It’s no secret that the cost of just about everything seems to be going up, but that shouldn’t mean pizza nights are a thing of the past. Today we’re gonna make a fresh pizza for under $6, making this a cheap and easy homemade pizza.
All the ingredients for this pizza were purchased at Walmart, and all are Great Value brand (except the dough) to maximize savings.
Cost Breakdown
Dough: $1.78
Marinara Sauce: $1.48
Cheese: $2.22
Total: $5.48 without tax
(optional) Pepperoni: $2.58
Or roughly 91 cents/slice
The dough: Pizza Buddy dough
You can freeze these dough balls and thaw them whenever you’d like pizza! My local Walmart had them for $1.78 each, so I bought 2-3 to freeze and use later. Take the dough out of the freezer the day before or the morning of to make sure it’s thawed. Flour a rolling pin and roll out the dough to the size listed on the package (or to whatever size you’d like it to be). If you’d like to get a little fancy with your homemade pizza, sprinkle some semolina flour out and lay the dough on top of it before rolling. I recently learned it’s semolina that gives the texture on the bottom of a pizza!
If you have the time and patience to make your own pizza dough from scratch, you can do that too. I’ve been eyeing this particular recipe from Basics With Babish to try out.
The sauce: Literally any jar of sauce you’d like
I used a jar of red sauce we had in the fridge, it took around 3-4 spread-out spoonfuls to sauce it to my liking. A jar of Great Value brand marinara will run you around $1.48 AND you’ll get more than one pizza out of it, not to mention being able to use it for pastas and other dishes as well. We love a multi-purpose ingredient!
Mozzarella Cheese
The classic. A bag of Great Value mozzarella cheese will cost around $2.22. I’m not gonna lie, I just reached for regular mozzarella rather than finely shredded–but feel free to use whatever cheese suits your preference, this is your pizza after all!
How to make Homemade pizza on a budget
For the most part, you’re gonna follow the instructions on the dough package. Thaw out your dough, and preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out the dough on a floured surface until it’s around 16 inches. I like to transfer mine to the pizza stone/baking sheet BEFORE adding sauce and cheese as it makes it easier for me.
Once on your baking sheet or pizza stone, add the sauce in a spiral starting in the middle and moving outwards until it has the amount you’d like. I use around two handfuls of mozzarella cheese sprinkled on top, and I fold the outer edge of the pizza in to make a thicker crust (since that’s my preference).
Once it’s ready, pop it on the lowest shelf in your oven for 18-20 minutes, and throw some foil on top if the cheese starts to brown too quickly!
Homemade pizza on a budget
As you can see I should have covered it with foil a little earlier because the cheese got browner than I’d have liked, but I can promise you it still tastes delicious! I’ve since perfected my pizza-cooking methods and instated Fridays as the official pizza night in my house. You get around 6 decently sized slices, and at 91 cents a slice, I’ll keep up the tradition as long as I’m able to!
If you’d like more content from the Kitchen you can go ahead and click here. As a home cook and aspiring foodie, I’m looking forward to continuing this journey of culinary exploration together!