Comparing Frozen Pizzas Across the Pond
Harry: Who has the better frozen pizza, US or UK? We are digging in to see who has the best value, how it compares to delivery, and some interesting facts you might not know.
Frozen Pizza Brands in the US and UK
Starting now in the US, it is safe to say DiGiorno is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, frozen pizza brand. Right here is the rising crust pepperoni version, and it, according to the box, weighs 24.7 ounces, or 702 grams. One of the best selling pizzas in the UK is this one. It’s the Goodfella’s classic crust pepperoni. According to the packaging, this one weighs 524 grams, although when I measured it uncooked, it actually came to 532. I want to see how much weight this lost during the cooking process, cooking process or burning process. After cooking, there’s actually only 460 grams. It’s a pretty substantial decrease. Get a good look, UK. Can we zoom in there?
DiGiorno’s Rising Crust and Takeaway Claims
This pizza is advertised as being similar to delivery. “It’s not delivery. It’s DiGiorno.” Every American knows exactly that slogan. Very popular. It’s a major selling point that the dough of this pizza is supposed to rise and give the texture and appearance of a freshly delivered pizza. Now, before we started cooking this pizza, I measured its weight and it is actually 745 grams frozen, more than advertised in the box. Very generous, DiGiorno. Thank you. I have adjusted the scale for the weight of the pizza pan. And once it’s cooked, looks like it weighs closer to 690 grams. Now I want to say the box said originally 702, so that loses 12 grams only. That’s pretty nice, I think.
The Crusts: Thin vs Thick in the UK
For this one, there was actually no change in the size of the crust when it was cooked. Let’s take a look at this crust. Full inch. The crust has doubled in size. We do have quite a few brands in the UK that use takeaway on the packaging, takeaway being what we would call a delivery in the UK. That said, I don’t think many would use the takeaway aspect as their kind of main selling point. I think most Brits would just get that takeaway and home-cooked pizzas are likely to be different.
Thicker Crusts and Loaded Pizzas in the UK
When it comes to frozen pizza in the UK, I think there’s a bit of a divide. On the one hand, you have these thin and crispy, or stone-baked, pizzas. Typically, the thin crust ones will be smaller and maybe a little bit less complicated when it comes to the toppings. On the other hand, we have these thicker crusts, kind of more American-style pizzas. The crust can be pan or stuffed, and typically you’re expecting a few more toppings and maybe a larger focus on the meat. If I wanted a heftier pizza, which I often do, I think I would go for one of these kind of loaded stuffed-crust pizzas, like a Chicago Town stuffed-crust pepperoni.
Weighing Frozen Pizzas Before and After Cooking
On the packaging of this pizza, it says it weighs 645 grams. When I weighed it before cooking, it was actually slightly more, around 670. However, now that it’s cooked, it’s actually only weighing 562 grams. That’s still smaller than that pizza in the US.
A Quick Look at Chicago Town and Dr. Oetker
I love these things so much. These are, unironically, one of my favorite foods. I have this very cute cat pizza cutter. The only issue is it doesn’t really work very well, because they’re supposed to roll, and this one kind of just doesn’t. Part of why I love these ones is the stuffed crust isn’t cheese. It’s actually sauce. Little marinara running through there. Because people might say, “Hey, the crusts are dry.” No, they’re not. Sauce on the inside. I think this is just the GOAT of frozen pizzas.
Deep-Dish Pizza: Chicago Town’s Take
As you’d expect from a company that claims to be from Chicago, they also sell deep-dish pizza. Here is the mega-meaty. As you can see, these are small pizzas, and you get two in a box. Each one of these weighs around 157 grams for a total of 314. Again, before cooking, they actually came to slightly above the expected weight. These were around 350 grams. Now they are 308 grams.
The Taste Test: Comparing US and UK Frozen Pizzas
Back in 2020, I found this ad for an LA grocery chain that was selling DiGiorno rising crust pizzas, like this one, for $4.99. Today, I’m seeing the same pizza for about $6.50, depending on the store. Now, is that the worst price increase over the past five years? I mean, the good family at DiGiorno has to make a living on these things too, right?
Frozen Pizza Market Sizes: US vs UK
Frozen pizza is big business in both countries. In 2022, here in the US, the frozen pizza market size was valued at $6.62 billion, and in Britain the year before, it was 469 million pounds, which translates roughly to $582 million. Now there’s more people in the US, so that works out, too. In the US, $19.86 million per million people. In the UK, it’s about 7.32 million pounds, or roughly $9.2 million, per million people. Yes, we like frozen pizzas here in the US.
Price Comparison: Frozen Pizza vs Delivery
Let’s compare the price of a delivery pizza versus a frozen pizza in both countries. In the UK, there’s pretty much always a deal on. Right now, we can get a large pepperoni pizza from Domino’s for 12 pounds. On average, one of those pizzas weighs 858 grams. So with Domino’s, you’re paying around 1.40 pounds for every 100 grams of pizza. Let’s compare that to these frozen options.
Frozen Pizza Prices and Value
Our pepperoni Goodfella’s pizza is around 86 pence per 100 grams. It would take just over one and a half of these pizzas to match the weight of a large Domino’s. The Chicago Town stuffed crust pepperoni is 78 pence per 100 grams. Just one and a third of these pizzas would be enough to match the Domino’s one. And then we also have this Dr. Oetker Ristorante margherita pizza. Per 100 grams, you’re paying 97 pence for this pizza. So as you might expect, even factoring in a deal and not including delivery fees, you’re getting a much better value with frozen pizzas than you are with a Domino’s.
Branded vs Store Brands: Frozen Pizza Showdown
Here in the US, a Domino’s large hand-tossed pepperoni pizza costs me $19.99. Breaking that price down is 55 cents per ounce or $1.94 per 100 grams. This soon-to-be-cooked Tombstone pepperoni pizza is $5.99, which breaks down to 32 cents per ounce or $1.13 per 100 grams. And talking about weight-wise, 1.95, so basically two of these is equal to the same weight of that Domino’s large pizza. Our DiGiorno rising crust pepperoni was 6.99, which is about 25 cents per ounce or 88 cents per 100 grams, and about 1.31 of these equals the large Domino’s pizza.
Frozen Pizza: A Better Deal Than Delivery
So yes, if it wasn’t already obvious, going frozen is a better deal than delivery in the US. Wasn’t even including tax and tip.
Store Brands vs Branded Pizzas: A UK Comparison
How about branded versus supermarket-owned brand? Here, we have the Goodfellas pepperoni and here, we have a Tesco owned brand. As you’d expect, the supermarket owned one is much cheaper. One of these pieces is just one pound 45, versus the four pounds 50 that you’re paying for the Goodfellas one.
Frozen Pizza Nutrition: US vs UK
How does frozen pizza nutrition compare to delivery? Once again, we’re comparing the Domino’s large pepperoni pizza to these three of the best selling US pepperoni versions of the DiGiorno, which we’ve been rocking with this whole video. I also got my boy Red Baron and Tombstone. It turns out all three of these frozen pizzas have more calories, more fat, and more sodium.
Frozen Pizza Tips: Getting the Best Results
One classic frozen pizza problem is when the cheese cooks and melts but doesn’t actually adhere to the pizza. It leads to that thing where you bite into a slice, and all of the cheese and toppings come off in one go. The real issue here is moisture, or a lack of it, from a frozen pizza.
Titanium Dioxide and Other Frozen Pizza Ingredients
There are a few ingredients commonly found in frozen pizzas that you should be aware of. Last year, some scientists raised alarms over titanium dioxide, an ingredient also used in sunscreen. Titanium dioxide is regulated by the FDA in the US and in the UK. It is not classified as hazardous. It is, however, banned in the EU. Concerns about consuming titanium dioxide include harm to internal organs, immune and reproductive systems, and your DNA.
Pepperoni Pizza and Controversial Ingredients
This episode is focused mostly on pepperoni pizza. Some of the pepperoni you see here in the US today, does contain BHA and BHT, which is banned in the EU and subject to restriction in the UK. Both ingredients have been linked to cancer and blood clotting.
Unique Frozen Pizza Options in the UK
Obviously, it would be impossible to show off every exclusive pizza in the UK, but here are some ones that we thought the US might find interesting.
Unusual Frozen Pizzas in the US
In the US, we love making other things into pizza or pizza into other things that aren’t pizza. We have, of course, bagel bites. What is that? A mini bagel that also has pizza on top of it. I don’t know where this came from, but if you were a kid in the ’90s, aughts, or teens, or now, you know these are awesome.
The Frozen Pizza Love Affair
I do love frozen pizzas. Growing up, we had them pretty often, either the frozen ones or maybe the refrigerated, but also ready-made pizzas. If I had to pick a favorite, it is still my boy, the Chicago Town takeaway stuffed crust pepperoni. There’s something about the dough that’s different from the other ones.
Conclusion: A Fun and Flavorful Frozen Pizza Journey
Thanks for watching this Food Wars. If you liked it, go ahead and give it a thumbs up. There’s also Food Tours. I’m in that, where I go places and pretty much do the same thing there as I do here. Very entertaining indeed. Anyway, if you have an idea for anything you’d like to see us compare on this show, go ahead and let us know in the comments. Goodbye.
