5 Frozen Desserts Better (And Cheaper) Than Homemade, According To Customers

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Homemade is the gold standard for nearly all desserts. With few exceptions, we expect a homemade dessert to be superior to whatever you can buy at the grocery store (though perhaps not everything prepared by a professional chef). But dessert science is improving every day, and modern store-bought pies, cakes, and cookies can come surprisingly close to the quality of homemade versions. No longer does a frozen dessert have to taste processed and lackluster. Some of these products are so tasty that customers have declared them not just as good, but better than homemade.

Taste is obviously subjective, so no matter how good something is someone out there is going to hate it, but we've found five frozen desserts that have received ringing endorsements from customer reviews and social media. Customers have recommended each one, saying it was better than what they could make themselves. Some have even been declared better than what grandma could make, which is about as high praise as you can get.

Each dessert is also relatively inexpensive compared with a similar dessert from scratch. The cost per serving may work out higher than what you could make at home, but you can't buy just a cup of sugar or half a lemon. You have to consider the full cost of the ingredients and the time that goes into making the dessert. With that in mind, all five of these store-bought desserts are said to be tasty and affordable alternatives to homemade.

Prices are as of the date of publication and may vary based on region.

What are all the berries inside a Marie Callender's Razzleberry Pie? A signature combination of raspberries and blackberries, according to the brand, though the ingredients list also names apples. Some homemade versions add blueberries, but they're not present here. That doesn't bother the many customers that love it, though, and there are over 1,700 five-star reviews on Walmart's website to prove it. "Just as good as homemade! This is the best pie ever!" said one reviewer. "Reminds me of the good old days," said another. A reviewer on Marie Callender's site called it "perfection in pie form."

The combination of sweet and tart flavors is one of the reasons the pie has earned so much praise, but it's not just the fruit that makes the pie work for fans. Marie Callender's pies are also well-known for their crust. "I don't know how they get the crust so good when it is frozen. It's magic. My favorite is the razzleberry," said one Redditor.

The price is another factor in why it has so many fans. Compared to the cost of buying blackberries, raspberries, and the rest of the ingredients needed to make a similar pie from scratch, it's a great deal.

Find Marie Callender's Razzleberry Pie at Walmart for $6.87.

Cheesecake is delicious, but it can get a little heavy sometimes. Luckily, whipped cheesecake exists to provide a lighter version of the classic dessert. Tasting Table ranked store-bought frozen cheesecakes, and Edwards Original Whipped Cheesecake earned second place just behind The Cheesecake Factory's Original Cheesecake. We aren't the only ones who think Edwards makes a next-level dessert, either.

With over 3,500 ratings on Walmart's website earning it 4.6 stars, Edwards Original Whipped Cheesecake has plenty of fans. "It's truly heaven on earth. I'm not exaggerating," said one reviewer. "This frozen cheesecake is the best I've ever tasted," said another. The thousands of other positive reviews suggest the creamy texture, cookie crumb crust, and rich flavor are what make this cheesecake stand out.

Edwards is maybe a little pricier than some frozen dessert brands, but it's still cheaper than homemade. After buying the cream cheese, milk, flour, sugar, and other ingredients, you could end up spending nearly twice as much when making your own.

Find Edwards Frozen Original Whipped Cheesecake at Walmart for $7.24.

When you want to shake up your dessert game, skip the pies and cakes to grab a bag of Rhodes Cinnamon Rolls. Each bag contains one dozen rolls that are ready to be thawed and baked, plus a cream cheese frosting. The ratings are overwhelmingly positive, with over 3,800 reviews on Walmart's site averaging 4.7 stars. "I have to admit, these were better than my home-made rolls, and not nearly as hard to make," said one Walmart reviewer. "I will tell you these are better than any of the 20 homemade recipes I've tried," said another.

Over on Reddit, one commenter called them "a million times better than Pillsbury." Making these cinnamon rolls is a little more involved than opening a can of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls as they need to be left to rise for three to five hours before baking, but they will turn out significantly better if they are allowed to proof. That makes sense since one of the biggest mistakes you can make with cinnamon rolls is not letting the dough rise enough.

The proofing time does eat into the convenience factor of buying a frozen dessert. However, when compared to the time needed to make cinnamon rolls from scratch plus the cost of ingredients, spending just a few dollars for a dozen Rhodes cinnamon rolls is a good deal and it's not as if letting them rise requires active participation.

Find Rhodes Frozen Cinnamon Rolls at Walmart for $4.84.

A traditional Italian tiramisu is made with ladyfingers, mascarpone, cocoa, and espresso. The flavor profile is rich, creamy, and a little bittersweet from the coffee and cocoa. Trader Joe's offers a unique twist on this with its Lemon Tiramisu, which drops these two ingredients in favor of lemon juice, lemon oil, and lemon zest. It completely changes what you expect a tiramisu to be, and fans love it. Some reviewers were quick to call it better than homemade.

The tiramisu is imported from Italy, which is a nice touch for any Italian dessert, and fans online have high praise for it. "THESE ARE BOMB AF," wrote a Facebook reviewer. Tasting Table also picked it as one of the best frozen items at Trader Joe's. At $6 for two individual tiramisus, it's not terribly expensive considering the time and expense that goes into layering a tiramisu at home. Several reviews have also noted how intense the lemon flavor is, giving Trader Joe's version a distinctive pop that would be difficult to replicate yourself.

Find Lemon Flavored Tiramisu at Trader Joe's for $5.99.

Fresh baked cookies are hard to beat as a nostalgic, comforting dessert, and they are always better when they're homemade, right? Love & Cookies challenges that assumption with its frozen cookie dough made from family recipes passed down from the company founder's mother and grandmother. Plenty of customers agree that they rival homemade. "Every time I bake them people think I made them from scratch," wrote one reviewer. "Honestly, I swear these taste just as good as homemade from scratch, if not better!" wrote another reviewer on Facebook.

A quick look at the simple ingredients and it's easy to see why these cookies impress. The chocolate chip cookie dough contains flour, semi-sweet chocolate, butter, brown cane sugar, cane sugar, egg, vanilla extract, baking soda, salt, and baking powder — that's it. Compare that to a tub of Nestle Toll House cookie dough (which contains vegetable oil shortening, sodium aluminum phosphate, and "natural flavor") and it's easy to see the difference.

As you might imagine, Love & Cookies is more expensive than many other store-bought cookie doughs, but that doesn't necessarily make it expensive compared with baking from scratch, and it undoubtedly offers a bargain in terms of convenience. The price to buy all of the ingredients individually could reach upwards of $30. Sure, you'd have enough ingredients to make more cookies, but you'd also have to spend more time mixing and baking them yourself, and you'd still need a good recipe.

Find Love & Cookies Frozen Cookie Dough at HEB for $8.98.