# Frozen Pizza



## bubbamom (Jan 30, 2002)

Is there such a thing as a _good_ frozen pizza? I was just "shnookered" by yet another miserable pie. So disappointing. I know I could make one from scratch, but that takes a bit of pre-planning and as the saying goes, the cupboard was bare! Should have had a bowl of cereal instead.


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## Iceman (Jan 4, 2011)

We all have our own different tastes. Frozen pizza can, I'm sure, bring some serious discussion. I'm particularly fond of _"Home Run Inn"_.


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## scrappycoco (Aug 23, 2013)

We usually buy the pizzas and add toppings ourselves...it helps. I think one of the better crust we've gotten was Marie Calenders though. It actually taste a little bit like a normal pizza..well as normal as you can get for frozen.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

All of it taste like cardboard


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## soesje (Dec 6, 2012)

what you could do, if you like good pizza is freeze pizza dough that you made yourself.

you can even make partial baked shaped naked pizza, then let defrost and put sauce toppings etc on and bake.


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## bubbamom (Jan 30, 2002)

Thanks, good ideas (freezing my own crust & adding my own toppings) and you're right, most of it tastes like crap, pops. I mean cardboard!


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## j20832 (Mar 9, 2013)

chefedb said:


> All of it taste like cardboard


Agreed. If you must eat cardboard, it helps to add some spice to it. I like siracha if in the mood for hot or for a more italian flavor, try Penzey's pizza seasoning. It helps, it doesn't resurrect, but it helps. Also, try drinking an entire bottle of chianti before eating the pizza, that helps too.


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## Iceman (Jan 4, 2011)

_WOW._ I don't get it really. You all must be living in areas that don't sell any good frozen pizzas. I live in Chicagoland, _where pizza is king_, and I can still get a good frozen pizza.


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## soesje (Dec 6, 2012)

iceman I had to smile when I saw you are a pro chef and yet you go for frozen pizza....  (just teasing)

but no, maybe its more that our tastes differ? what do we look for in a pizza, that could be an entire new subject to start!!!

sometimes the filing is OK and the bottom is not. (even delivery pizzas over here are better than frozen......we do have dominos....for emergencies, I like them)

I have never experienced the bottom being OK, by the way....and find most pizza toppings not exactly up to my standards.... often too salty, bad quality cheese, bland tomato sauce etc.

so its not that we live in a corner of the world where we can't find anything.... and then, there is chicago style pizza, new york style, italian (gosh!).

but I'm happy that at least you, can find decent frozen pizzas in your hometown!!


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## Iceman (Jan 4, 2011)

OMG!?! _"Domino's"_ !!??!!

_NO_. That is not pizza. And _NO_, unbeknownst to many of you foreigners, not all good _"Chicago" pizza_ is deep-dish, pan or stuffed. There are more great thin-crust pizza places in Chicago than anywhere else on the planet. NY City doesn't really qualify because they don't really know what pizza is. Maybe a few places are good there, but that's probably only because the owners were transplanted from Chicago.

*LOL.* Yeah, as a pro-chef I can enjoy a frozen pizza. I've worked in some, managed some and even owned a pizza place. I don't have any issue that my pizza has to be made at home. Being that of course that I can go out and for easy money pick up a great pizza in any direction from my house. One of my original mentors, the guy I bought my first place from, was a pizza guy.

Thank you for being happy for me. I love that phrase ... _"I'm happy for you."_ LOL.

** edit:* (before anyone has a needless fit)
When I speak of _"pizza"_, everyone not from Chicago is a foreigner. That goes for "hot dogs" too.


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## soesje (Dec 6, 2012)

iceman, you're funny! 

I had to laugh about your comment above..... and of course, in our world  there always remains new food to be discovered and tasted....how much do we know after all when we live on a different continent.

(now if its for ME, there is sourdough pizza made at home, nothing can top that....dominos was more when my daughter lived at home...)

great board we have huh, meeting people all over the world.

thanks for making my day *warm smile*


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## bubbamom (Jan 30, 2002)

J20832 a bottle of wine first -- now that makes sense!


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

If I want a quick pizza, I resort to the Boboli brand crusts. Top it and cheese it myself. I like it better than what I've found in the freezer aisle.

Or a take and bake pizza from Papa Johns or Costco.


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## Iceman (Jan 4, 2011)

That right there is a perfect example of decent frozen pizza; _"Take'n'Bake". _Most all the good grocery stores around me make a very edible and considerably inexpensive home take away pizza. It ain'te rocket surgery.


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## flipflopgirl (Jun 27, 2012)

Whenever the "grands" are feeling peckish they dig around and come up with one or two different freezer pies.

Before school lunch pizza was banned (along with the lowfat choco milk! wassup with this DC?) the kids were served Tony's (square crust choice of cheese or cheese lol) and that was always, without exception, tray day in the lunchroom.

It is no secret that I love crunchy bread and if there is a bit of nice tomato sauce and halfway good cheese baked on, even better.

Those square Tony's crusts were so good that I started stocking up for my guilty pleasure.

Bake on the stone (wack off 2in of edge) and there you go.....4 great crunchy cheesy bread sticks (even better with a bit of onion powder and a tiny little bit of sharp cheddar).

Last spring on a grocery run had Tony's at the top of the list.

What!!!

All round?

Ok lets see what happened.

Nasty.Cannot just be the shape right?

Still nasty.

I am one of the kooks that emails manufacturers with kudos and complaints (WalMart loves me, /img/vbsmilies/smilies/talker.gif )

Sent email in June.

Still no answer and still no square crusts.

Tony's is banned from my freezer.

I have lost 10 lbs.

Maybe it was a good thing.

mimi


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## kokopuffs (Aug 4, 2000)

To me the best frozen pizza was made by Michelina's.  For a couple of bucks, you got a frozen slice to microwave and it measured approx. 6" X 4" and tasted pretty good.  Now, three or four years later I can no longer find it in the frozen food section.  My second choice would be Red Baron Pizza Supreme as it's tomato sauce/marinara sauce tastes pretty good for a thin crust frozen job.


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## bigwooly77 (Oct 4, 2013)

totinos for a buck


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

I don't see why frozen pizza should necessarily be bad.  If you can freeze your own and it comes out ok, then an industrial freezer would probably do a better job, and pizza is just a bread dough and some very simple stuff on top, some tomato sauce and some mozzarella. 

When my kids were still in high school and came home for lunch i would have a few small frozen pizzas for them if there was nothing else - the best brand i found was a cheap no-name brand.  Much better than Buitoni or the other major italian brands. 

In the US, i don;t know. 

One thing that is ALWAYS bad here, nowadays, is the home delivery stuff.  Doesn't matter what pizzeria makes it, they all taste like cardboard after sitting in a stack of cardboard boxes on the back of a motorino in a thermal box.  soggy too, due to it being packed in like that.  If we don;t have anything better to eat, i'll eat cereal.


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## chefross (May 5, 2010)

IceMan said:


> _WOW._ I don't get it really. You all must be living in areas that don't sell any good frozen pizzas. I live in Chicagoland, _where pizza is king_, and I can still get a good frozen pizza.


Home Run Inn was only a few blocks away when I lived in Chicagoland. All the kids sports teams ate there and the place was noisy but the pizza was great.

Later years it was marketed to the grocery stores in frozen form. Pretty good for frozen.

Oh yes Chicago style pizza.......Gino's East was also a favorite of mine. The line went out the door. Your order was taken while standing outside and when the za was ready, so was your table.


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