I Tried 5 Frozen Pizzas From Ontario Grocery Stores & Ranked Them From Worst To Best

Dr. Oetker Casa di Mama Four Cheese

Price: $4.97

The first pizza I tried from Dr. Oetker was this Casa Di Mama four-cheese pizza.

The four kinds of cheese on this 'za are mozzarella, Edam, Emmental and blue cheese. And while I'm a cheese lover, especially of blue cheese, I don't think this one worked on that front at all.

The blue cheese just had a bit of a "stank" and a bit of a "funk" that lower-quality blues can have — so much so that it sort of stank up my apartment when I started cooking it. It was also the greasiest pizza I tried for this article, which is a few strikes against it, especially given how similar all of these were.

The bites were passable, with all the flavours combined, but the blue just didn't work with this type of pizza. And don't get me wrong — I've had blue cheese on pizzas in the past and really enjoyed it, so I think it's an issue of quality at this level.

That all being said, it was an alright slice. The crust and sauce were okay, and by no means was this an evil option.

Score: 2/5

President's Choice Mozzarella Thin & Crispy

Price: $4.99

This pizza falls almost into the flatbread category with its thin, almost cracker-y crust, but that's not what sets it apart.

All in all, this President's Choice pizza from No Frills does a fine job of exactly what you'd expect: being a thin-crust frozen pizza.

This one has the added bonus of a few dashes of basil and spinach pesto on it to give it some oomph, plus the addition of pieces of tomato makes the whole dish taste a little fresher than the others.

But still, at the end of the day, it doesn't really transcend the world of frozen pizza. It's right down the middle, causes no good nor bad reactions and fills the void for a pretty affordable price.

Not bad, not good, just plain alright.

Score: 2.5/5

Great Value Thin & Crispy 4 Cheese

Price: $4.17

This was among the biggest surprises of the entire lot. I may be revealing myself as a bit of a snob, but I find that Great Value brand prepared or frozen food doesn't often transcend its price point.

Don't get me wrong, my fridge is full of its stuff at times, but it's never been my favourite.

That is, of course, until I tried the Thin & Crispy pizza by the company. A few bites in, I noticed that the sauce was flavourful and garlicky and the cheese tasted nice, melty and real.

I found that this pizza's crust was similar to a cracker, and the whole thing actually reminded me of a pizza bagel — which is a good thing!

Of course, it's not the best thing I ate, but considering that price point, it's really hard to argue with something that rises above that low price.

Score: 3/5

Dr. Oetker Giuseppe Rising Crust 4 Cheese

Price: $4.97

If you grew up like me, this type of frozen pizza was among the most nostalgic.

It's by no means thin-crusted — as a matter of fact it's mostly bread — but oh boy does it remind me of the type of frozen pizzas my mom would always get when I was growing up.

I do have to admit that I blundered making this one trying to cook two at the same time, so I can't speak too fairly about the crust (I burned the bottom of mine), but the parts that weren't dark were quite nice. The crust is light, fluffy and bready, while the cheese and sauce play perfectly.

The four cheeses on this one are mozzarella, Monterey Jack, cheddar and Parmesan — which work much better than the similar four-cheese pizza I tried for this article.

Ultimately, I think this one is a winner. It tastes great, but if you're trying to cut back on carbs, maybe you'll want to opt for something with less crust.

Score: 4/5

Dr. Oetker Ristorante Pizza Mozzarella

Price: $4.99

To illustrate how good this is, I'm going to first fess up to another mistake I made during this taste test.

Given that I was trying to buy these pizzas quickly, I didn't stop to look at this one properly. It turns out I had accidentally purchased the lactose- and gluten-free version of the pizza.

To me, those two omissions are the death knell to flavour — sorry to my lactose- and gluten-intolerant comrades.

But I was blown away by how good this pizza was, despite the setbacks.

The sauce was wonderfully flavourful and tasted as close to "the real thing" as you could get from a frozen pizza. And while the cheese wasn't as stretchy and melty as I am normally used to, it tasted exactly like standard mozzarella cheese. The same went for the crust!

On a blind taste test, you would have had to tell me this was the gluten- and lactose-free version — which only gets me more excited for how good the lactose- and gluten-full version of this same pizza would be.

Everything on this was bang on and it was definitely my favourite slice I tried.

Score: 5/5