I’m munching on leftover pizza for lunch as I write this blog post. But the pizza didn’t come from my local pizzeria. Well, not really. However, it was on last night’s dinner menu, which, like many of the dinners I’ve planned for and cooked this summer, it was a real money saver. How? Let me count the ways.
- We had pizza for dinner but we made it at home. I’ll admit that I purchased the pizza dough from the local pizzeria ($9 for three gigantic balls of dough) but the rest of the magic came from our own house. We used sauce and mozzarella cheese we’d purchased when grocery shopping. However, one day I’m going to learn to make my own dough, especially since my dad got us a bread maker
for the holidays. (I’m hoping it has a pizza dough setting.)
- We shredded our own mozzarella. As I wrote in a long-ago blog posting on my cheese grater, buying whole blocks of cheese (versus the shredded kind in a bag) can be a huge cost savings for your budget. The shredded stuff, while convenient, is often twice the price as a whole block of cheese.
- Any vegetables we served came from our garden for free. Well, it’s not exactly the garden at my house but the garden I started with three friends when we decided we didn’t want to rejoin our CSA. Except for our seed money–literally and figuratively–to get the garden going, the only thing we’ve spent so far has been our time to keep the plants watered, the rows weed-free and the tomatoes standing upright (they fell over after some torrential rains). Even the stakes we used with the tomatoes were free–bamboos spikes that my husband cut down from the bamboo patch in our yard.
- We continue to cook at home every night. I’ll admit that meal planning and cooking at home gets old, but I continue to insist that we do this in order to save money. It helps that my daughters are now interested in cooking dinners and can contribute on that front. In addition, on days like today–when I don’t feel like cooking but I know I have to–I turn to my trusty slow cooker to get dinner on the table. (I’m cooking cubed chicken breasts in barbecue sauce, which I’ll serve with rice and fresh vegetables from the garden.)
What about you? Do you find any special challenges of continue to cook at home each night during the summer? Or is it easier than the rest of the year?
READ LEAH ON HOME GOES STRONG
We still cook at home during the summer. The challenge, for me, is finding dinners that don’t require heating the oven! We make exceptions (I’m making pizza later this week), but I try to use the oven less often during the summer.
Usually any “dough” setting on the bread machine will work for pizza dough. When my bread machine conked out, I started using the stand mixer; making dough that way is nearly as easy as using the machine.
We’ve been grilling pizza this summer which is wonderful since the house doesn’t get hot.
Do you have a food processor? That’s what I use to make my pizza dough. It is super simple! A stand mixer works as well.
Good to know about the food processor!
I have a standing mixer and could try that, too. Wow, you guys are an amazing resource!
Another great post Leah. It’s so much easier to go out, order in or pick up expensive pre-made food when the weather is oppressive and you just don’t feel like cooking. But buying dinner instead of making it can really blow your budget. We do a lot with pasta and fresh veggies, including simple sauces that require very little cooking time. Salads are always a big part of our summer dinner menus. And once the tomatoes start coming in, we’ll have tomato-centric dinners like tomatoes stuffed with tuna or chicken salad; broiled stuffed tomatoes with sausage, mushrooms, breadcrumbs and herbs; grilled tomatoes…you get the idea! We’ll also grill a lot of chicken, then use it cold a variety of ways.
Not a vegetarian usually but at least once a month I’ll made a big batch of some sort of rice and (dried) beans. Throw in some onions and any other type of veggies that make sense.
It’s harder to find a cheaper but nutrious meal. Since just about every cultures has at least a few types of dishes, it gives you some variety be it New England succatash, chili, moros & rice, brown bread/baked beans, etc.
Made pizza just tonight and dough is so simple! All it takes is flour, yeast and oil and you can make several pizzas. Go to breadworld.com and search “150″. Pizza or pasta has become a staple social dinner that I cook for friends because it cost me about the same price as a dinner out to hang out with them and I usually ask them to bring a bottle of wine.
Thanks for this tip on pizza dough!