I love Schwanmanstuff. My Schwan’s men don’t come to my house anymore (I think the dogs scare them away, or maybe it’s the neighborhood) so I have to catch them in odd places or wait until I spot one parked at a gas station.
Anyway Schwan’s has great tortellini. I don’t know why it’s so much better than any other brand, but I’ve tried a lot of different types, and Schwan’s is the best.
Ice cream is good, especially a lemony type they only carry in the summer here.
Everything else I’ve tried has been really good, but I’m very, very cheap, so I haven’t tried any of the meats or prepared meals.
But the tortellini is worth chasing down the Schwanman anyday.
Best,
karol
Pot Stickers
Ice Cream
Pizzas
The meat selections are overpriced, IMHO.
A Schwan’s delivery man played a crucial role in a multiple-murder trial for which I sat on a jury. So, go Schwan’s guys. Great company, and their delivery logs can help with the occasional crime trial.
Anyway. As Tamex mentioned, Schwan’s has a heavy presence in the (premium) frozen foods sections of grocery stores-- they own Red Baron, Freschetta, and more. They make good product, but it pays to check the grocer’s freezers before commiting to more expensive home delivery.
That said, does anyone with a current delivery service know if they still carry the… I don’t know the real name… the, uh, pizza dipping ring thing? A ring of pizza dough filled with cheese, with a cup of tomato sauce at the center. A number of companies introduced similar items a few years ago, but only the Schwan’s brand was edible. And edible it was-- damn delicious, and worth signing up for Schwan’s door-to-door service alone. (Is this one of those things which would be obvious if I knew what search terms to use?)
The cheese rings are not in the current catalog, but IIRC, they bring them back seasonally around Christmas.
We like their bacon. The last two times I’ve tried bacon from the grocery store, I’ve broken my dental appliance. I’d rather pay for the bacon than the broken appliance, especially since I talk funny when I’m not wearing it.
The Mahi-Mahi is excellent, especially since it goes from the freezer directly to our BBQ grill, with just EVOO, salt, and pepper. Yum!
The frozen veggies are excellent, also. Try the Sugar Snap Peas. The broccoli is all crowns and no stems. And the asparagus, while spendy, is very convenient to use, since you don’t have to peel and wash it.
You’re supposed to peel asparagus?
I’ve always wondered - do you have to sign up, or can you do the spur-of-the-moment thing, flag down a truck and just see what he has and buy that way?
bodypoet says you don’t have to sign up – catch them where they’re parked or wave them over and they’ll open the store.
Its ok I am sure they now have another source for meat by now.
That sounds like a great TV crime show episode… can we get more details? How did the Schwan’s delivery guy nail (or exonerate, whichever he did) the accused?
Mrs. Mercotan loves their fire-roasted veggies.
Of course, she opts for fresh when they’re in season locally, but during the rest of the year, she finds them tastily convenient.
Their potato wedges are not bad.
Their curly fries suck tho. But then so do all curly fries.
My dad worked for Schwan’s, so my family tried all sorts of products. I adored their chicken nuggets and large bags of ready-cooked bacon. My family loved the apple pies and egg rolls, but I never tried them so I can’t personally attest to them.
The Schwan delivery guy established the presence of the accused at his home during a time frame that the defense was claiming he was away. There was a lot of weirdness about establishing his presence or lack thereof (they lived in a part of Indiana that followed daylight savings time at a time when the state as a whole didn’t, which threw a wrench into the prosecution’s plan to establish that he had been at home by using cell-phone records), and the Schwan’s man testimony kept the case from derailing over the issue; didn’t nail or exonerate the guy-- we had a month of testimony after that point-- but it kept the prosecution from throwing in the towel. (It also allowed the defense to try to put a seed of doubt out there, as the order the accused made with the Schwan’s guy was for food preferred by his family, who he was accused of killing shortly thereafter.)
I still need to read the true-crime novel based on the case; I’d be surprised if the Schwan’s guy made it in, though, since the trial was controversial for many other things…
Yep; the lower stems, if you don’t want to snap 'em off, are very stringy and can be peeled for less waste. More asparagus is always a good thing!
I always snap them off about halfway down.
Yeah, I don’t usually mess with the woody stuff, but if peeling them might help, I’ll try it. I usually feel along the stalk – you can tell when you’re getting to the really fibrous part.
Neighbors keep us well supplied with asparagus, and our own patch should be ready this season – it’s the third year in the ground for the plants. We had a few that looked pickable last spring, but the experts said leave them be.
Asparagus, sweet corn, and tomatoes almost make up for our godawful winters.