| 1 oz | $4.43 | $1.08 |
| 2 oz | $2.22 | $1.08 |
| 3 oz | $1.48 | $1.08 |
The weight of candy in a bag after drying is yours to measure: weigh a few finished bags on a kitchen scale and use the average.
What the numbers leave out
- Your time loading, packing and labeling, and any fees at a market or online shop.
- Candy that comes out wrong. A failed batch costs the full batch price and sells nothing.
- The machine itself. Put a figure in the wear field, or use the payback page for the price against food savings.
- Power and oil use the defaults from how much it costs to run a freeze dryer: 18.31 cents per kWh (EIA, July 2026) and a $16 oil change every 25 batches.
Selling home-made food is governed by state cottage-food rules, so check yours before you sell. This page is not legal advice.
More
The main freeze dryer cost calculator covers any food, and how many pounds per tray shows what each model holds.