I’m very much a DiGornio or Freschetta fan. I like both of them more than Papa Murphy’s. It might be the sauce, but I’ve never been impressed with any Papa Murphy’s pizza I’ve had.

A local brand, The Dish Stuffed Pizza, use to have a restaurant where I could get Chicago Deep Dish freshly made, but they went out of business when their landlord tried to force them to pay 3x more for rent. They went into the frozen pizza business and it’s about the only Chicago deep dish I can get in my area.

I have not had a frozen pizza in years. My best friend tells me Aldi's makes a good one.

Funny story, while in Italy for a wedding, a bunch of us guys went to the market to grab a bunch of stuff for the apartment were staying in.

As we're gathering up stuff, I wander down the frozen section, low and behold, is an entire aisle filled with frozen pizza. Cheese or Marinara were the most common but, there was one brand that labeled their's Big Americans (Pizza American Style). This thing had salami, prosciutto (prosciutto is in everything BTW), pepperoni (this was American pepperoni, what's called the same in Italy is very different, its an oddity for them), mushrooms, tomato, corn, bell peppers and mozzarella. We didn't buy it but, realized whenever anything had the 'kitchen-sink', it was called American Style.

Wife and I, once in a while, heat up a Safeway brand frozen pie. The thin crust is barely palatable, but the "rising crust" is not terrible. Best of all, when bought on sale, they can be as cheap as $2.50 ea. Part of the reason why is that the delivery place we have been using for over 25 years recently changed ownership, and their quality went from excellent to worse than the frozen stuff (all their other food items suffered the same fate as well). That combined with more than half our usual Chinese delivery places going out of business over the last year has really put us behind the power curve.

I also haven't had boxed pizza in ages, but I'll just throw in with the Papa Murphy's. I used to eat that with some regularity when I lived in Greensboro. Fairly good. Not as good as my own, but better than in a box.

quote:

Originally posted by gocatgo:

quote:

Originally posted by Bulldog7972:
Home Run Inn. Nothing better.

Yes!!! Home Run Inn uncured pepperoni - mmmmm!

Yep if I do frozen it is a Home Run.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
I always see the Papa Murphy's ads stuffed in my mail box, I should take advantage. Now I need to figure out what variety, good grief there's a lot...

Our favorites are the Murphy's Combo and the Classic Italian. You can also add or subtract
ingredients. There is a lot of flexibility. Once home I usually add red pepper flakes and extra cheese.

Jim

If you want frozen, either DiGiorno or Tombstone. DiGiorno is the better of the two, but younger kids in particular probably won't notice the difference and Tombstone is (IIRC) less expensive. Personally I find the DiGiorno Rising Crust to be a lot more crust than pizza by the time it's cooked, so I prefer the regular crust. Others disagree though, so maybe try both and see which you prefer.

If you have the time to go pick it up, Papa Murphy's is a tier or two up from either of those, and of course fresher. You can call them up and it'll be ready when you get there, or I think you can order online now too.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

all all crazy,

Don't get no better than a plain ol' Tostinos.

I'm in this group.

I distinctly separate frozen foods from fresh. The harder a frozen food tries to mimic fresh the less impressed I am.

Frozen is frozen, and the frozen foods I prefer are the ones not trying to be something they aren't. In the case of pizza, the least expensive plain jane options are my preference.

Yep. If I’m going to throw a frozen pizza in, it’s a Tostitos. To not is about like arguing if Top Roman or Manchurian makes the superior noodle.......

First thing ya gotta understand about frozen pizza is that it's not intended to be eaten frozen.

Go ahead, laugh. I may be slow, but at least I'm honest.

Either of these are no worse than any of the others. There really are no "good" ones imo.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
I've been boycotting Red Barron since they quit sponsoring their aerobatic team. Don't buy them.

Damn, I didn't know they did boycotted their aerobatic team. On that note twenty plus years ago I was skydiving at a drop zone just west of Tucson(Avra valley airport).

One fine spring day two older gents entered our business and they were wearing old style flying goggles and they said they needed a skydiver to borrow. I asked what for and they advised they were pilots of in the Red Barron squadron and they were practicing for their summer show routine. They said they do a regular thing with the Golden knights where one of the knights sits in the back and they do a roll and the skydiver falls out. Then the circle the jumper all the way down to landing.

I told them I was available and away we went in their biplanes. They did a little roll in formation and at the top of the roll and actually tossed me out. I fell clear and opened my parachute and they spiraled down next to me. It was fantastic!

I can't believe they aren't sponsoring that team anymore. They were an awesome group of people. I have been eating that pizza since just because of that experience. Other than the golden knights they told us we were the only jumpers they ever used for this purpose.

Oh well no more Red Baron Pizza.

quote:

Originally posted by mikeyspizza:
Either of these are no worse than any of the others. There really are no "good" ones imo.

Ohh, what do you know about pizza anyway, eh?

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by mikeyspizza:
Either of these are no worse than any of the others. There really are no "good" ones imo.

Ohh, what do you know about pizza anyway, eh?

Screaming Sicilian is very good. Newmans white pizza is very good. The everything pizza is good too. Cooking them on convection (if your oven has that setting) helps with the crust.

With a very busy family schedule frozen pizza ‘works’ for us on occasion, and on those occasions we have DiGiorno’s Rising Crust.

We find that the variety with veggies has a little too much moisture after baking which lends to a slightly too moist crust.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

all all crazy,

Don't get no better than a plain ol' Tostinos.

I'm in this group.

I distinctly separate frozen foods from fresh. The harder a frozen food tries to mimic fresh the less impressed I am.

Frozen is frozen, and the frozen foods I prefer are the ones not trying to be something they aren't. In the case of pizza, the least expensive plain jane options are my preference.

Yep. If I’m going to throw a frozen pizza in, it’s a Tostitos. To not is about like arguing if Top Roman or Manchurian makes the superior noodle.......

It's Totino's : https://www.totinos.com/products/

These are my favorite for cheap frozen pizza. I always add extra cheese and toppings though.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
First thing ya gotta understand about frozen pizza is that it's not intended to be eaten frozen.

Go ahead, laugh. I may be slow, but at least I'm honest.

I tested this theory in college at 2AM. He's right.

quote:

Originally posted by bigpond73:

It's Totino's : https://www.totinos.com/products/

These are my favorite for cheap frozen pizza. I always add extra cheese and toppings though.

It's Tostinos
It's Tony Chacharays
It's Worchester Sauce

These are things everyone knows.

Any of the fresh "take and bake" pizzas I've ever had have blown any frozen pizza out of the water. Even the cheap ones from Wal-Mart or Aldi. But Papa Murphys is definitely the best.

I don't even consider frozen pizza any more.


And making your own pizza isn't hard. Just a little time-consuming while waiting for the dough to rise. But you can get around even that by buying the premade flatbread pizza crusts from Aldi. Just whip up some pizza sauce (recipe below), toss on cheese and toppings, and bake until crust is golden brown and toppings are hot and melty.

Here's my quick and easy pizza sauce recipe... Takes just a couple minutes:

1. Mix 6 oz tomato paste and 15 oz tomato sauce until combined and not lumpy.

2. Add in 2 TBS oregano, 2 TBS Italian seasoning, ½ tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp onion powder, ½ TBS garlic salt, ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper, and a dash of red pepper flakes (or more if you want it spicier).

3. Stir until combined, and spread on crust.