# Schwans, love it or hate it?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 10, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467 "2011-11-10T03:07:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Kaotic\_Newtral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaotic_Newtral)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/1 "2011-11-10T03:07:20Z")
Folks,
When I was growing up, we had a Schwans truck outside our house weekly. I’ve recently started ordering from them to have the freezer full for my daughter(15) and her friends. What is your experience? Any foods you’d recommend?
K
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/2 "2011-11-10T03:19:26Z")
Never buy meat from the back of a truck.
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### Author:  [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/3 "2011-11-10T03:27:44Z")
Must…resist…Schwanz…joke…urge…
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### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/4 "2011-11-10T04:07:53Z")
They have some vegetable combos that are pretty good. One has green, red, and yellow peppers, and a bunch of other veggies. Upside is that you don’t have to buy $20 worth of veggies (or eat veggies for a week) to have a nice variety for one or two meals. Downside is it’s kinda expensive.
I like their tortilla-encrusted tilapia, but it’s $15 (maybe more) for three or four pieces.
I went sorta crazy with them when they first started coming around, but I’ve tapered off, now that I’ve tried almost everything.
(Don’t get the mozzarella bites, or those flatbread sandwiches.)
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### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/5 "2011-11-10T04:09:26Z")
A friend loves Schwan’s so much that she’s marrying her Schwan’s Man.
The food itself must not be all that bad. 😛
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### Author:  [@Kaotic\_Newtral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaotic_Newtral)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/6 "2011-11-10T04:34:45Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#):
>
> A friend loves Schwan’s so much that she’s marrying her Schwan’s Man.
>
> The food itself must not be all that bad. 😛
Hah! I’ve had a couple of orders come through…and IMHO it’s not bad, you do pay for the service though. IMHO, tell your friend to get a prenup!
Thanks for the responses.
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### Author:  [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/7 "2011-11-10T04:44:47Z")
I’d never heard of this, but I can see how back in the day an overburdened homemaker would want fresh sausage cheerfully delivered to the doorstep, or in a fancier neighborhood, to the back door.
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### Author:  [@gone2thedogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gone2thedogs)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/8 "2011-11-10T05:14:54Z")
never heard of schwans, what is it?
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### Author:  [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/9 "2011-11-10T06:14:26Z")
I didn’t know about them either until recently; when you know they exist you will start noticing [their trucks](http://www.flickr.com/photos/rusty_clark/4428020336/).
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Sunshine)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/10 "2011-11-10T14:58:35Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#):
>
> I’d never heard of this, but I can see how back in the day an overburdened homemaker would want fresh sausage cheerfully delivered to the doorstep, or in a fancier neighborhood, to the back door.
Omg.. lol!🙂
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### Author:  [@Miss\_Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Sunshine)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/11 "2011-11-10T14:59:36Z")
Schwans is a regional company, right? I buy from them once in a while, but it can get spendy.
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### Author:  [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/12 "2011-11-10T15:01:16Z")
They are kinda pricey, but I think they have some good stuff. I usually get the breakfast items … the sausage/egg biscuits and the sausage/egg muffins are tasty. The pigs in a blanket are a good, quick breakfast when you’re in a hurry.
I just cooked up a couple of their flatiron steaks yesterday, and I’d recommend those. Also the Angus steakburgers.
Again … you’re paying for the service and convenience of the guy bringing the food to your door, so you can get equivalent or better food elsewhere. But it’s pretty good food, in my opinion.
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### Author:  [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/13 "2011-11-10T15:10:16Z")
We used to order from Schwan’s pretty regularly, until the day our Swchan’s guy got a tad stalker-y when my MIL was babysitting. We have not used them since as he is still the driver for our neighborhood.
We liked a lot of the ice cream products.
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### Author:  [@JuliaSqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuliaSqueezer)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/14 "2011-11-10T15:25:17Z")
Love Schwans. I think they’re based in Wisconsin. Their ice cream products are really good, and many of their other products are, too. We regularly order chicken cordon bleu, chicken kiev, coconut shrimp and pork pot-stickers, and various breads. Their vegetables and vegetable blends are also fast and delicious.
Some of their “chef” lines are not worth the price because their portion size counts are based on what the average 4-year old eats.
They seem to sell a lot of pizzas. We found them quite awful, but know people who swear by them.
I will recommend them for any elderly person whose diet you might be concerned about. We regularly get Schwans gift certificates for my mom. She loves picking out her food and having it delivered to her home. They’re easy for her to heat up, and we know she’s getting a variety of healthy things to eat.
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### Author:  [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/15 "2011-11-10T15:43:07Z")
I refuse to order from Schwan’s because they were one of my first interviews for a job outside of college (When I was thinking of computer programming as a career).
They interviewed me then didn’t hire me. So, I don’t buy from them 🙂
Yea, stupid reason and I do buy from other companies that refused to hire me…but it was one of my first turndowns and I remember it 😃
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/16 "2011-11-10T15:56:51Z")
> [@Uncle\_Jocko](#):
>
> They are kinda pricey…
Beware the Schwansticker!
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### Author:  [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/17 "2011-11-10T16:47:50Z")
My folks have been long time Schwans customers. They love it. Personally, I find their food very hit or miss. I like me some crappy TV dinners and processed food, but something about the Schwans stuff tended to put me off. For the TV dinner type items I don’t think they are near as good as the supermarket staples like Hungryman and Stouffers. They prepared foods like the Chicken Kiev and breakfast items are better and best their supermarket competitors usually.
Long story short, some of their stuff is good and some of it is terrible. I found that when I lived at home we’d have a standing order for 4 or 5 items that we liked, and we rarely strayed because whne we did the new items tended to suck.
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### Author:  [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/18 "2011-11-10T17:03:36Z")
The ice cream is very good. The chicken and beef pot pies are excellent. They have lots of offerings, some very good, some don’t suit my taste. The Mexican dishes are too bland.
[http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199605163342001](http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199605163342001) Other than this minor glitch.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/19 "2011-11-10T17:31:40Z")
Had their crabcakes last night. It’s not like being back in Maryland, but it wasn’t bad.
We tend to use their basic ingredients (meat, vegetables) a lot, and use less of their more elaborate dishes (shepherd’s pie, enchiladas with rice) because to us, the latter tend to suck more.
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### Author:  [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)
#### Post date: [November 10, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/schwans-love-it-or-hate-it/602467/20 "2011-11-10T17:46:12Z")
> [@Miss\_Sunshine](#):
>
> Omg.. lol!🙂
I’m sure that they are delighted themselves to please their customers with their fine Schwans service and specialty meats.
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