Now, before you get the idea that I bash Safeway a lot on this blog…….I do 90% of my grocery shopping at Safeway, so of course blog-worthy incidents in the preparation or eating of food that was purchased there are going to be posted here.
My latest experience with them was buying their new store brand microwavable 40 count three cheese mini pizza bagels. At $7.99 I figured they would give me 4 meals. They did give me 4 meals, but I doubt I will ever buy them again
I will start with my first disappointment with this product, and that is that the three cheese mini pizza bagels come in non-resealable bags, 20 mini pizza bagels to a bag.
Now even this fat lady isn’t going to eat 20 mini pizza bagels at a sitting, so I had to repackage 10 of these bagels in a Hefty one-zip freezer bag.
As this is supposed to be a ‘convenience’ food my feeling is that it is inconvenient for me to have to either eat 20 at a sitting or repackage 10 of them. And when it comes down to the last 10, I have to keep the cooking instructions too.
My second disappointment with this product is that it is impossible to get the mini pizza bagels cooked sufficiently in my microwave so that the cheeses (mozzarella, cheddar, and monterey jack) actually melt without causing the bagels to toughen up.
You are supposed to microwave the product for 3 3/4 minutes at 50% power if you are preparing 9 bagels.
Well I have had to microwave all 3 batches of 9-11 bagels for 4 1/2 minutes at 50% power to even get them warm, and then half of them have to be microwaved on high power for an additional 30 seconds to even melt the cheese.
The 4th batch, I said the hell with the cooking instructions and went for 3 3/4 minutes at full power. They were warm and cheese was melted, they still tasted like cardboard with glop on top though!
I do not have problems with my microwave with any product other than these mini pizza bagels, or as I like to refer to them–cardboard with glop on top!
My third disappointment with this product is that the mini pizza bagels are just plain tasteless. You would think that something with 3 kinds of cheese and tomato paste would have some taste to it, but I think chewing on truck tires would have more taste than this product, and no I am not joking. The tough bagels just add to the wonderful eating experience. NOT!
All in all, this product is inconvenient for small households and in my honest opinion tastes like cardboard. It’s also not particularly cheap when you consider that the $7.99 was a sale price.
I’ll take Bagel Bites any day over this mockery of a mini-pizza. Bagel Bites come 9 to a package (yes larger packages are available), the Bagel Bites package provides cooking instructions that melt the cheese without toughening the bagels beyond redemption, and Bagel Bites taste like real pizza not cardboard with half-melted glop on top
Will I buy the Safeway brand of mini pizza bagels again in any size package? I DON’T THINK SO!!
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