Millennials growing up will have fond memories of coming home from school and having a classic dinner in the form of fish fingers, chips and beans. But frozen pizzas were also a household staple for kids growing up through the 90s and 00s.
When it comes to the more well-known brands, the likes of Goodfellas and Chicago Town seem to dominate the market - with a classic takeaway taste for a fraction of the price of your local fish shop, Domino's or Pizza Hut alike.
And while many still enjoy frozen store bought pizzas to this day, surging inflation and a current cost of living crisis is forcing people to skimp and save on premium brands as and where they can - opting for supermarket own-brand to alleviate financial stresses.
But does cutting costs here and there affect the taste of the product? Or are bigger brands all just smoke, mirrors and clever marketing as a means of getting punters to spend more on bang average products when it comes down to it?
Aaron Morris, a journalist with the Newcastle Chronicle, decided to head down to a couple of his local supermarkets to grab a frozen pizza from Chicago Town and Goodfellas, and compare them both to Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Iceland's basic pizza ranges, to see if price equates to quality and taste when it comes to cook at home pizzas. To make things fair, all of the pizzas he picked up were pepperoni - and they were all thin and crispy based.
Here is his verdict:
Goodfellas: £2.00 - £2.30
As I mentioned before, Goodfellas is one of the leading frozen pizza brands in the UK, so I wanted to set my baseline with them. I've always been more fond of GF than I have Chicago Town so I was rather optimistic with this one.
What I will say is that the colour of the pie out of the oven was by far the most appealing, with golden cheese and ruby red pizza sauce and very generous amounts of pepperoni drawing me in. And the flavour, in my opinion matches up.
The sauce is rich and full of tomato-ey goodness, the meat has a real punch to it and was of high quality, and all in all it's a taste sensation. The one drawback, however, from Goodfellas is the base itself.
The crust is far too crunchy for my liking, as I prefer a softer and more doughier end to soak up a garlic dip. But I suppose you can't have it all.
Rating - 4/5
Chicago Town: £3.50 - £3.75
I'm going to start off by saying right now that Chicago Town pizza is an absolute myth. I've never been a fan of it and really don't understand the hype behind it.
The sauce has always been far too rich for my blood, and I find it even worse when they stuff the crust itself with pizza sauce...just leave it alone. The one exception, however, is those frozen little mini pizzas that microwave in a minute or so - but even then, you end up scalding the roof of your mouth on them for weeks.
So it's safe to say going into this one, I was far from optimistic.
What I will say is that the tiger bread crust is a quirky and marvellous idea, but again, similarly to GF's pizza it's far too hard for my liking. The sauce as previously mentioned is far too salty and pungent and overrides any hopes of pepperoni - which is few and far between as is, despite being marketed as 'double pepperoni'.
Get in the bin.
Rating - 1/5
Sainsbury's: £1
Now we're talking, a pizza for a pound from Sainsbury's - which is often dubbed one of the pricier supermarkets for a shop. Again, similarly to the Chicago Town brand, this one is marketed as double pepperoni, and it stays true to its word with more than enough to span the base.
It looks a little faded in colour when cooked though, and the sauce distribution is lacking. Flavourwise, this one tasted a little too sweet and the texture was gelatinous for some reason. The base and crust was nice and soft though, so it's an improvement on some of the pizzas on this list.
Rating - 2/5
Iceland: £1
Also coming in at a quid is Iceland's own brand double pepperoni pizza - which consists of both normal and miniature pepperoni bits, a nice touch. Once more I will admit that it's generously topped with slices of meat, and the cheese distribution is on point.
The crust is soft and has an almost spongey texture to it which is bang on, albeit it's not very wide due to the spreading of the sauce and toppings. Taste wise, very similar to the Sainsbury's pizza, with a little more salt to it - but not terrible in any aspect of the word.
Definitely middle of the road.
Rating 3/5
Morrisons: £3.49
They say that you should always save the best for last, and I somehow inadvertently managed to do so with this review. The last one out of the oven in the form of Morrisons' stone baked pepperoni pizza was by far the most flavoursome of the whole bunch.
Appearance wise out of the box the pizza itself looks the part. The pepperoni didn't take too much rearranging to make sure each slice was covered, and the cheese was far, far more generous than any other pizza on this list.
Taste wise, the sauce is spot on - rich plumes of tomato and herbs compliment the mild cheddar cheese, and the pepperoni is as wafer thin as the base but really packs a punch and a half.
I can see why people would buy them and it might even stop me from ordering on JustEat in the future.
What I will say though is you have to watch this one very carefully on account of just how thin the dough is rolled out - as it could have a tendency to burn very quickly if not watched carefully. And while I will admit on this occasion, I potentially left mine in a little too long, past endeavours with this one has never failed to disappoint.
Rating - 5/5
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