Pizza Stone Economics by Ruth Paget
One kitchen item that my family uses all the time and is very happy with is a pizza stone for baking frozen pizza.
I have to admit that when my daughter Florence Paget bought the pizza stone I was not convinced of its worth.
However, even after our first time using it, I noted that the crust on frozen pizza was crisp and crunchy and not spongy and soggy like it is when you just place the pizza on oven racks for baking. I also noted that when we used the pizza stone that the cheese on the frozen pizza was well melted, the tomato sauce was hot, and toppings like mushrooms were hot and soft.
The crisp crust makes it easy to use a wooden pizza peel to slide the pizza off the pizza off the pizza stone and feel like a Neapolitan doing it. A crisp crust also makes it easy to use a roller pizza cutter.
Eating frozen pizza cuts down meal costs. For years my family has eaten frozen vegetable pizza once a week. If you save even $5 a week on a weekly pizza night that turns into $260 saved in a year. (52 weeks x $5)
The $260 saved can be used for holiday meals or invested in things like a family vacation and college expenses. This money does not pay for everything, but it helps. It can certainly pay for valet parking, if you go to Disneyland or a bus trip there for a high school graduation trip.
A big added savings is using less energy to cook the pizza. I have noticed that pizza stones cook frozen pizza faster. I lower the temperature by 50 degrees F sometimes and can cook pizza at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, because the pizza stone retains heat and warms the entire oven.
Energy costs are variable due to energy price changes, but if you save even $50 in a year cooking pizza at home, you can add that money to the frozen pizza savings of $260 to save a total of $310.
My daughter Florence Paget bought a large pizza stone for $75, but you can buy them on Amazon and other cookware outlets for about $50 now.
If your family eats frozen pizza on a weekly basis, the pizza stone will pay for itself in one year at either $75 or $50. It is also a good buy for flavor.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
