Store Bought Pizza

You are not going to believe this but my spousal unit grabed a pizza at the local ALDI store the other day. I have to say the cheese was out of this world.the other toppings was good.
check it out and let us know if you agree.

We don't often have pizza but once in awhile sort of crave it, so I buy from the frozen food selection, usually DiGiorno (sp?) Since we are both on the South Beach Diet, we took the toppings off the crust last week and threw the crust away and enjoyed the toppings. That satisfied our craving.

This morning in the business section of the paper I read that Donatos (think it is a chain only in Ohio)are now offering crustless pizzas as they've seen people order pizza, then scrape the toppings off, throw away the crust, and eat the toppings with a knife and fork. And here we thought we had invented something!!!

At any rate, it saves on carbs.

Donna

I am not a pizza purist; I'm almost always open for anything and new ideas.

Freshetta is hands down the best frozen pizza IMHO that has a nice crust as well as sauce. My favorite is the 4 Cheese which is hard to find because it sells out so quickly. The sauce is a little spicy and the cheese is thick with herbs on top. Yummy. So good it feels as if it's a sin. lol

Also I love the Brick Oven Pizzas. They are so wonderful hot off the grill. (Will come out just as crispy baked on the oven rack) If you ever come across the Freshetta Southwestern Chicken Brick Oven pizza, Pleas try it! Here's the description...
*The roasted poblano peppers in conjunction with the smoky spice of the chipotle peppers in the sauce were carefully balanced to deliver just the right amount of flavor and heat, authentic to Tex-Mex cuisine. Along with the grilled chicken, the addition of the red onions and black beans provides another layer of texture and flavor.*

For a wonderful snack, my brother and I really enjoy the Totino's pizza. We add lots of toppings that we have on hand and get really creative. Bake it on the oven rack and the crispiness is out of this world! oooooooooooo so good. Once, we added taco sauce, extra cheese, and diced purple onions on top and after it cooled we piled on shredded lettuce and tomatoes. What a snack that was! Of course the best thing I love about these little pizzas is the price... 3 for a buck!

Quick run down:

Freshetta 4 Cheese
Freshetta Brick Oven Pizza (Southwestern Chicken)
Totino's dressed up as you please

I'm about to go eat the remnants of my Food Lion rising crust pizza right now. It tasted just as good as DiGiorno but it was cheaper. I did add some hot oil to the top and some cracked pepper.

DiGiorno's spinach, mushroom and garlic variety is also very good.

Tombstone's okay. I bought a kind of pizza BREAD at Harris Teeter...can't remember the name, but it was from Chicago and it was excellent.

I like my own, too, made with pizza crust from a mix, cut-up tomatoes, cheese and spinach. I'm just too lazy to make it 3/4 of the time.

We tried Home Run Inn frozen pizza and that was one good pie. It was the sausage and pepperoni, the crust was good as was the sauce and the meats.... YUM!


Dennis

quote:

Originally posted by danimal15

I vote for Home Run Inn frozen pizza, available around the Chicago area. I'm having one tonight.

Same here, eating a nuked piece as we speak and the crust is still crisp, and the sauce has a little kick..... darn good frozen pizza.

Dennis

I don't like any of the expensive frozen brands (except the pesto from Puck).. The one I really love is called Mr. P's..they are really small and when they go on sale for 59 cents, I buy a stack of em! While I own and love a pizza stone, I prefer my Mr. P's in the microwave, soft and fragrant.

My grocery store has Home Run Pizzas on sale for Buy One Get One Free
this week. What is they best kind of these?

quote:

Originally posted by danimal15

We had frozen store-bought Home Run Inn pizza for dinner last night, and it has to be the best ever from a store. Crispy crust, great-tasting cheese and quality tomato sauce. I can't vouch for their meat pizzas, because we don't eat them, but their plain cheese variety is wonderful. Better than Domino's or Pizza Hut any day.

I saw in the Columbus Dispatch on Tuesday that Donatos is selling take and bake pizzas at one Kroger store in our area. I assume if it works out well they will try this in other areas. I am not a big fan of Donatos mainly becasue most of the time I get one it isn't cooked well. But I will probably try one just to see if it is any better with additional toppings and cooked to my liking for once.

quote:

Originally posted by roy51

Has anybody out there found a pizza that they bought at the grocery store that they thought was worthy?

quote:

Originally posted by roy51

Has anybody out there found a pizza that they bought at the grocery store that they thought was worthy?

It's kind of wierd, but Dominick's, the supermarket, makes pizzas that they sell for $6.00 and their big and really pretty good. Somewhat salty, but way better than I ever expected. Not fancy... just plain or pepperoni, but if you want fancy, go to Home Made Pizza Company. Very exotic pizzas, but also very good. And not $6.00.

I find the pizzas that are made at Dominick's, the supermarket, to be quite excellent. Nothing fancy, just pepperoni or plain, but what do you want for $6.00? And, they're huge. If you want fancy pizza from a store, go to the Home Made Pizza Company. You cook 'em at home, so they're fresh tasting. Much fancier, good for serving to friends, but not anywhere near $6.00.

quote:

Originally posted by emsmom

My grocery store has Home Run Pizzas on sale for Buy One Get One Free
this week. What is they best kind of these?

quote:

Originally posted by danimal15

We had frozen store-bought Home Run Inn pizza for dinner last night, and it has to be the best ever from a store. Crispy crust, great-tasting cheese and quality tomato sauce. I can't vouch for their meat pizzas, because we don't eat them, but their plain cheese variety is wonderful. Better than Domino's or Pizza Hut any day.

Get the sausage one, it has a great taste and kick.

Dennis

quote:

Originally posted by emsmom

My grocery store has Home Run Pizzas on sale for Buy One Get One Free
this week. What is they best kind of these?

quote:

Originally posted by danimal15

We had frozen store-bought Home Run Inn pizza for dinner last night, and it has to be the best ever from a store. Crispy crust, great-tasting cheese and quality tomato sauce. I can't vouch for their meat pizzas, because we don't eat them, but their plain cheese variety is wonderful. Better than Domino's or Pizza Hut any day.

Get the sausage one, it has a great taste and kick.

Dennis

quote:

Originally posted by hatteras04

I saw in the Columbus Dispatch on Tuesday that Donatos is selling take and bake pizzas at one Kroger store in our area. I assume if it works out well they will try this in other areas. I am not a big fan of Donatos mainly becasue most of the time I get one it isn't cooked well. But I will probably try one just to see if it is any better with additional toppings and cooked to my liking for once.

I tried Papa Murphy's take and bake on Friday. They have a few in the Columbus area. They put so much cheese on it it was awful. My grandson and I threw most of it down the disposal. I didn't like the crust either.

Wow, wish we had Home Run Pizza (frozen variety) around here! Too many good reviews to miss out on!
Anyone know if they have a website handy?

A doctored Kroger brand thin crust pizza is pretty tasty to me, and very inexpensive. They usually never cost more than $3. I find they are pretty generous with the toppings as well-I'll take theirs over Tombstone any day of the week. Usually I'll drizzle the bottom of my pizza pan with extra virgin olive oil, then top the pizza with some extra cheese and a sprinkle of dried basil, then drizzle the top with more olive oil. It's not real pizza, but it's real good in a pinch.

Kroger has stores under different names around the country (I think they are called "Ralph's" in California). www.kroger.com.

Here's the website for Home Run Inn Pizza...www.homeruninn.com. They have a list of grocery stores that carry their frozen pizzas.

I usually don't mess with the "rising crust" frozen pizzas, though. I'd rather just go ahead and buy real pizza at that point.

quote:

Originally posted by stridge

You are not going to believe this but my spousal unit grabed a pizza at the local ALDI store the other day. I have to say the cheese was out of this world.the other toppings was good.
check it out and let us know if you agree.

All I can say is, you must have been really, really hungry!

I always liked Totino's party pizza - Cheese only - no toppings cooked on the wire oven rack - no pan. I haven't seen them in the stores lately but in college they were $1 a piece and made for a great drunken midnight snack - not a bad sober lunch either. They weren't fantastic, wonderful or superb but for a buck they were damn good! second favorite are Celeste brand

quote:

Originally posted by danimal15

quote:

Originally posted by stridge

You are not going to believe this but my spousal unit grabed a pizza at the local ALDI store the other day. I have to say the cheese was out of this world.the other toppings was good.
check it out and let us know if you agree.

All I can say is, you must have been really, really hungry!

I'm talking about their new fancy "brand"

American Flatbread pizza. Available at whole foods, at least in the northeast.

I agree with you guys. I usually buy the Totinos -I personally like the crisp crust better than the thicker crust. I tried the Homerun Inn Pizza last week and did not really like it-It had too much tomato sauce and the crust was kinda doughy

quote:

Originally posted by glennpan

Like Sundancer I generally go for the cheap pizzas and dress them up. I normally buy the Totinos party pizzas, for about a buck each. I take one, add some garlic, Chimayo red chile powder (the best pizza topping ever), sliced portabellas, and whatever else looks good, and throw the pizza on the grill.

I started grilling pizzas in the summer because I didn't want to heat up my house with the oven, and I got hooked. It is quick, the crust gets crisp, and you can get a nice smoky flavor.

Costco's does a pretty descent pizza for cheap and they are huge!

But I really like to go to Papa Murphy's for a fresh pizza that you bake yourself! Now that's a pizza! Ummm, could I get away with having one tonight?............ ;)

quote:

Originally posted by shell

Costco's does a pretty descent pizza for cheap and they are huge!

But I really like to go to Papa Murphy's for a fresh pizza that you bake yourself! Now that's a pizza! Ummm, could I get away with having one tonight?............ ;)

I tried Papa Murphy's a couple of weeks ago. Did not like it at all. Much too much cheese. So much, it was like chewing rubber.

After trying all of the frozen pizzas, various cooking techniques and doctoring I have given up. Life is just to short for frozen pizza. It's either homemade or from a mom & pop pizza joint from now on. I mean it darn't it, I'm not even walking down that stupid isle anymore.

There is no doubt that over the last 10 years that frozen pizza has gotten considerably better, bost notbaly with the addition of the DiGiorno and Freschetta brands as well as the Oven Rising crusts and the like. BOth the above brands are very good, and if you like a real bite in the sauce, the Freschetta Stuffed Sauce (or whatever they call it) is especally notbale. If you are not in the midwest you can still get Home Runn Inn through some mail order places, but it IS expensive.

My favorite now is the Freschetta Brick Oven pizzas...not the most substance wise but the crust cooks up nicely with a nice balance of crust sauce and cheese. I get the cheese only version and add italian sausage. VERY good stuff.

When I was growong up there was a frozen pizza named 'Big Al Lucionis'(spelling?) that was good. The sauce had some kick to it and my friends and I loved it. They had a picture of a bald guy on the box. Havent seen one in years (bought out or out of business for sure).

My favorite (frozen) pizza for a long time has been Reggio's in the Chicagoland area (and even found at local Aldi's!). Great sausage, though the cheese is okay, too. Will try the Home Run Inn pizzas soon.

The Snob

How about a Costco pizza? For $7.99 (in Southern CA) it's a bargain. If you're really into a splurge they have the fancy BBQ'd chicken and Meat Lovers varieties for $9.99. It can feed a small army. They finally got smart and started making them square because they are so huge you had to fold the round ones in half to fit them in your oven. Not bad for Southern CA pizza as we aren't known as the pizza capitol of the world.

I also like the pizzas from Costco (and BJ's, another warehouse with comparable pies).

Safeway has a gourmet house brand (I think) called Milano's or something like that. Pretty good, and very large.

I also like Freschetta 4 cheese pies. I find that if you brush the crust with olive oil/salt right after it comes out of the oven, it makes the crust really tasty. I usually get the sauce-stuffed crust, since I like a lot of sauce. And I always make frozen pizzas on my pizza stone. Makes the crust nice and crispy without a lot of fuss.

Oh -- just thought of another one I like: Amy's frozen pizza. This is usually in specialty stores, and is a little more pricey. There's one with caramelized onions that I really like. It's sort of "health food" pizza...no meats.