The Froze Bros

The Bros dig into a golden crispy snack with a brand name that gave Darren an unshakable political flashback before they'd even opened the box. This week: SeaPak Wild Caught Clam Strips . The story: SeaPak began in 1948 as the Sea Island Packing Company on St. Simons Island, Georgia, and pioneered individual quick freezing for shrimp. Rich Products Corporation purchased SeaPak in 1976. The clam strip itself was invented by a picky Ipswich, Massachusetts clam digger who only wanted the "foot" of the clam, and an exclusive decades-long supply deal with a growing roadside chain called Howard Johnson's . Plus: A giant moose tracks disaster. Cauliflower wings and the mystery of the bay leaf. Mango varietals and the hunt for a proper Kent. An international frozen food report from Italy. And a clamshack sunset that got Max feeling nostalgic. In the closing segment: the second half of a two-part regional food review, this time testing how New England the Bros really are—fluff...

The Bros say goodbye to Dolly Parton the only way they know how. This week: Dolly Parton’s Shrimp & Grits . Sharp white cheddar grits, seasoned shrimp, cherry tomatoes, scallions, and a scratch-made spicy sauce, all in her classic pink box. The story: Dolly's food empire built up in stages. Duncan Hines baking mixes in 2022, then a full licensing deal with Conagra in January 2024 that brought Dolly to the freezer aisle. Homestyle Meatloaf, Chicken & Dumplings, Country Fried Steak, plus desserts like Peach Cobbler and a chocolate pie the Bros were decidedly less than kind to in a previous episode. Plus: Max's backyard garden, pommes de terre, key lime pie. A wave of recalls. Nine to Five and Steel Magnolias, Dolly's Imagination Library, and a fierce debate over whether it's normal to watch your microwave the entire time it's running. In the closing segment: two New England boys take on "How Southern Are You?," a quiz from It's a Southern Thing. ...

The Bros celebrate their second Frozaversary with Shaun. This week: Pepperidge Farm Chocolate Fudge Stripe Layer Cake . The story: Margaret Rudkin started Pepperidge Farm in 1937 out of her Connecticut kitchen, baking preservative-free bread because her son had allergies. A decade later, she opened a real bakery. Campbell Soup bought the company in 1961, and Margaret became Campbell's first female board member. Layer cakes have been part of the lineup since 1963. Plus: Candle wax disappearances. The difference between an eighth and a ninth. Sponge cake versus sponge, the British way. Tupelo trees. Visits from neighbors and grandkids. Chocolate: can there be too much of it? In the closing segment: it's the Bros' second Frozaversary, which means prizes, pixels, and a very serious competition. Frozen food mascots. A five-round showdown. And by the end of it, someone walks away with a title. WATCH THIS EPISODE FROST BITES Roots of the Brand . " Pepperidge Farm " isn...

The Bros have been teasing this one for months. It's the ultimate Face-Off: Smucker's Uncrustables squares off against Trader Joe's Crustless Peanut Butter & Strawberry Jam Sandwiches . Their court case is still pending, but we’re throwing down here and now. The story: Smucker's traces back to 1897 and an apple butter wagon in Ohio; they began marketing Uncrustables in 2000. Trader Joe's dates to 1967 in Pasadena and debuted their own crustless sandwiches in 2025. Smucker’s sued TJ’s, and we bite into all of the claims: the shape, the crimped edges, the blue box, and a suspiciously large number of tiny ® symbols. Plus: An Outshine fruit bar recall. A frozen dog food recall to warn the pups in 11 states. Defining "divvy.” Travis Kelce. Expert witnesses, and whether the Bros may be called to court. In the closing segment: Ice Pick-tionary debuts. Naomi, Max, and Darren have thirty seconds to sketch frozen food brands and products. WATCH THIS EPISODE FROST B...

The Doughboy's off to school, and so are the Bros. This week: Pillsbury Toaster Scrambles pastries with bacon, reviewed just in time for back-to-school breakfasts. The story: Charles Pillsbury bought a one-third stake in a Minneapolis flour mill in 1869 (dethroning last week's record-holder for oldest company). From the XXXX trademark to the Doughboy's 1965 debut to a surprising stint owning Burger King, the Bros dig into the doughy history that brought Pillsbury to General Mills. Plus: A new Pop-Tart flavor. How to pronounce biopic. El Niño (Darren regrets calling himself a fan). Little House versus The Waltons . Rosina frozen meatballs. Campbell’s in the freezer aisle. And the Doughboy has a name. In the closing segment: Two Ice Cold Truths and a Lie. The Bros each tell tales from school, and the other guesses the lie. Music lessons, famous graduation speakers, drag performances, and split pants all make an appearance. WATCH THIS EPISODE FROST BITES XXX: From Flour P...

The Bros trade in their microwaves, air fryers, and toaster ovens for a blender. Well, a Nutribullet in one case. This week: Wyman's Protein Blend Wild Blueberry Crumble , a protein smoothie mix from the company better known for pouches of frozen fruit. The story: Jasper Wyman started the company in 1874 as a seafood cannery in Milbridge, Maine, and didn't pivot to wild blueberries until about 1900. At 152 years old, this makes Wyman's the oldest brand the Bros have reviewed—and it’s still family-owned. Plus: peach ice cream and a walk in the woods, how large an acre may be, a town-line creamery, Pore Jud is Daid, a chill job opening, a listener tip for finding frozen gator, Oh, Mary!, a wall of M&Ms, and more. In the closing segment: Max audits fifty episodes' worth of ratings data—ice cubes in trays, wild scoring discrepancies, and a hard look at just how unbalanced this podcast has actually been. WATCH THIS EPISODE FROST BITES Ox On, Ox Off . Darren’s guess ab...

Darren's fresh off a trip to Paris and London, Max is just back from the Jersey Shore, and the Bros are marking the occasion with a backyard cookout. This week: Philly Gourmet Pure 100% Beef Patties , in a limited-edition box celebrating America's 250th. The story: Philly Gourmet is a Quaker Maid Meats brand, founded in Reading, PA in 1960 by Stanley Szortyka. It’s still family-owned today by his kids, Sergei and Nancy. Plus: Oysters topped with a frozen margarita in London. Extra large escargot in Paris. Famous frozen custard in Cape May, New Jersey. Car phones. The Doomsday Freezer. A hot take on tater tots. And an air fryer apology. In the closing segment: Darren tests Max on America's top-ten burger toppings, and one answer turns out to be shockingly hard to guess. WATCH THIS EPISODE FROST BITES The OG Smash . Hamburgers have at least three competing origin stories , depending on who you ask and how long ago they're lying about. Some food historians trace the conce...

The Bros dig into a new kind of frozen meal this week—one dressed up as diet food, dressed down by a shipping or defrosting mishap, and dressed at least partially in a tortilla. This week: Lean Cuisine Mexican Style Beef & Cheddar Quesadilla . The story: Lean Cuisine launched in 1981 as Stouffer's answer to the aerobics-era diet boom. Stouffer's itself traces back to a 1922 Cleveland dairy stand, didn't hit the freezer aisle until 1954, and has been a Nestlé property since 1973—making this, officially, the fourth Stouffer's-family product the Bros have reviewed. Plus: The microwave susceptor tray. Fisher's Island spirit pops. A Welch's-versus-Smucker's showdown. A blueberry E. coli recall nobody's talking about. Swagelok versus Nestlé as Solon, Ohio's top employer. And a heated debate over whether MTV actually stopped playing music videos. In the closing segment: weeks after winning a piña colada-themed escape room challenge, Max cashes in his pr...

What’s in a name? Part two (see episode 76). If the name is Van de Kamp’s or Mrs. Paul’s and we’re talkin’ shark bites, the name doesn’t really matter. This week, this Shark Week : Van de Kamp’s and Mrs. Paul’s Shark Bites. The story: Van de Kamp's traces its origin back to a 1915 Los Angeles potato chip stand. Mrs. Paul's starts in Philly in 1946 with the infamous leftover crab cakes. Two totally different brands that, decades of corporate acquisitions later, land in the exact same place. Plus: Chow mein and fries. Jameson vs Jameson. Max’s bouncer fantasy. Jumping the shark emotions, and the surprisingly complicated question of how sharks actually reproduce. Candygram! In the closing segment: "Let It Go or Keep It, Bro" (or whatever we call it now) returns with frozen shark gummies, a candy that was never meant to see the inside of a freezer. watch this episode FROST BITES The Denny’s That Saved Van de Kamp’s Last Stand . Long before the freezer aisle, Van de Kam...

What’s in a name? If that name is Häagen-Dazs, then there’s over sixty years of misrepresentation. But will we give them a pass? This week: Häagen-Dazs ice cream . The story: Reuben Mattus, born Nifka Matus in Eastern Europe, immigrated to the Bronx in 1921. In 1960, he and his wife Rose invented an ice cream brand that they wanted to sound fancy. From there, the brand passes to Pillsbury, Nestlé, General Mills, and even Goldman Sachs. Plus: Outback steaks mate, how to do a Danish accent, a garden outhouse and a farm in Africa, Danish horror-puppet film, and a melting experiment that gets less scientific by the minute. In the closing segment: Froze or Fake. Max tries to tell the difference between real old-timey frozen food products and ones that Darren made up.  watch this episode FROST BITES It came from where? That weird puppet movie Max described is 100% real. It’s called ZombieWestern: It Came from the West (2007)—a Danish short film that holds the title of the world’s first...

Seventy-five episodes deep, and this one earns every bit of the title. A brand-new kitten in the cables. A gong-loud tissue box. Bites…no, balls…no bites. This week's recording had it all—including, eventually, Feel Good Foods Mac & Cheese Bites. Or is it balls after all? The story: Vanessa Phillips founded Feel Good Foods in Brooklyn after her celiac diagnosis, determined to bring back the comfort foods she missed. She built the company with her husband, chef Tryg Siverson, into a full gluten-free frozen lineup—and this isn't the Bros' first trip to the Feel Good freezer. Plus: a Wisconsin baseball team goes full pizza. The Iceman Cometh in Chicago—well, sort of. Summer cocktail recipes. A gluten-free bagel complaint with a happy ending. Cheesecake Factory 1390, and just how old mac and cheese really is. In the closing segment: a brand-new game debuts, and it does not go smooth as ice. Swallowed cubes, muted mics, and a whole lot of not guessing "jeans." W...

Two global contenders. One chilly showdown. This week, the Bros head to Dairy Queen to match up with the “global flavors” of their limited-time Blizzard Cup Lineup. A “Mexican-style Hot Chocolate made with ABUELITA™ Blizzard® Treat” for Darren. A “BISCOFF® Cookie Blizzard® Treat” for Max (and a taste of “Strawberry Mango-flavored Mochi Blizzard® Treat”). The story: Dairy Queen began in Illinois in 1940, pioneered the soft-serve game, and was snapped up by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway empire in 1997. These World Cup tie-ins may or may not be officially licensed, but take that up with Dairy Queen. Plus: Vintage YouTube. Carvel’s better story. Mr. Peeper is watching. Martha Stewart and freeze ray technology. The death of the mall. And more. In the closing segment: Darren rigs up a corporate randomizer so he and Max can pitch Warren Buffett a series of unhinged, high-concept cross-promotions. They’ll either secure a multi-billion dollar investment or never again be allowed at a ...

Two cheezy titans. One clear victor. This week: the Bros pit Farm Rich against TGI Fridays mozzarella sticks in their first-ever Face-Off with a third vote. The story: Farm Rich is the retail brand of family business Rich Products Corporation, founded in Buffalo in 1945. TGI Friday's launched as a Manhattan singles bar in 1965, pioneered the casual-dining appetizer menu, and today outsources their frozen products to Kraft Heinz. Plus: McCain family drama. Reddit redux. Crèmesicle liqueur and popsicle-themed butt wipes. This Old Home Fries . And what do hash browns mean to you? In the closing segment: An exclusive interview 5,300 years in the making. Our guest talks hunting, family life, dating apps, and the real origin of the sandwich. FROST BITES Brass, Sass, and Broken Hearts . Brass Bonanza is arguably the greatest upbeat anthem in professional sports history. It was composed in 1968 by Belgian musician Jacques Ysaye under the pseudonym Jack Say, who titled it Evening Beat ...