There are tons of pizza places these days, from your local pizza joint, to wood burning oven fancy pants places that charge anywhere from $12 to gasp upwards of $20 for a pizza. Add on soda, alcohol, tax and tip and what you thought was just going to be a cheap night out suddenly ends up costing you half of your weekly grocery bill. Well guess what, there's a cheaper way to do pizza night...make it at home! There are tons of pizza places and grocery stores that will sell you pizza dough for anywhere from $3 to $5, way cheaper than the cost of a whole pie. Take a jar of sauce that most people already have in their pantry or even cheaper, buy a can of crushed tomatoes on sale at the grocery store add some garlic, onion, basil, oregano and if you want a little grated cheese (ingredients you can find if you search around the deep dark depths of your spice cabinet) and BAM you've got homemade sauce that can rival Prego or Barilla any day! Good news, you can also freeze whatever sauce you don't use for your next gourmet masterpiece or the next time you need sauce to go with your favorite Italian meal. As far as mozzarella cheese goes wait til it goes on sale and look for a coupon, then use some for your pizza today and then freeze the rest for the next time you want to make a pizza.
The best part about making pizza at home...you can pick what you want on it! Not everyone loves pepperoni or black olives, but if you buy one large crust you can either split the dough up into individual pies, or make one big pizza with lots of different sections for your favorite toppings. If you have ingredients like sausage, chicken, or bacon in your freezer pop them in your fridge or on the counter to thaw (if you're going to be home) and they'll be ready to top your favorite pizza.
Making pizza is a great way to bring everybody together I mean really who doesn't love pizza? You can have your kids help you, your significant other, or you can even have your friends over for a make your own pizza party. Or you can make the pizzas yourself and then have everyone sing your praises for the night about how good the pizzas are. Just leave the whole part about you buying the crust a secret, what they don't know won't hurt them ;) Or hey if you're really ambitious you can make the dough yourself. Yeast is really inexpensive and who doesn't have flour, salt, sugar and olive oil laying around their house. If so, go for it make your own dough!!
Here are some of my favorite combinations:
-Bacon and onion
-Sausage, onion and mushrooms (money saving tip...Criminis aren't that expensive but oyster and shitake mushrooms can cost a small fortune! A place like Wegman's or Whole Food's sells them by weight so just enough for your pizzas instead of buying a whole pack of gourmet mushrooms for more than $5!)
-Barbeque chicken
-Roasted veggies with Arugula (put the arugula on after you bake the pizza!)
* Create your own and let me know your favs!!
As far as drinks go if you go out for pizza sodas alone can run you upwards of $2 a glass or $1.50 a bottle, times that by a family of 4 and you could have bought around 6 2-Liter bottles at the grocery store. Add wine, beer or alcohol to that tab...forgetta bout it you're going to pay at least $5 a beer and $7 for a glass of wine. Instead by your favorite 6 pack or $10 bottle of wine and get way more bang for your buck!!
Pizza at home is the way to go, and who doesn't like pizza?? Fire one up at home and save yourself a bundle!
Until Next Time,
Broke Girl
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