The Kmart buy saving shoppers money with a homemade takeaway favourite
The pizza looked like restaurant quality to me. Rachael Gavin
Produced in partnership with Kmart
If there's one meal that pleases pretty much everyone in the family it's pizza.
But takeaways and deliveries can get expensive fast, not to mention complicated once you've factored in everyone's preferences and dietary requirements.
The best way to make pizzas affordable, easy and suitable for everyone is with your own pizza maker.
The pizza maker is a sturdy unit with elements below the pizza stone and on the lid. Rachael Gavin
But every time I've made one in the oven the base ends up a little soggy and the cheese never achieves that restaurant melted quality.
So trying the $75 Pizza Maker from Kmart was an absolute game changer.
It's so easy to set up, basically all you need to do is pop in the pizza stone and pre-heat.
In that five minutes you can add all your toppings and then put the base on the stone and set the timer for 10 minutes.
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It was ham and pineapple for me and mum and ham and cheese for my Dad and brother. Rachael Gavin
For my first try I made a simple ham and cheese pizza with tomato sauce base for my family.
Apart from some toppings being a little bit too high and close to the element, the pizza came out just like one at a pizza shop.
My Dad was so impressed he started dreaming about making his own garlic prawn pizza.
You can watch the cheese melting as the pizza cooks. Rachael Gavin
I meanwhile had a Hawaiian pizza without the tomato sauce because of multiple food intolerances. Somehow the pizza tasted the same without it, perhaps because of the base we'd chosen, the mozzarella and the restaurant quality cooking of the maker.
It was a delight to actually be able to enjoy pizza without searching for alternative sauces, having to ask for alterations or worrying about how awful I could end up feeling later.
And that's the thing about owning a pizza maker, you can easily tailor each one, or even just half of one, to everyone's preferences and dietary needs.
It was cooked in just 10 minutes. Rachael Gavin
I'm not alone in this being a major reason people want to make their own pizzas at home.
"I love that fussy kids can choose their own toppings, so pretty much all of them will like pizza for dinner, and using a pizza maker means being able to do this quickly and easily," Jo says.
"Also my daughter is gluten free so we get her dedicated Kmart appliances to use so we don't cross-contaminate and the fact they are affordable means we can buy two of them easily."
It's much the same for Maddison, "As a lactose intolerant girlie, it's so hard to find pizza places that offer lactose-free cheese, so making pizza at home is the best way to enjoy a pizza without either having to pay extra for a cheese substitute or getting sick."
The appliance is such a hit my Dad is dreaming about other pizzas he can make at home. Rachael Gavin
There are lots of other benefits too; my Mum quickly realised how useful the pizza maker would be when her grandkids, aged three and eight, visit.
A quick dinner that kids can help prepare and have exactly what they want takes a lot of time and stress out of mealtime, something Amy loves about pizza makers.
"It's such an easy way to get my daughter involved in the cooking process, sprinkling cheese and putting things on top because it's really simple and there's a lot she can actually do," she says.
Making pizza at home is an easy way to get the children involved in cooking. Getty
They are are also brilliant for parties and get togethers, as Joshua has discovered.
"I'm a big fan of hosting dinners and games nights for friends, and pizza is a fantastic way to make everyone happy when they can choose what topping to put on theirs," he says.
Using a pizza maker means you'll end up saving plenty of cash on takeaways and deliveries.
The ingredients don't cost a lot, unless you're going gourmet, and you might already have everything you need at home.
"It's a great way to use up anything in the fridge, whether it be old veggies blitzed up and hidden in a sauce, to leftovers to add even more variety and save on food waste," Amy adds.
You can choose exactly what toppings you want without having to ask for subtractions or additions. Getty Images/iStockphoto
One of the best reasons to have a pizza maker, in addition to the above, is avoiding the excessive soggy and meltiness that comes with reheating leftovers in the microwave.
It's something that I find hugely annoying – and yes, I could use the oven but it would take a lot longer and require way more electricity than the pizza maker and the base still wouldn't be right.
So I'm definitely looking forward to being able to enjoy some more homemade fakeaway, and another Rachael-friendly combination, next time I use the pizza maker.
Product prices are current as at November 27, 2025. Availability may vary store to store, please visit kmart.com.au
