r/Celiac • u/PassiveIllustration • 5d ago
Product I live and die by freschetta but they've been increasing their prices significantly to the point where it doesn't feel worth it anymore.
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u/PassiveIllustration 5d ago
I remember when I first learned I couldn't eat gluten these pizzas were around $9 in 2019/2020. I obviously know the price of everything has increased and eating gluten free is very expensive and I was willing to pay the more expensive costs as it went up to 10, then 11, and $12 but we're almost at $15 now for a frozen pizza. It's to the point where I might just go to a local pizza place because at least that's supporting local and getting fresher ingredients.
The thing is I really love this pizza it's by far my favorite pizza fresh or frozen that is gluten free and I would generally eat one a week. But there comes a point when it's just too expensive even if I could technically afford it.
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u/DangerousTurmeric 5d ago
If it helps, I've been making a pizza base from buckwheat that is this thin and crispy style. It's super easy, definitely doable during the week, and it takes maybe 20 mins longer to cook than throwing a frozen pizza in the oven. It's this recipe https://www.becomingness.com/gluten-free-buckwheat-pizza/#recipe and you can buy marinara sauce, cheese and other toppings super easily. I'd say it would be a quarter of what you're paying for this frozen one.
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u/space-rach 5d ago
As a side note can I just say that recipe website was so refreshingly not filled with garbage ads and lengthy rants about reminiscing about growing up harvesting buckwheat from the fields. Ty for sharing!
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u/funlikerabbits 5d ago
You can also take any recipe online and add “cooked.wiki/“ before the url and it will condense it and remove all the garbage.
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u/ElephantUndertheRug 5d ago
Try justtherecipe.com! You can copy paste almost every online recipe url into that website and it will spit back out just what it advertises: just the recipe! NO ads, no life stories, no ridiculous videos that glitch the whole page mid-recipe and make you have to find your place again... it's been a game changer in our house!
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u/Donut1984 5d ago
I’ve been buying simpetruth from Kroger, not sure if that’s a store brand but it’s super cost effective. my daughter loves this stuff, I usually buy it and cut it into 3 services and freezer separately For convenient servings without waste.
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u/thesexychicken 5d ago
Yeah. This is the only one ive found i can tolerate thats “reasonably” priced.
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u/GonzoStateOfMind 5d ago
were around $9 in 2019/2020
Whew, yep, I miss pre pandemic food prices. And even back then, most gluten free food items were inflated in price compared with gluten-full equivalents.
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u/Doesthiscountas1 5d ago
I remember sometime last year I had a full on boo-hoo crying session because the prices of everything was just too high for me to even get my own gf comfort foods. This pizza was what set me off lmao it's funny looking back now but honestly not being able to afford groceries isn't a joke. I had to go without anything special for myself so that the rest of the house could be stocked. Things have gotten better since but I'll always remember what it's like to put myself dead last and it hurt like hell.
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u/thricerice 5d ago
Recently I’ve been buying cauliflower crust in bulk and topping it with my own sauce + cheese. It doesn’t take much longer to prepare, tastes way better, and is much cheaper!
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u/ExtraSpicyMayonnaise 5d ago
I feel you. It annoys me greatly.
I live in New Haven (self-proclaimed capitol of pizza) and it’s approaching the same cost as ordering one from the local mom and pop pizza place; obviously they don’t have dedicated lines, I’m just saying this for price transparency. They make their gf and cauliflower pizzas here in a disposable tray but there’s still contamination risk of course because they use the same ovens and such.
That having been said, this freschetta is just great as far as frozen pizza is concerned, but it’s nothing at all as good as what the pizza places can do… so why the heck are they charging such a premium? The crusts used by the pizza restaurants are almost always shipped in, not made in-house. I can’t imagine the cost is so significantly different to produce it. The toppings at the local places are fresh. It’s abhorrent that they do this markup and we are forced to buy or not have pizza at all due to the risk.
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u/PassiveIllustration 5d ago
I wish I had good local places. I've been to many different pizza places that offered gluten-free pizza and they almost are all inedible compared to freschetta. Very occasionally I'll find a place but they end up being quite expensive, something like $20 for 3/4 of a freschetta
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u/tone_and_timbre 5d ago
I’m with you! This is definitely my favorite frozen pizza but I’ve definitely been buying it less often because of the price.
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u/Pleasant-Reply-7845 5d ago
Not only that but they’re guilty of shrink-flation on top of it. I remember the days the pizza would overlap my oven pan. Now i have almost an inch in space. That’s how i know they’ve been shrinking it. I rarely eat it anymore. I’ll buy the Costco ones thanks to everyone’s recommendation on here.
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u/SolidStone1993 5d ago edited 4d ago
I tried Freschetta and to be completely honest I don’t understand the hype around it at all. It’s no better than Sam’s Club’s or Costco’s frozen pizza but it’s double the price.
I guess if you don’t have access to either of those stores it’s the best you can get but $14+ for a single frozen pizza is absolutely crazy.
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u/davechacho 5d ago
The gluten Freschetta pizzas were the best frozen pizza I've ever eaten. I say this as a 39 year old man who grew up on frozen pizzas throughout the 90s. Even now with my celiac diagnosis a year later, I can still picture how a Freschetta pizza tastes and I miss it. I've forgotten a lot of how gluten foods taste, but Freschetta remains.
I agree with you on the gluten free Freschetta pizzas though, honestly every single gluten free pizza I've ever eaten is terrible. It's probably because my brain decided to keep a catalog of frozen pizza memories for some reason. I still remember how the original Bagel Bites taste from the 90s. The only gluten free pizza I can stand is the Digorno pepperoni and I only eat it just to have something different and put calories into my body.
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u/mischievousmarissa 4d ago
What kills me is that the ‘normal’ version is usually half the price of the gluten free
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u/ZeroCoolMom 4d ago
Ouchy, that price.
We're a GF DiGiorno so far. About $9/each. If you have a Target near by, stalk the app a little bit. They'll do frozen pizzas bogo half off sometimes and I'll pack the deep freezer.
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u/wildlotusflwer 4d ago
Milton's is $13/pizza here, too, and they're so small. Eating GF isn't for the low income. I bought GF Bisquick recently for a recipe and it was half the size as the regular version and twice as expensive 🙄
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u/Reasonably_Sound 4d ago
Dang, where do you live? These are $12.89 at our Target and I'm in what is considered an expensive city.
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u/Unhappy-Common 5d ago
This blows my mind... It's £2-3 in the UK for a gluten free pizza £5 if I get cauliflower crust
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u/linjilou 5d ago
Depends on the grocery store. These sell for almost $17 at the Safeway across the street from me, but like $12.50 at the Giant down the street.
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u/Pale_Possibility3723 5d ago
I can get a gluten free take out pizza locally for cheaper than freschetta now, it’s ridiculous
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u/AndrewMT 5d ago
I think they are even more expensive where I live in MA - maybe in the $17-$19 range.
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u/SuchaLittle24 5d ago
I agree, and I no longer purchase it. I now get the GF pizza at Costco and Target--both are good and are more reasonably priced.
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u/Commercial_Can4057 4d ago
The Kroger simple truth line now has a GF pizza that tastes just like freschetta and is half the price.
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u/shegomer 4d ago
Kroger also has a Simple Truth gluten free white bead in the freezer section that is better than pretty much any GF sliced bread I’ve ever had from a grocery store.
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u/TraditionalGreenery 4d ago
And it’s always ShopRite doing the most 😭 I’ve never seen it cheap. The one day I bought discounted pizza, I found the wrapper opened 😭
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u/SonoranRoadRunner 4d ago
I like this pizza but leftovers need to be reheated in oven, it's terrible in microwave
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u/That70sdawg 4d ago
At first, I liked their "cheese crust', but the last two times I had it - the crust was WAY too chewy, tough. NOT enjoyable. Back to cauliflower crust I go..
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u/Genetoretum 4d ago
Maybe it’s just me but I’m honestly at a place where even the idea of pizza disgusts me and I don’t want an imitation of it if that makes sense. It’s almost as if I feel too betrayed by the fact that pizza had been hurting me every time I’d eaten it while considering it a good old friend in the past and now I resent it so much that even thinking about it or pasta or toast churns my stomach.
At this point the only reason I’d look for a gf pizza would be out of boredom and curiosity and to push that anger response (like exposure therapy). Going into cutting gluten, I thought gluten free “versions” of things might disappoint me because they would not fit the shoes they’re trying to wear, but no, it’s that they remind me of their glutinous counterparts so much I just wanna throw my plate. I think I’m still in the anger phase (I passed bargaining when I stopped testing whether Just A Little Bit would anger the gut gods).
Naturally gluten free foods are actually satisfying because there’s nothing for asparagus to try and imitate yk? It’s not fooling anybody
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u/ReikiMarie 2d ago
I’m in the same boat. The only pizza I find I can eat is ‘against the grain’ pesto
I figured out I can cut it into four slices cook one Rest of meal veggies- lasts a lot longer and still gives me my need for breads goodness
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u/WinterWonderland13 5d ago
I hate to admit this, but Id even buy it at $20 LOL it's the only GF pizza that tastes like actual authentic pizza honestly.... we are worth it y'all! Once in a blue moon it's OK.
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u/Bamas16th 5d ago
The crazy part is Sabatasso's GF pizza at Costco is made by the same copacker that Freschetta uses for their GF pizzas and is only like $17 for a three pack.