Save Money by Making Your Own Cheese Pizza

Get out your pizza peel, National Cheese Pizza Day is coming up on Sept. 5! And if you’ve never made pizza from scratch before, this will be the perfect day to learn a skill you’ll use over and over again.
 
The big day falls on Labor Day this year. That’s the Monday of the three-day weekend when we show appreciation for American workers. Since it’s a federal holiday, a lot of folks will be enjoying a day off of work, eating out and ordering delivery, so we’ll assume all of our favorite pizza restaurants are going to be more over-stretched than usual.
 
But, if you should decide to celebrate pizza by ordering out, pay attention to the increased price (aka “inflation”) or the decreased portion size (aka “shrinkflation”) because, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of food eaten away from home increased 7.7% in the 12 months that ended in June 2022. Let’s thank the COVID-19 pandemic and all its business and supply chain interruptions for that hit to our pocketbooks.
 
Nevertheless, easing up on our service workers and saving some cash are the perfect excuses for finally learning that the art of pizza making doesn’t have to be complicated and doesn’t require any fancy appliances. It’s unclear when exactly the first pizza was made, but we’re pretty sure it was long before electricity and pizza making kits. That must mean it’s pretty easy!
 
Quick & Easy Pizza Recipe
 
This 4.6-star rated pizza crust recipe on allrecipes.com requires only five ingredients: active dry yeast, sugar, bread flour, olive oil, and salt. These are very inexpensive ingredients, and they can be mixed by hand (even though the video demonstration shows a mixer). The recipe makes a 12-inch pizza and takes just 45 minutes—that’s including assembly and baking in your regular oven.
 
Canned pizza sauce is typically a low-cost item, so purchasing the individual ingredients probably won’t save you any money. But if you’re ambitious and find yourself with a dozen fresh tomatoes, you might try this Homemade Pizza Sauce from Scratch. Just be sure to plan ahead, it takes over an hour to prepare.
 
Finally, the cheese for your homemade pizza might be the most expensive ingredient of the whole recipe! Fortunately, you don’t have to buy the fanciest import brand. The dairy section of your grocery stocks pre-packaged value brands of mozzarella cheese, aka the pizza cheese. Look for a low-moisture, full fat variety for the best results. You’ll get the best bang for your buck if you purchase a block that you can slice or shred it yourself.
 
Now that you know how easy and cheap it is to make all the parts—crust, sauce, and cheese—you can make any kind of pizza you want any time you want! You may never go back to frozen or delivery.