On one of my last shopping trips to Albertson’s, I purchased a frozen pizza to try. I’ve actually never tried a supermarket frozen pizza before. I ended up getting a DiGiorno Supreme. It took about 20 minutes to cook in the toaster oven. I was surprised that the pizza fit into the oven.

I ended up having two slices. The pizza was not pre-sliced and the crust was pretty hard (I may have overcooked it), so we actually cut the pizza with a pair of kitchen scissors. The taste was on par with large chain pizzas like Dominoes or Pizza Hut. I think the pizza was $7.50 so about comparable to the chain pizzas. A good pizza that size will probably cost $20. Here is the nutritional information:

Nutritional Information	DiGiorno Supreme Pizza	% DV
Serving Size	1/4 Pizza (151 g)
Calories	360
Total Fat	10 g	21%
Saturated Fat	5 g	25%
Trans Fat	0 g
Cholesterol	30 mg	10%
Sodium	810 mg	35%
Total Carbohydrates	40 g	15%
Dietary Fiber	2 g	7%
Total Sugars	5 g	2%
Protein	15 g	19%
Vitamin D	0 mcg
Calcium	190 mg	15%
Iron	3 mg	15%
Potassium	180 mg	4%

I guess if you don’t eat the entire pizza, it’s not too bad for you. I think I’ll try a few different brands to see if I find something I like better. Not going to eat this everyday but good to keep one or two in the freezer in case no one wants to cook or order take out.

I decided to make another batch of crème brûlée tonight. Each time I make a batch, I hesitate a bit since it’s terrible nutritionally. To make six little cups of crème brûlée, I had to use two cups of heavy whipping cream, six egg yolks, half cup of sugar, and some salt and vanilla extract. I even added some strawberry jam to the bottom of each ramekin to give it some variety but probably adds a bit of sugar and other stuff too. I’m going to try and calculate the nutritional information of my homemade crème brûlée.

Nutritional Item	Heavy Cream	Egg Yolk	Sugar	Salt	Per Serving
Serving Size	2 cups	6 yolks	1/2 cup	1/4 tspn	5 oz
Calories	1,600	323	387	0	385
Total Fat	160 g	27 g	0 g	0 g	31 g
Saturated Fat	112 g	10 g	0 g	0 g	20 g
Trans Fat	0 g	0 g	0 g	0 g	0 g
Cholesterol	640 mg	1,260 mg	0 mg	0 mg	317 mg
Sodium	160 mg	49 mg	0 mg	560 mg	128 mg
Total Carbohydrates	32 g	4 g	100 g	0 g	23 g
Dietary Fiber	0 g	0 g	0 g	0 g	0 g
Total Sugars	0 g	1 g	100 g	0 g	17 g
Protein	0 g	16 g	0 g	0 g	3 g
Vitamin D	o mcg	109 mcg	0 mcg	0 mcg	18 mcg
Calcium	0 mg	131 mg	1 mg	0 mg	22 mg
Iron	0 mg	3 mg	0 mg	0 mg	0.5 mg
Potassium	480 mg	111 mg	0 mg	0 mg	99 mg

Yikes. The fat (from heavy cream) and cholesterol (from egg yolk) numbers are crazy high. I can probably cut one or two egg yolks out and replace some of the heavy cream with regular milk. Definitely shouldn’t be eating this all the time. I wonder what restaurant served crème brûlée looks like nutritionally. Probably just as bad or worse.

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This doesn’t include the thin layer of sugar added later to make the caramelized crust on top of the crème brûlée either.

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Update: 7/24/2020

Here is what the results look like after being half eaten.

Heh. I used to eat a lot of these when I was living alone. It was a quick and cheap meal but it’s been many years since I’ve eaten one. After my failed experiment with Freshly food delivery, I went to the local Alberston’s and bought a few frozen entrées. They were three for $10 so much cheaper than the food delivery services. I had this for lunch:

It was okay. Their website showed a rating of 3/5 stars, and it was appropriate. The taste was fine but they put the turkey and the mashed potato in the same divider. Instructions said to mix it after four minutes, then heat for 3 minutes more. Well, the gravy all melted with the mashed potatoes so it’s more runny that pictured. Since it was frozen, it took longer to cook in the microwave compared with Freshly, but the results were about the same. Here’s the nutritional information from the box:

Nutrition Item	Baked Turkey	%DV
Serving Size	369 g
Calories	260
Total Fat	6 g	8%
Saturated Fat	3.5 g	18%
Trans Fat	0 g
Cholesterol	45 mg	19%
Sodium	1,040 mg	45%
Total Carbohydrates	31 g	11%
Dietary Fiber	5 g	18%
Total Sugars	6 g	10%
Protein	19 g	24%
Vitamin D	0 mcg
Calcium	30 mg	2%
Iron	0.7 mg	4%
Potassium	750 mg	15%

It didn’t taste that salty but taste can be deceptive. The sodium and potassium numbers are higher than I’d like but acceptable if I watch what I ate for dinner. Again, for $3.34, it was not too bad.

I took three Renvela 800 mg tablets before eating since I don’t have the phosphorus numbers, and I’m cheating by drinking a can of Coke along with the frozen meal.

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I’m old. When I was growing up, we used to call these TV dinners. This was before the microwave oven was invented so everything had to be cooked in a conventional oven. The dinners were in aluminum trays covered by foil. For stuff like baked desserts and tater tots, you had to remove the foil over those compartments so it would come out browned and crispy. My favorite brand were the Hungry Man dinners from Swanson, especially the beef pot pie. Yum!

And everyone’s favorite…

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Another memory. Since my sister and I grew up as latchkey kids, we would come home after elementary school to an empty apartment (parents were working late), and often I would have to “cook” dinner for both of us. One of my favorite TV dinners was the pot pie from Swanson/Hungry Man. I believe there was both turkey and beef. I would have to go into the oven for about 45 minutes and invariably, the gravy would spill out so I always had to lay down a sheet of aluminum foil. I think we had to use a fork to jab the crust as well so some of the steam could escape. This was in the late 70’s and early 80’s so about 40 years ago.