Are Little Debbie Big Pack Snack Cakes Actually Bigger?

Did you know the Little Debbie oatmeal crème pie dates back to 1935? Of course, it wasn't going by that name yet then, but it was that very year that future Little Debbie creator O.D. McKee created first started experimenting with soft oatmeal cookies with a rich "creme" filling and selling them in his bake shop, two years after he formally entered the baked goods game. McKee continued to grow his business until he purchased a modern plant in 1957, the true antecedent of the Little Debbie brand we know today. The real story behind the Little Debbie logo is that he pioneered the brand just three years later, using his adorable granddaughter's name and image on individually wrapped cookies and sweets that stood out from the competition with eye-catching packaging showing color photos of the snacks within, which was an uncommon practice at the time.

If you've ever bought Little Debbie Big Packs, you may have wondered if the cookies are actually bigger than the regular size Little Debbie snacks or if it's simply a larger package with more cookies in it. We dove into the question, determining if there's really a substantial difference in the size of Little Debbie snacks vs. Little Debbie Big Packs.

The results were surprisingly inconsistent. For many of the Little Debbie snacks we sampled, Big Pack referred only to the number of snacks in the pack — the regular Nutty Buddies had 12 28.33-gram snacks in the regular size package and 24 ever-so-slightly larger 30-gram snacks in the Big Pack. Likewise, the Big Pack of Cosmic Brownies offered twice as many snacks that were only about four grams larger apiece.

However, this wasn't universally true. Matters were different for the honey buns and oatmeal crème pies. Regular honey buns packs are 50.17 grams apiece, while Big Pack honey buns boast not only a higher headcount, they're also beefier at 67 grams each. But that's nothing compared to the oatmeal crème pies. Those Big Packs contain 12 cookies at 902 grams per box, making each one 75.17 grams (via Target). That's one big cookie! The regular size is only 38.25 grams, making the Big Pack snack just about double the size. In addition to having a larger surface area, a YouTube video points out that the Big Pack has visibly more cream. The Big Pack snack has six squirts of crème versus four adorning the regular size. So, it would seem the Big Pack pie gives you more cookie and more crème.

While not every Little Debbie Big Pack is created equal, the quantity and weight is listed on every box, which should give you some idea what you're getting into.