Freschetta has changed its frozen ready-to-bake pizzas, I discovered tonight when I pulled one from my freezer. They still come in the same 12''x12'' boxes, but what the packaging doesn't tell you is that the doughy disc inside has shrunk from about 11'' to a miserly 9'' in diameter — LP to EP, if you're old enough to remember vinyl.
If I know my pie pi, that means the pizza's surface area has gone from 95 square inches to just under 64 square inches. That's a third less. And at least at our grocery store, the retail price of the damn thing has actually gone up.
The pie does fill out when the dough rises, but not enough to make up for much of the surface loss; and the discrepancy between the luscious photo on the box and the sad state of the paltry toppings after my pizza was done cooking makes the Freschetta PizzAmoré (WTF is with that totally un-Italian diacritical mark, by the way?) a real fregatura.
Over at the consumerist.com, they frequently showcase the latest product to be hit by the "grocery shrink ray". Unfortunately it seems as though you have uncovered the latest.
Posted by: Julia | Monday, March 30, 2009 at 12:20 PM
Minchia! Che cazzo in culo! Ma perche mangiare questa schifezza? Ti insegno io come si fa una bella pizza da mano.
Posted by: marc J. Randazza | Monday, March 30, 2009 at 01:41 PM
Marco:
If you make it, I will eat it!
R.
Posted by: Rogier | Monday, March 30, 2009 at 02:59 PM
I've noticed this very issue with other food. It's inflation. We're getting less and less for more and more. As the printing presses continue to run the dollar falls. And our pizzas get smaller.
Posted by: Dale Boley | Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 02:47 AM
Yep, it's inflation. When I was a kid, Hershey bars cost a nickel - but kept getting thinner and thinner, until there was more paper in the package than chocolate. Then when LBJ and Nixon kicked inflation into high gear, the price went to a dime, with maybe a 50% increase in thickness. Soon they were paper-thin again, and then Hershey quit fooling around with the size and just raised the price every few weeks.
Posted by: markm | Monday, April 06, 2009 at 10:00 PM
Hippa to the hoppa and you just dont stoppa
Posted by: Mack Daddy | Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 06:44 PM
I may be mistaken, but I think they just changed up their product line. I buy Freschetta pizzas for $5 each at my local Walmart Fresh Market, and they sell both the new smaller pies as well as the regular-sized pies.
Posted by: Jeremy | Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 12:18 PM