Blue Buffalo Treats vs Homemade
Alex WillenTL;DR: Blue Buffalo's Health Bars (Bacon, Egg & Cheese) run $4.99 for 16 ounces, about $0.31 per ounce, with whole grains and real chicken meal as the first ingredients and only natural preservatives (mixed tocopherols, rosemary extract). The label does not publish a calories-per-biscuit number, which makes it hard to fit precisely into a daily treat budget. A basic homemade whole wheat biscuit costs a few cents each to make and lets you set the size, and therefore the calorie count, yourself. Our Baked Biscuit Mix splits the difference: same "you control the size" logic, none of the grocery-store measuring. Below is the label, the math, and an honest read on when each option makes sense.
Blue Buffalo is one of the biggest names in the pet aisle, and its Health Bars line is a reasonable, widely available crunchy biscuit. We make a baking mix in the same category. So we pulled the actual label, did the actual math, and compared it to what a homemade batch costs and looks like.
What's on the Blue Buffalo Label
Per Blue Buffalo's own product page for Health Bars, Bacon, Egg & Cheese (16 oz), the ingredients in order are: Barley, Oatmeal, Rye, Chicken Meal, Bacon, Dried Egg Product, Dried Cheese, Flaxseed (source of Omega 3 Fatty Acids), Oat Fiber, Carrots, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Natural Flavor, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, Oil of Rosemary, Vitamin E Supplement.
A few honest observations. The first four ingredients are whole grains and chicken meal, not a mystery meat by-product. The only preservatives listed are natural ones, mixed tocopherols and rosemary extract, no BHA or BHT on this label. That's a genuine point in Blue Buffalo's favor. Blue Buffalo also markets the line as free of chicken by-product meals and artificial preservatives, colors, and flavors, and that claim checks out against the ingredient panel we pulled.
What's missing is a per-biscuit calorie count. We looked at the same product page and it isn't published there. That's not unusual for biscuit brands, but it does mean you can't do exact treat-budget math without weighing a biscuit yourself and estimating from the grain and fat content.
What a Homemade Batch Looks Like
The simplest version of a crunchy dog biscuit is flour, egg, and a binder. Here's a basic recipe you can make in one bowl.
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter (xylitol-free, check the label)
- Water as needed to bring the dough together
Steps
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Mix the flour, eggs, and peanut butter in a bowl. Add water a tablespoon at a time until it forms a stiff dough.
- Roll to about 1/4 inch thick and cut into small shapes, or just cut into strips for training-sized pieces.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes until firm and lightly golden.
- Cool completely before storing. Keeps about a week in an airtight container, longer in the freezer.
Notes
This batch runs about 40 small biscuits. Using standard nutrition values for the ingredients, the whole batch works out to roughly 1,700 calories total, so about 40 to 45 calories per biscuit if you cut them all the same size (cut smaller for a lower number). At grocery prices, flour, eggs, and peanut butter for this batch cost around $2.30, which lands at about 6 cents per biscuit. That's the real advantage of doing it yourself: you know the exact ingredient list, and biscuit size is entirely up to you.
Price and Calories, Side by Side
| Product | Price | Price per oz / treat | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooper's Beef & Cheddar Baked Biscuit Mix | $12.49 | Not fixed, you cut the biscuits | Not fixed, depends on size (cut small, stays low) |
| Homemade whole wheat biscuits (recipe above) | ~$2.30 per batch | ~$0.06/biscuit | ~40-45 cal/biscuit (recipe-dependent) |
| Blue Buffalo Health Bars, Bacon Egg & Cheese | $4.99 / 16 oz | $0.31/oz | Not published on the label |
Blue Buffalo is cheap per ounce for a name-brand biscuit, and it's an easy grab off a store shelf. Homemade costs less per biscuit but takes active kitchen time. Our mix sits in between: pre-measured real ingredients, still baked fresh, still sized by you.
The Preservative Question
This one's worth calling out because it's a real strength for Blue Buffalo. A lot of shelf-stable biscuits lean on BHA or BHT to keep fat from going rancid. This Health Bars SKU doesn't, it uses mixed tocopherols and rosemary extract instead, which are the natural preservative combo most "no artificial preservatives" brands use. BHA and BHT are FDA-recognized as safe for pet food at approved levels, and some pet owners simply prefer to avoid them where a natural alternative works just as well. Neither approach is dangerous; it's a preference, and this particular Blue Buffalo label lands on the natural side.
Calorie Math and Portions
With a homemade batch, or our mix, the math is already done because you picked the size:
- Small dog (under 20 lbs, ~400 daily cal): 40-calorie budget. About one biscuit cut into quarters.
- Medium dog (20 to 50 lbs, ~700 to 900 cal): 70 to 90-calorie budget. One to two full-sized homemade biscuits.
- Large dog (50+ lbs, ~1200 cal): 120-calorie budget. Two to three biscuits, more room to work with.
These are estimates based on the recipe above, not a fixed nutrition panel, but that's the point, you can adjust biscuit size until the math fits your dog instead of guessing at an unpublished number.
Buy Blue Buffalo If
- You want something off a store shelf today, no baking required.
- You like knowing the exact price and package size before you buy.
- Your dog does fine with grain-based biscuits and you're not trying to hit a precise calorie target.
- You want a recognizable big-brand name with a long track record on shelves.
Bake Your Own (or Use Our Mix) If
- You want to control biscuit size, and therefore the exact calorie count per treat.
- You want to see every ingredient go into the bowl yourself.
- You don't mind a few minutes of hands-on work plus oven and cooling time, an hour or so start to finish, for a batch that lasts a week or more.
- You're training and want to cut biscuits down to pea-sized pieces, which store-bought biscuits usually aren't shaped for.
Our Approach
Our Beef & Cheddar Baked Biscuit Mix and Turkey & Cinnamon Baked Biscuit Mix use real meat and whole wheat flour, and no preservatives or artificial flavors. You add water, roll, cut, and bake 45 minutes at 300F, same steps as the homemade recipe above, minus the trip to the store for four separate ingredients. Because you're cutting the dough yourself, you decide whether you're making full-size snack biscuits or pea-sized training pieces, and the calorie count follows whatever size you pick. If you want the mix, cutters, and instructions in one box, the Baked Biscuit Starter Kit has all of it.
For more from-scratch options, our dog treat recipes guide has several more baked and no-bake ideas, and our best natural dog treats roundup covers what to look for on any label, not just ours.
