Struggle Meals... Pizza?

Can pizza really be a Struggle Meal? Yes it can. Homemade pizza is very inexpensive. In this post I will share a pizza crust recipe made from an artisan bread recipe. It only takes a few minutes to mix up and can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. This dough can also be baked into loaves of bread, focaccia or crusty rolls. This dough is a time saver and it only contains water, flour, salt and yeast. No expensive oils or other expensive ingredients. No kneading required. I will do a "Struggle Meal" bread post in the future.

A five pound bag of flour from Walmart costs $1.56. Now, this is still pretty cheap and I checked the price online. No shipping was available on this product. A 3-pack of yeast cost $1.52. Salt costs .48 cents and has 491 servings. The cost is not even a penny. A 6 Oz can of tomato paste costs .62 cents. An 8 Oz block of cheese is $1.86. I just added .15 for pan preparations and seasonings. You can purchase yeast from Sam's in bulk for a lot cheaper and you get a lot more, but for this let's just stick with Walmart. Let's break the pizza cost down. This recipe makes two very large 12X17 cheese pizzas. 

Dough Ingredients:

6 1/2 C All Purpose Flour   .78

1 1/2 Tablespoons Yeast    1.00

1 1/2 Tablespoons Salt         .01

3 C Lukewarm Water

Toppings And Pan Prep:

6 Oz Tomato Paste               .62

8 Oz Cheese                       1.86

Seasonings                            .05

Oil                                         .05

Cornmeal                              .05

 Total Costs                       $4.42

If you want meat or veggies on your pizza just break down the costs to figure out what your willing to spend. We usually use a small amount of ground beef or beef smoked sausage and jalapeños. It just depends what we have on hand. I tried to figure the cost as close as I could. You get two super large cheese pizzas for under 5 bucks. That is a lot of meals for us. It is actually 16 large pieces. We eat 1 1/2 to 2 slices each, so that is 8 meals for the two of us. That is .28 cents a slice or .58 cents per 2 slice serving. Add a salad or a side to round off the meal and you have a really cheap "Struggle Meal". We usually just eat the pizza. Sometimes Number One will have a salad with his. 

Let's mix up the dough. Warm 3 cups of water in a pan. In a large bowl mix flour, yeast and salt. Pour warm water into flour mixture. Mix until flour mixture is incorporated into the warm water. Do not over mix. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel in a warm place for 2 to 5 hours. I prefer the 5 hour mark, but I have used it at the 2 hour mark. Store dough up to 10 days in the refrigerator. 

Dust with a little flour to make the sticky dough more manageable.

Let's prepare the crust. Oil and lightly dust your pan with cornmeal. The cornmeal keeps the bottom from burning when baking and adds flavor and texture to the crust. 

Divide the dough.

Press the dough out in the pans.

Let's get the sauce going...

Put the tomato paste in a small saucepan. Add enough water to make a smooth thick sauce. Mix well.

Add your preferred spices. I used salt, sugar, garlic, pepper, crushed fennel seeds and Italian seasoning in my sauce. Mix well. 

Simmer on low for 15 to 20 minutes.

Let's prepare the toppings...

I browned about 1/2 pound of ground beef. Do not over cook your meat. It will cook more in the oven.  This is not added in the cost, but it would be around $2.00. Wow, that sounds crazy.

Grated cheese and jalapeños. The jalapeños are not included in the price. It would just be pennies to add them. I also did not use 8 ounces of cheese. I used less. Make the pizza how you prefer. 

Let's put it all together...

 

Spread sauce equally on the pizza dough.

Spread the toppings equally on the sauce.

Add the cheese.

Top it off with jalapeños or whatever you choose to use. 

Bake in a preheated oven at 450* for 20 minutes.

Set your timer. Depending on your oven you may need to adjust the time.

The finished product...

What I did with the other pizza...

I wrapped it in plastic wrap...

and managed to squeeze it into our tiny freezer. When I'm ready to bake it I will pull it out and let it rise for about 30 minutes before I put it in the oven.

If you add meat just add the cost to the total to figure out what it cost per serving. It is still a "Struggle Meal" cost wise if you add other toppings considering the cost for a store pizza that doesn't taste as good and has all kinds of bad ingredients in it. 

Enjoy!

Mrs. Smith