STOP spending money on takeaway pizza!

Why choosing pizza when you want to get a takeaway, or maybe rather - why getting a takeaway when you fancy a pizza - is a waste!

Same(ish) time, hugely different price tag

Despite what you might think (judging from the title of my blog), I am all for a lovely takeaway every now and then. I’ve even done an article on how you can stretch your takeaway! So this is not a judgy write-up on how you should never get food delivered but rather slave over every meal in the kitchen. Absolutely not! These are just my musings on how crazy it really is to get pizza as a takeaway. Stay with me.

Okay, so most pizzas consist of a basic base (sometimes with a stuffed crust), a sauce (usually tomato), toppings that are pretty standard ingredients (often quite cheap too), and cheese (most commonly mozzarella). You choose your toppings, with some bigger delivery services you can pretty much customise it exactly how you want it. And then you pay up (isn’t it funny how your pizzas almost always come to pretty much the same price no matter what “Super Weekday Fun Couples Football Lovers Special” you’ve found online?), and then… you wait. It isn’t quick, is it? And you often get a pretty wide window for your delivery. It’s hard to plan around it. You end up sitting by the window like a dog waiting for its owner to come home, and you’ve raided the snacks while waiting so you’re not even that hungry anymore now.

Tucking in to a cheesy, carby pizza that you didn’t have to make is obviously lovely, I’m not going to deny that. However, of all the wonderful food you can get delivered which is a lot more involved and complex to make, I’d make a case for getting used to making your own pizza, when you crave it. You can easily make your own base, sauce and the really eye opening thing about pizza is how little you actually need in the way of toppings before your pizza is overloaded! I’ve fully topped two pizzas with a couple of mushrooms, some leftover cooked chicken, a tiny bit of red onion and the last handful of olives from a jar (plus lots of cheese of course).

Comparing the price tag of a homemade pizza versus a takeaway one is absolutely staggering. And the difference in ingredients and benefits to your body are notable too, as you can actually keep your homemade pizza relatively healthy, with simple, real ingredients (while still being super tasty). The reason why I’m singling out pizza here is exactly for this reason. Other dishes you can get delivered can also cost you a bit, but feel more worth it as they come with more interesting ingredients, they are often made with more expertise than what you have at home, and you can try new, exciting flavours and dishes.

There isn’t much time or effort saved either. The main two jobs when making a pizza - if you’re doing it entirely from scratch that is - are the base and the sauce. And both of these can be achieved so easily - you can batch bake/cook as well so you have some ready for the future (making it even easier), and every time you make it, it will be quicker and easier. Yes, the dough needs to rise/rest for 30-60 minutes, but then after adding toppings it will need less than 30 minutes in the oven - and here’s the big difference - you can plan for these times, rather than make a guess within a 30 minute estimate of when it will be on the table.

So with all this in mind, make your pizza next time you fancy it - I mean… it can’t get more personalised than that, right?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this! If you disagree (or agree!), let me know by emailing me!