The $1.25 Pizza.

I've been making my own pizza for thirteen years. Here is a reprint of an original blog post I did last year. The prices are still the same; maybe it went up a dime or two. Either way, you'll be saving money, eating right and increasing your bottom line (not your waist line). Enjoy!


One of the main sources of saving money can be found in your food bill. This is by far the most flexible place to trim money off your budget. Your rent/mortgage, car payments, utility and loan payments are basically the same each and every month. Your food bill, however, if you adjust it correctly can increase your wealth dramatically.

The first and foremost rule above all others is your quality of life and health maintenance. If you eat correctly, healthy and with only the finest, freshest, quality ingredients, your good health will support you for a lifetime of accumulating wealth. Your good health will lower your medical bills as well as your food bills. Buying and eating those mac & cheese crap boxes at 3 for $1.00 will do NOTHING to increase your bottom line. But boiling up good quality semolina elbow macaroni (which you buy on sale) and making your own cheese sauce (a bit of low fat milk, real bulk-purchased cheddar or yellow cheese (not cheese-food) slices, a dash of mustard, parsley flakes, salt & pepper all melted in a separate pot, then combined with the drain cooked macaroni) will energize you more and satisfy your financial soul more than that cardboard, chemical-laden junk. And it all can be cooked in the same exact time as those 'mac & cheese' boxes.

Which brings me to the $1.25 pizza. Busy people, lazy people think that by picking up the phone and ordering those greasy, fat-laden blobs, commercial outlets ‘claim’ are pizza pies are only adding to their health problems and subtracting valuable sums of money from their wealth accumulation. In the same time it takes to call and deliver a pizza, you can make your own. Every Friday night, my husband and I have ‘pizza wars’. We come home from work, each make our own pies and have a contest to see whose is the best. My kids demand these home made pizzas when they come to visit us! We sit back, have a few beers, watch a rented flick and laugh at all the money we just saved.

I used to make my own pizza dough from a recipe I learned from the Frugal Gazette. In 10 minutes, I had ready dough. But I hated the mess it created, and after all, it was a Friday night and my hubby and I were tired from work. Enter store bought pizza dough.

You can either buy frozen or fresh pizza dough from an authentic, local Italian pizzeria. I buy my pizza dough from Wal Mart. The dough comes either fresh or frozen and either white or wheat. I always choose the wheat. I buy the fresh balls and store them in my freezer. Since I know that every Friday (or Saturday) I will be making the pie, I take out a ball the night before. At my local Wal Mart, I buy a 1-pound pizza ball, created by Pepe’s Bakery, 55 Broad St, Amsterdam, NY for 64 cents. You heard me: SIXTY-FOUR CENTS. This one-pound ball makes two pizzas. That’s 32 cents each crust. I take the frozen ball out of my freezer Thursday night. Friday morning, before I leave for work, I spray a large glass bowl with non-stick oil, place the ball in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, place the bowl in a dark, warm place and go to work. If you don't work, you can do this in the morning. Frozen dough defrosts quickly.

When I come home, the ball has risen and doubled in size. I punch the dough down and with a scissor I cut the ball in half. Hubby gets one piece I get the other. I heat the oven to 450 degrees. This is very important. You must use a hot oven. In the time it takes the oven to pre-heat, our pies are ready to bake.

I use two round 12-inch pizza pans (that I bought at Wal Mart for around 3 bucks each) I spray each pan with a non-stick spray. I place the ball of dough in the center of the pan and by pressing down; inside to outside, and by constantly spinning the pan around, I flatten the ball to fit the round pan. If the dough doesn’t perfectly fit, don’t worry. It looks more realistic this way. I open a 14.5 oz can of Wal Mart brand ‘Great Value’ Italian Diced Tomatoes (seasoned with basil, garlic & oregano) that I purchased for 50 cents. That’s 25 cents per pie. With a fork, I drain and split the contents between the two pies. The pie doesn’t have to be coated in tomatoes. Less is more. I then use a box grater and hand shred two cups of part-skim mozzarella cheese that I purchased at $2.88 for a pound bar at Wal Mart. The pound bulk bar is enough for 6 pies. You can purchase pre-shredded cheese but you will pay more for it. You can do your own shredding either with a food processor or by hand and freeze the cheese. You can put frozen shredded cheese on the pie. It only takes a few seconds to freshly shred the cheese as needed. Scatter a cup of shredded cheese over each pie. That comes to 48 cents worth of part-skim real mozzarella cheese per pie. You can use whole milk cheese or fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese. This is where you can become creative and where my hubby and I start to have ‘pizza wars’. You can use fresh, thinly sliced tomatoes (instead of the canned), fresh broccoli, mushrooms, onions or any leftover veggies. You can use meats (pepperoni, turkey sausage & meatballs) BUT these fat-laden products do nothing for your overall health and really should be avoided.

Once your pie is assembled, I sparingly sprinkle real olive oil over the pie, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning (which I purchase from Wal Mart for fifty cents per .87 oz. bottle), a dash of garlic powder, red pepper flakes and sometimes a tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese (the real kind). It takes about 10 minutes to cook in my pre-heated 450-degree oven. When the bottom of the pie is crispy browned and the cheese has melted and slightly browned on top, my pie is done. I like well-done pies. I estimate the cost of the spices and olive oil at 20 cents per pie. That brings the total to $1.25 per pizza pie! (with an estimate of approximately 300 calories per slice!!!A slice to us is 1/4 of the pie) And yes, we each eat our own pie.

It may take a few tries for you to get your pizza pie the way you like it. Just keep thinking about all the money you are saving. At $20 per week, that’s $1040 over the year. Plus you are eating healthy. Your kids can join in. You can do this for pizza parties, friends over for dinner. You can become so creative and have so much fun. You can make calzones from the pizza dough, foccacia, zeppoles (bits of fried dough with powdered sugar) or garlic knots. All starting at 64 cents for the authentic, Italian pizza dough.

Bon appetite!

To see more photos and read my pizza update, click here.

PS: I ALWAYS let my husband win at pizza wars. I'm not stupid!