Savings on homemade pizza

I have seen some arguments on this subject about making your own bread. Some say it is worth it only if you enjoy it as a hobby. That may be the case but I want to share my experience specifically with making pizza.

Before making my own, my family and I would order it once a week from the local place. We make our own dinner every night of the week except the Friday or Saturday night when we got pizza. A 12 cut square pizza at this place is 13 bucks plus 2.25 for each additional topping. We decided extra cheese was worth it, and many times we would order chicken wings as well. All together it was about 30 dollars with tax. Step in bread making. After some time I tried to make my own pizza crust because the dough from the grocery store, while cheap, just wasn't that good.

For reference I am using the overnight pizza dough with poolish from the book Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast. Im sure there are other good recipes out there. For an equivalent pizza to the one I would order at the pizza place:

Crust: $0.60. I buy 50 lb sacks of king Arthur special patent flour for about $15 at restaurant Depot, so $0.30 per lb. I also mix in whole grain rye for flavor. Salt and yeast are probably only a few cents. I get yeast and sea salt from BJ's for a good price.

Sauce: $0.50. I get crushed tomatoes for $0.65 per 28 oz can. I use about 390 grams per pizza. Considering the other ingredients and a freezer bag because I make it in bulk.

Cheese: $2.00. I use shredded mozzarella from restaurant Depot. I think it tastes better than grocery store stuff. I don't use a whole pound but it makes the math easier.

Toppings: $2.00. I like to load it up with onion and a meat, but veggies are really quite cheap and you don't need a ton of meat to cover this pizza.

So material wise it's $5.00. If you can't get the bulk discounts then it might be $7.00. Add another $1.00 for the energy needed to make the pizza. With some effort you can have a quality pizza for less than $10.

Because we get to put on good toppings we don't feel the need to do wings. All in all I save probably $20 per week, almost $100 per month by making my own. Now pizza is fresh and ready on my time and it doesn't get steamed in a pizza box.

I know some people will disagree with my math. I welcome that. But I get just as excited about pizza night as I did before. Now I can make a pizza for a picnic or house party, and compared to other dishes it's less work, cheaper, and people get excited about it.