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Guest Post: NuVal Pizza Scoring
When I approached Heather to write a NuVal-inspired guest post on her blog, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about: PIZZA!
If you read Carrots ‘N’ Cake, you know that I love pizza. I eat it practically every week! And, when it comes to a slice of pie, I’m really not that picky– I love it all!
Despite my love for pizza, I’ve never really been a fan of the frozen variety. As a kid, I ate my fair share of Ellio’s, but I always preferred making my own. Growing up, we made English muffins pizzas in the toaster oven at home. My mom would buy all sorts of fun toppings, and my sister and I would make our own personal pizza creations.
Even today, I still enjoy getting creative with flavors and toppings, and I’ve come up with a number of delicious pizza pies over the years– from a Sausage, Spinach, and Provolone Pizza to a Balsamic Date Pizza to my favorite Buffalo Chicken Pizza. The options are endless with homemade pizza!
I realize that many people are strapped for time, so maybe you can’t always make a homemade pizza. A frozen pizza is likely a more convenient option.
If you’re curious about NuVal’s frozen pizza scores, they range from 2 (eek!) to 25, where 100 is the top score. The median score for frozen pizza is 11.
Let me explain the median score real quick: Basically, you can’t get 100 in every food category. Here’s the deal: many fruits and vegetables score in the 90 – 100 range, but you also need to eat protein, healthy fats, whole grains– and, of course, fun foods, like pizza. But, you’ll never find a pizza that scores a 100. So, when you’re talking about pizza, one that scores in the 20’s is at the top of the category.
So, back to the frozen pizza scores!
The best frozen pizza labels will probably not surprise you:
- South Beach Living Pepperoni Pizza with Harvest Wheat Crust: 25
- Kashi All Natural Margarita with Tomato Garlic Cheese Thin Crust: 23
Surprisingly, my beloved Ellio’s scores just as high as the Kashi pizza!
- McCain Ellio’s Cheese Pizza: 23
Among the lowest scoring pizzas are Weight Watchers, Celeste, and Totinos:
- WeightWatchers Smart Ones Stone Fired Crust Pepperoni Pizza: 15
- Celeste Original Pizza: 4
- Totinos Crisp Crust Party Pizza Classic Pepperoni: 2
So, maybe you love frozen pizzas; maybe you don’t. For me, it’s worth the time and energy to make a homemade pizza. I love the experience of selecting the toppings, layering the ingredients, and seeing, smelling, and tasting my pizza masterpiece. Plus, when I make my own pizza, I can choose the ingredients that score highest on the Nuval scale, like fresh Lisanatti mozzarella (76), bell peppers (94), and broccoli florets (100). If made the right way, pizza can be a delicious and nutritious meal.
Sweet! I love pizza too, and homemade just makes it healthier. Maybe I could copy my favorite pizza from a restaurant–goat cheese, figs, and vin cotta
Who is this person?!
Good thing she wrote about pizza cause now I like her.
I loooove homemade pizza!
Can’t beat homemade!
Yum homemade is the best
Pizza is amazing any way- good guest post!
Mmm makes me want pizza!!! I actually have the Kashi margarita one in my freezer right now
Shew! Unfortunately I have had MORE than my fair share of frozen pizzas over the years. Many of those have been Totinos, which are dang cheap.
I love non-traditional pizza toppings and most frozen ones don’t offer the type of random toppings I like. So I make my own.
But I’m not surprised on the low scorers. They taste like cardboard. They are not so yummy.
I love love love homemade pizza! It is always better than frozen or restaurant pizza.
Homemade pizza is the best! I make a good pear and gorgonzola pizza that is inspired by California Pizza Kitchen’s version.
Homemade pizza is so much better than take-out pizza!
I love pizza, homemade are the best. I always do my pizza dough. Then I top with the ingredients I have. I’ll have to try your recipe of Buffalo chicken pizza. I don’t like frozen pizza.
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hmmm,,, the freshman 15 I gained way back in the day makes much more sense as those totinos party pizzas were a biweekly staple
No regrets though, it came off and sometimes you just have to give in to the nastiness.
[...] pizza, especially homemade pizza. I would eat it every day if I could. I’d probably even eat frozen pizza if I didn’t have the [...]