Frozen pizza

The pizza question in another thread begs a frozen pizza question redux, which garnered mostly unresponsive answers the last time around.

DISCLAIMER: Fresh pizzas are better. Yada, yada, yada, ad infinitum; try another thread.

IF you had to buy a frozen pizza, what brand do you think is best?

The best I've had is Essensia, but I always have a couple of Totino's in the freezer (they're always on sale for $1/apiece), which aren't bad.

[Robin Garr]

I guess I'm a pizza snob, Larry. I don't eat frozen pizza.

DISCLAIMER: Fresh pizzas are better. Yada, yada, yada, ad infinitum; try another thread.

Your honor, an unresponsive answer. Try a different thread.

[Robin Garr]

DISCLAIMER: Fresh pizzas are better. Yada, yada, yada, ad infinitum; try another thread.

Your honor, an unresponsive answer. Try a different thread.

But ... but ... <splutter>

I make pizzas from scratch and I buy pizzas. But am I the only one who eats a frozen pizza? How do the manufacturers stay in business?

If you eat cinnamon, Robin, you can answer my other thread.

Larry,

I rarely eat frozen pizza but only because our local pizzeria is fantastic, cheap, and we get pizza from there every week. It is cheaper for me to buy a fresh pie from the pizzeria (and quicker, and yummier) than it would be to get frozen pizza.

However, when I have had frozen pizza, I had liked the Digiorno or the individual Tony's pizza.

Dear Larry,
There's no decent pizza within ten miles of us, and I suck at making them, so we usually buy the personal-size ones from Trader Joe's and freeze them ourselves. It takes a bit of adjusting to the directions to get them to come out right, but I'm always happy with the result.

The pizza we also like that comes frozen is, believe it or not, South Beach and Lean Cuisine, and are prepared in the microwave (I'm assuming here that you've managed to clear all the snobs out of the thread, because otherwise they're going to be passing out and collapsing into their keyboards). They have this little microwave reflector that crisps the crust pretty darn well, and I think they taste good. Better than the full-size frozen varieties, which (even the expensive ones like Wolfgang Puck) always seem chewy and not at all like a pizza crust.

Walt

There's no decent pizza within ten miles of us, and I suck at making them, so we usually buy the personal-size ones from Trader Joe's and freeze them ourselves. It takes a bit of adjusting to the directions to get them to come out right, but I'm always happy with the result.

Walt, you don't like the pies at Amici's East Coast Pizzeria in Dublin? That's the closest I've found to an east-coast-style thin-crust pie, but I am not enamored completely. The Costco in Concord actually cranks out a basic thicker-crust pie which is probably the best in the area. Bear in mind that I grew up in New Jersey and have east-coastal pizza genes. Nothing truly makes me happy pizza-wise out here.

As to the question in question, I know no frozen pizza, biblically or otherwise, which I would call really good. True, I will eat any pizza because, well, it's pizza. But I do have to agree with Walt that the frozen pies found at TJ's produce the best results.

Dear Larry,
There's no decent pizza within ten miles of us, and I suck at making them, so we usually buy the personal-size ones from Trader Joe's and freeze them ourselves. It takes a bit of adjusting to the directions to get them to come out right, but I'm always happy with the result.

The pizza we also like that comes frozen is, believe it or not, South Beach and Lean Cuisine, and are prepared in the microwave (I'm assuming here that you've managed to clear all the snobs out of the thread, because otherwise they're going to be passing out and collapsing into their keyboards). They have this little microwave reflector that crisps the crust pretty darn well, and I think they taste good. Better than the full-size frozen varieties, which (even the expensive ones like Wolfgang Puck) always seem chewy and not at all like a pizza crust.

Walt

Perhaps we should have a snob filter. I'm well aware that freshly made pizza is better than frozen (I do have tastebuds), but I don't always have the time to grow the wheat and tomatoes (heirloom, of course), throw the dough and bake up a batch of pizza. That's when I grab a quick, frozen pizza. I even have CANS of food. Oh, the humanity...

I've never tried the Trader Joe pizza, so I guess I'll grab one the next time I'm there. The Essensia brand is one of those with self-rising crust and a good-flavored sauce.

I rarely eat frozen pizza but only because our local pizzeria is fantastic, cheap, and we get pizza from there every week. It is cheaper for me to buy a fresh pie from the pizzeria (and quicker, and yummier) than it would be to get frozen pizza.

That's because you're in New Jersey where pizza is an essential element of life equal to the sun, the air, water and cheerleaders at football games.

Believe it or not, Maria, leaving the quality of the pizza aside for the moment, it is very, very hard out here to get a reasonably priced pie. It's seldom that you come in under $20.00, even at Domino's (gag) or Pizza Hut (barf). In most cases, you might as well go for the Château Briand for two with a bottle of Mouton-Rothschild. My son who recently moved out here from Brick is flabbergasted! Pizza used to be a go-to, cheap food. Now it ain't ... except for Costco. And, although the situation has improved over the ten years I've been out here, it is really, really hard to find pizza by the slice ... except for Costco.

My vote for the best is California Pizza Kitchen - Five Cheese and Tomato.

Oh I believe it Gary! I had the same problem when I was in Chicago...yeah, they had delicious deep dish pizza, but New York style? Uggh is the only word I have for it, and it was not cheap!

Pizza and Chinese food were the 2 foods I took for granted living here in NJ. ESPECIALLY the pizza...our worst pizzeria here and about 100X better than what I can get in many parts of the US...and cheap cheap...It's only about $10.00 for a pie here. I'll have to ship some out to ya !

My vote for the best is California Pizza Kitchen - Five Cheese and Tomato.

I've seen it here at Albertson's, but never tried it.

It's only about $10.00 for a pie here. I'll have to ship some out to ya !

We used to frequent a place called Scotto's in Clifton. Anybody traveling to California or Germany (when I lived there) was required to flash freeze two large pies and bring them with them.

Perhaps we should have a snob filter.

Maybe we need a reverse snob filter.
Some people, when they don't have time to make or buy a fresh pie, eat frozen pizza.
Others, eat something else.

Why are those who choose not to eat frozen pizza, automatically considered snobs?
I couldn't even tell you the brand name of a frozen pizza, let alone select the one I would buy if I HAD to.

Not snobbery, merely preference.

My kids, aged 20, 18 and 14, swear by Red Baron pizza. When I was a kid, I always wanted Tree Tavern brand. Much to my kids dismay, I always want to doctor things up, though. I like to ad a little EVOO, and whatever else I can find that's suitable.
If I have the time, I'd rather make the dough and grill the pizza on the Weber.

Perhaps we should have a snob filter.

Maybe we need a reverse snob filter.
Some people, when they don't have time to make or buy a fresh pie, eat frozen pizza.
Others, eat something else.

Why are those who choose not to eat frozen pizza, automatically considered snobs?
I couldn't even tell you the brand name of a frozen pizza, let alone select the one I would buy if I HAD to.

Not snobbery, merely preference.

I wasn't aiming my snob filter at you specifically, even though your post kinda proves the point; conversely, the text at the bottom of your posts echoes my position on many things (it doesn't have to be expensive to be likable).

But pose a question in this forum asking something like what brand of canned coffee would you use to serve (free) at a free gathering of a hundred people or so and you'll get a lot of sniffing about never stooping so low to drink such swill--only coffee made with arabica beans picked under a full moon and with lightly roasted hummingbird tongues is drinkable--and damn the cost.

BTW, I prefer Ferraris but I drive a Ford truck. May the force be with you.

I'll eat frozen but I generally just go for a thin crust cheese-only and one pretty much tastes like the other to me.

We've taken to pita pizzas. Just brush with olive oil, add picante or salsa, maybe some jarred roasted red peppers, thin sliced red onion, a little shredded cheese, and whatever else is on hand. Rotisserie chicken is a favorite.

Pop them in the oven for a few minutes and though not a real pizza, it beats frozen all the way.

We've taken to pita pizzas. Just brush with olive oil, add picante or salsa, maybe some jarred roasted red peppers, thin sliced red onion, a little shredded cheese, and whatever else is on hand. Rotisserie chicken is a favorite. Pop them in the oven for a few minutes and though not a real pizza, it beats frozen all the way.

Funny you should mention that! My girlfriend often brings home the Middle Eastern flatbread, lavash, from the Afghan deli. (The Iranian deli is nextdoor, but the Afghans have the better bread.) In any event, I like to make lavash pizzas in the same way you make the pita pizza. (Now that turn of phrase comes right out of the Etymological Department of Redundancy Department.) She had some family in from Tehran over the summer and the concept blew them away.

Larry, did you see that General Mills is recalling 5 million Totino and Jeno frozen pizzas -- check those in your freezer:

http://ecoli.vanosteen.com/frozen-pizza.asp

and

General Foods press release.

The package claims two servings, with a total of:

Sodium

1946mg

81%

I've found that frozen pizzas almost invariably have impressive sodium numbers, and I'm sure the local pizza joints produce pizzas with similar numbers.

Regards, Bob

Raising my hand here...I'll eat frozen pizza. I happen to love the cornmeal crust pizzas at Trader Joe's. There's one with caramelized onions and sausage and one that's a "Mediterranean Blend". I buy several at a time and throw them in the freezer. If I need dinner on the table in 30 minutes, it works perfectly. And, I get two meals out of one pizza--two pieces for dinner that night and the other two for lunch the next day!

My vote for the best is California Pizza Kitchen - Five Cheese and Tomato.

Hi Tom, and welcome to the forum. I'm usually a pretty nice guy and not a curmudgeon, but, frozen pizza snobbiness aside, why would anyone put more than one type of cheese on a pizza. Mozzarella rules, all by itself.

I'm fond of the Stouffer's French Bread frozen pizzas.

On the downside, I tried a Pizzaria Uno's frozen pizza once. It was ghastly. But I adore Uno's deep-dish pizza at the restaurant and for fresh take-home. For some reason the formula didn't translate well into the frozen arena.

-Paul W.

Wow, that was a flashback moment. The last time I was in a Pizzeria Uno was in Cambridge, MA. Haven't seen one anywhere out here.