Take and Bake food options near Towson

December 12, 2015 11:40 AM

My brother and his wife just had their second child, and as a Christmas gift I'd like to be able to help out with some of the food prep. We have some great "take and bake" options near where we live, does anything like that exist near them?

They live in Towson, MD. We live in the greater Boston area, and have this place where you can just grab a tray of something, bring it home, and pop it in the oven. Growing up, we've always lived near Italian specialty stores that had trays of frozen pasta meals (and other things like chicken parm) that only required removing the paper and putting it in a hot oven. Does anything like this exist near them?

We've thought about Blue Apron and similar services, but they're probably more effort than my brother or his wife want to put into actual food preparation. My parents are getting them a small chest freezer for the holidays, hence the thought about ready-to-go frozen meals. I realize Trader Joe's exists, but I was hoping for something a little more homemade.

posted by backseatpilot to Food & Drink (4 answers total)

There's a Let's Dish at 602 Deereco Road in Timonium, which is adjacent to Towson. It's one of those places where you can either do it all, or mostly, yourself, or you can pick up frozen or refrigerated food ready to bake. I've turned to them several times for friends and coworkers dealing with illness or with a newborn.

There's also Gourmet Again in Pikesville, though I've never been there.

The best recommendation I have that's closest to your Italian example isn't very close to them: Piedigrotta Bakery on the edge of Little Italy. They have freezers full of Italian ready-to-bake food, plus they claim to have invented tiramisu, or at least introduced it to the US, and they have freezers full of that, too. It's about 30 minutes from Towson in good traffic, but probably worth it.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 12:51 PM on December 12, 2015

Best answer: Ceriello Foods is an Italian market in Belvedere Square - about 15 minutes from Towson - which has "take and bake".
posted by AliceBlue at 1:18 PM on December 12, 2015 [1 favorite]

Totally forgot about Ceriello! Great recommendation. Belvedere Market has at least one other option for ready-to-eat food, too: Neopol Smokery. Particularly their savory pies. One small pie will feed two adults, or you can mix and match a variety of slices from large pies.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 1:31 PM on December 12, 2015

Response by poster: Ceriello looks great, thanks! Let's Dish would be perfect, but their website says that all of their Maryland locations are closing at the end of the month.
posted by backseatpilot at 8:31 AM on December 13, 2015