frugal foodies – Two Frugal Fairfielders

Friday Night Pizzas – easy, homemade, healthier and cheaper than ordering out! You decide how much would you pay for healthier pizza?

You decide, how much would you pay for healthier pizza? If you believe that you are what you eat, then kindly keep reading.

Made with:

nitrite/nitrate-free pepperoni = $7.00
hormone-free cheese = $8.00
sea salt = $ .01
organic whole grain flours ($1.06), tomato sauce ($2.50) , garlic ($ .07), and olive oil ($ .80)
bulk Red Star brand yeast ($ .06)

Grand total for both 16-inch pizzas = $19.50, for our family of 5. (Remember this figure includes the cost of pepperoni). And, there are always leftovers for lunch for the next day :)!

Recipes follow (from a previous post). ~Aimee, TFF

I’ve gotten organic crushed tomatoes for cheaper than what I used here. So, your grand total could be lower than what I have listed in this updated post. Recipes follow (from a previous post). ~Aimee, TFF

I have been making this pizza regularly, since 2008, after reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I downloaded her recipe and have it taped to the inside of a kitchen cabinet.

For our family, it rolls out to make two 16-inch thin crusts. (I also use this dough recipe for Stromboli) Make personal pizzas and have your children take turns rolling out the dough!

Stir in salt and olive oil to the yeast mix. Here’s what I use, purchased from my food co-op.

In the time it takes for the dough to rise (for 30 – 40 minutes), your pizza sauce will be done. I use award-winning chef and contributing writer to “Cooking Light Magazine”, Deborah Madison’s recipe:

Tomato Sauce for Pizza, from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes in sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Warm the oil over medium heat in a wide skillet with the garlic and a little black pepper. Add the tomatoes and a pinch of salt. (On my stove, I lower the heat so that the tomatoes don’t splatter.)

Cook, stirring every now and again, until the juices are evaporated (reduced) and the sauce that remains is thick enough to mound on a spoon with no surrounding watery liquid. (Again, on my stove, I adjust my burner dial to between 3 and 4. In 30 – 40 minutes, the sauce is nice and thickened. Remember that the sauce needs to be fairly thick, or the crust will come out soggy. You can totally do this. It takes time to figure out what settings work best on your stovetop, that’s all.)

This is what the dough looks like after it has risen. I put a dishtowel over it and put the bowl on my boiler for 40 minutes

Pizza dough rolled out on parchment paper.

…and a second pie with a topping of onions and peppers for me and my honey!

Enjoy saving money eating your own homemade pizza!

~Aimee, TFF

…well, maybe not every great-grandmother. There’s a contrarian in every crowd. There’s always someone out there to say their grandmother or great-grandmother smoked and drank and lived to age 98. The point is that what and how they ate back then is not the same as what and how we eat today. Heck, the processed food I ate as a kid is not the same as the processed food available today. ( See my post on GMOs)

We have so much to learn from our grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Why? Growing up, they ate more freshly prepared foods than we do today. They snacked on raw fruit that was in-season and canned the extra. They prepared veggies they grew and cooked meat from their local farms. They bought in bulk, wasted nothing, and cooked from scratch. They enjoyed a simpler life of putting people before things.

Beautiful, affordable organic produce this week through my food co-op.

Eight years ago this month, when my middle child was six months old, we joined an organic and natural food buying group, called Mama’s Manna Food Co-op. That was the first step in this journey of a gazillion steps. In eight years and counting, I have discovered that cooking from scratch does not have to be a gourmet affair, nor does it have to take hours. Simple preparation nearly always yields the most delicious dishes. Most of all, cooking from scratch is always the frugal way to go.

Through the food co-op, fresh organic fruit and vegetables are available at prices comparable to conventional produce. Organic grains, dried beans, flours, and nuts are available at frugal prices in bulk quantities, which equals less or reusable packaging. (Our great-grandmothers recycled before the word was invented!)

In addition to produce, anything you can buy at local stores, such as Mrs. Green’s, Fountain of Youth, and Whole Foods Market, is available through our co-op at a savings of at least 15% to 50%, and sometimes more. If you are interested in joining our food co-op, please leave me your name and email address in the Comments Section at the end of this post.

I got Organic Short Grain Brown rice nearly 50% cheaper than packaged and Dr. Bronner’s Lavender Castile Soap for 45% cheaper than in a lot of stores.

As Linda Watson says in her book, Wildly Affordable Organic: All on $5 a Day or Less, it’s easy to think that the words “organic” and “sustainable” are code words for “too expensive.” How much is your health worth? To help you budget, download the “Dirty Dozen and Clean 15” list.

Consider this: North American food culture has seen a steady decline in recent generations, characterized by a dangerous slide away from nutritious and locally-grown whole foods, and toward cheap, highly processed “convenience foods.” The reason is simple: we were enticed by low prices and short-term convenience, and misinformed about nutrition and the inevitable long-term health consequences of our choices. This has been called our “Fast Food Nation,” and it’s put us on course for a shorter life expectancy, and a lower quality of life. (taken from “Real Food for Real Kids”)

If you can, allocate more of the family budget toward fresh food. Look at it as a health care investment – as local Square Foot Gardening teacher and health coach Amie Hall has said in one of her free library workshops, “Get food from the farm, not the pharmacy.”

By using coupons on non-perishable items, refusing to buy material stuff, reusing the stuff we have, reducing waste and recycling as much as possible, you can save hundreds of dollars each year; money you can invest toward a sustainable, healthy and happy long life…so that you may live to be a great-grandmother or great-grandfather.

~Aimee, TFF