POV: You’re eight years old in search of an after-school snack in the refrigerator or freezer. We all know what it’s going to be: pizza bites. These teeny-tiny baby calzones were easy to nuke in the microwave without adult supervision, and you could eat at very least 15 of them while you did your homework or watched Boy Meets World. You can still feel the roof of your mouth going numb after burning yourself with lava cheese you didn’t let cool down—but it was always worth it.
Over the years, there have been many a brand that tried to recreate that saucy childhood magic, but they never really quite hit the spot like those pizza bites (Totino’s, from what I can remember, and my mom probably bought the economy-sized box from Costco). That is, until Snow Days showed up and upped the nostalgia and tastebud game.
Snow Days took the beloved pizza roll of the ’90s and early 2000s and modernized it without subtracting the cheesy, sauciness, and flavor we so loved most. Snow Days pizza bites aren’t necessarily billed as the “healthier” alternative, either—they just use feel-good ingredients (like veggies, high-quality proteins, and olive oil) and take out the not-so-feel-good one (such as preservatives and artificial ingredients).
Depending on which flavor you like—cheese, veggie white, sausage, or their newest buffalo chicken—each bite contains nutritious and non-intimidating ingredients like carrots, grass-fed ricotta, sweet potato, basil, and cauliflower. Plus, if you’re gluten-free, you’ll be happy to note that the dough is made of cassava, a starchy root vegetable. (Full disclosure: I love gluten, so it’s saying a lot that I ate these bites with pure joy, never once thinking, “Well, this is pretty good for gluten-free.”)
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Just like the pizza bites of our collective youth, Snow Days are easy to make for yourself, and require absolutely zero prep work. You can microwave them, but it’s recommended to use the oven, toaster oven, or air fryer for about ten minutes. That way, you get golden bites with the perfect amount of crunch on the outside, and melty, tomato-y goodness on the inside when you take a bite. Have them by themselves, or pair ’em with a dressing (I love using Trader Joes’ vegan creamy dill dressing, especially with the buffalo chicken filling) or a side of marinara sauce. It’s a nice compromise when you don’t feel like fussing over meal planning and prepping ingredients to cook a homemade meal, and also want to be mindful of how much money you’re spending on takeout and delivery.
I’ve been heating these up for lunch a few times a week, and just want to point out that, aside from the delicious, fresh flavor (not at all characteristic of your run-of-the-mill frozen meal) and convenience, they’re also extremely satisfying. I have yet to munch on these while watching re-runs of So Weird, but something tells me they’re also the perfect snack for your ’90s-inspired Netflix queue.
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