Tuesday, May 28, 2019

What You Can Cook For the Price of 2 Domino's Pizzas?



Right now Domino's Pizza has a special mix and match deal where you can buy two topping medium pizzas for $5.99 each. The deal is that you have to buy at least two pizzas. 

So let's do the math on two pizzas here in Tennessee. 

2 x $5.99 = $11.98
Garlic Sauce 50¢ each = $3.00 (My dd likes this & gets extras)
Tax = $1.50
Total $16.48

And that price is for when you pick it up yourself not for any delivery charges. I usually add extra cheese to mine for which they add $1.00, so we could easily pay $17.48 for the two pizzas. 

What could we buy at the grocery store and make at home for $17.48? When you're trying to save money by cooking at home you can either keep it simple or you can go gourmet or even try to recreate some of your favorite restaurant meals at home. The choice is entirely up to you. 

When you cook your own food at home you get to control the ingredients and can make dishes healthier if you choose to do so. I know that I lose a little bit of weight when I am cooking the majority of my meals at home. 

Back when I was growing up it was a real treat to get to eat at a restaurant, but that isn't always the case today. Today eating out is done on such a regular basis that it is not always a treat like it was back then. 

Let's say you wanted Italian food for dinner, so we will look at spaghetti for example. 

Last week Kroger had Prego sauce on sale for 99¢ and we have a stockpile of pasta from Kroger we bought for 50¢. 

Now I save more money because I utilize the Pantry Principle. I purchase food at the lowest possible price and then stockpile. 

But, to be more reasonable, I'm going to use Walmart's website to look up prices that anyone can purchase today. 

Large jar of Prego spaghetti sauce - $3.30
Box of spaghetti - $1.00
Can of tomatoes - 74¢
Onion - 54¢
Garlic - 15¢ (1/4 of a head for 60¢)
Italian Bread - $1.00
Broccoli - 87¢
Margarine - 40¢

In order to make a batch of spaghetti at home you'll spend approximately $8.00 for the entire recipe. Depending on the number of people in your family this will make multiple servings and maybe even enough for two meals, which it does in our home. 

Spaghetti I make at home gets doctored up with onions, tomatoes, and garlic, so I added the cost of those items into the mix as well. I like the Prego sauce with the mini meatballs, so there is no need to add meat to this unless you just want more meat. 

Forbes magazine published an article titled, "Here's How Much Money You Save By Cooking At Home". According to the article, it is five times more expensive to order from a restaurant than to cook at home. And they found that the cook at home meal kits are three times more expensive. 

But getting back to the Domino's Pizza, you could make enough spaghetti for four meals and possibly extra over the cost of one meal of Dominos Pizza. Cooking at home definitely stretches your budget. 

The point to all of this is that you'll definitely save the most money by cooking the majority of your meals at home. 

And if you wanted to make pizza at home you will definitely save over pizza bought at the pizza place.

Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~

11 comments:

  1. I do "meal math" in my head all the time. The other justification I hear people use a lot is that take out/eating out is quicker than cooking. Well, by the time I've made the call, and picked up the food, I could have managed to, say, bake a salmon filet, cooked some rice, and prepared a salad.
    (Now if DH would only stop swinging by the diner every time he's out and about with a kid.)

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    1. I feel that way too, Meg. By the time we get to town and back I've wasted an hour driving, so cooking at home makes more sense.

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  2. Pizza is one of the cheapest meals to cook in bulk. Home made dough and one small can of sauce with spices. Grate your own cheese and add your own toppings. Cheap, cheap.

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    1. Definitely, Kim. Pizza is my favorite food besides Tacos. I could eat them way more often than we do now. LOL

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  3. Wow, Pizza is EXPENSIVE in your area. We can get a large Supreme pizza with five meat toppings, onions, peppers, black olives and mushrooms for $5.99. There is no way I would even look at a pizza for your Domino's prices. That is insane. I do make a lot of pizza at home. College town pizzas are cheap food fare here. :)

    I love to eat at home too. I don't like crowds, I don't like my order messed up. Bless their hearts my orders always gets messed up because I have food allergies. I confuse them so much. It is very expensive and really not that good. Chinese food is my downfall. I will buy Chinese. I love my local places and love to support them. I use to have one and they would allow you to bring your plastic containers in and they would fill them to the top with your order. Want an order of fried rice? Bring in your container and pay $4 for shrimp fried rice. It would last several meals. I miss that place. They moved back to Asia a couple of years ago.

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    1. Wow, that is a great price for pizza where you live, Safyne. Pizza in the Chicago suburbs runs a lot higher than here and I seen prices paid close to $45 for two pizzas delivered there.

      Wow, what a great deal at that restaurant where you brought your own containers. Rhonda who blogs at Down to Earth, says they did the same thing when she was growing up. They brought their own containers to the restaurant and they filled them there. That certainly would save on disposable containers. I do like the containers they use to hold Chinese soups and dishes as they are plastic ware and when we do happen to eat there I always save those to reuse again and again.

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  4. Such good points Belinda.

    Cooking at home for most of our meals is key for my own personal budget.

    Like you, we rarely ate out when I was growing up. And when we did - it was a treat. We would go somewhere simple but good and I recall how my mother really enjoyed it. She was a single mother and worked hard to support us.

    It was such a treat to eat out then and I am happy that it remains a treat when we go out now. I always appreciate it and our ability to do so now and then.

    Thanks for writing,
    Debra

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    Replies
    1. You're welcome, Debra. Cooking at home is important to our budget as well. Eating out remains a treat for us just like you and that helps us to appreciate it just like when we were growing up.

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  5. Cooking from home is always cheaper and usually tasted better.

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    1. I agree completely, Marybeth. Sometimes a meal outside the home is disappointing since they don't fix things exactly as I would at home.

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  6. Good math on the pizza cost, Belinda. Did you calculate your cost with sales price? Tell me. Tell me. DH and I are eat-at-home family because it is our preference.

    With tax, I calulated an annual saving of $96.20 by changing to a product that I already have a year's free supply. If a medication can be changed to generic, $264 will be saved yearly. With no changes in Income Tax Return, lost $400 in usual refund; so, I am specifically working to regain $400.

    In addition, we are considering ways to save with needs for home repairs, hoping to use less of our savings. Breadmaker, as you bought so cheaply at a yard sale, decreases bread costs for us, too.

    Your homemade pizza, on-sale pantry items, and yard sales comprise a part of how you stretch your MONEY. Though some use "day-old bakeries," I prefer breadmaker usage.
    DH knew I was crazy when my grocery list had 20 pounds of saltless butter on it. Instead of $4 per pound, the sale price was $2. Into the freezer for baking gifts and DH's homemade snacks.

    This blog set me to thinking. Thanks.

    -memphis metro

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