8 Fancy Alternatives to the Hot Pocket

College students, programmers, and anyone who’s given up on life know the 2nd degree burn giving/diarrhea inducing microwaveable treat called the Hot Pocket. Available in a variety of flavors, the Hot Pocket is a ghetto yet fast and easy meal that’s edible sans silverware. However, if you’ve got a hankering for a Hot Pocket but don’t want to stoop to the level of a Hot Pocket aficionado, we’ve got 8 fancy versions of the portable, hand-held treat that are even better than their nukeable cousin.

1) Calzones

Calzones, or the “That’s a spicy meat-a-ball-a Pocket,” are like the big Italian hitman of the Hot Pocket family. Essentially a pizza stuffed with toppings and folded in half, the calzone can be as small or as big as you want (though the most common size appears to be about as big as your liver), and it’s easy to manhandle and eat on the go.

2) Burritos

The best type of burritos (aka Pocket-o Caliente) are the ones that are the size of your head, exploding with meat, cheese, beans and fixins, and wrapped in a tortilla before being encased in foil. You can walk and peel down the foil as you eat, ensuring the burrito’s structural integrity is still intact.

3) Stromboli

Stromboli, or “That’s another spicy meat-a-ball-a Pocket,” are different from calzones in that they’re more like an Italian burrito. Instead of being stuffed full of toppings and folded in half, they’re filled with ingredients and rolled up–like a Fruit Roll-Up, only with meat!

4) Knish

Dubbed “the Jewish Hot Pocket,” the knish is a huge wad of dough that’s filled with awesome stuff like meat, potatoes or cheese, or non-awesome stuff like tofu, beans or broccoli. The knish even has varying degrees of artery clog, ranging from light (baked), medium (grilled), to triple bypass (fried, baby!).