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Pay attention. The record is about to be set straight on frozen food.
Answering the internet’s most searched freezer dinner questions, this blog will illustrate to you the environmental, dietary and social benefits provided by frozen meals.
Between January 2021 to January 2022, food prices rose by 4.5% in the UK; approximately 4.7 million adults still struggle with food insecurity.
Frozen meals aren’t just convenient. They are time-savers, life-aiders, waste-reducers, nutrient-sustainers and health-providers.
Forget the stereotyped sludge and misconceptions about mushy microwave meals.
This is why frozen suppers deserve a place in everybody’s freezer.
Is it cheaper to buy frozen meals?
In a nutshell, yes. If a variety of nutrients, ingredients and flavours is what you desire from your dinner, then frozen meals are the way forward on a budget.
Saving you from individually buying the spices, the vegetables, the meats, the tofu, the canned beans, the dried beans and so forth, frozen meals contain a balance of many ingredients for minimal cost.
Furthermore, think about how many times you’ve bought a pack of peppers or a bag of potatoes and not managed to use them up before they begin growing new specimens.
Stored in your freezer for whenever you need them, frozen meals drastically minimise the money you throw away from neglected groceries.
$1 trillion dollars worth of food is wasted annually across the world – for context, that is more than the combined net worth of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault, the three richest people in the world.
Just some food for thought.
Can freezer meals be healthy?
Yes, yes and definitely yes.
Frozen meals can be tailored to specific diets, contain any ingredients and many are packed with the same, if not more nutrients than home-cooked food.
One study from 2017 discovered the majority of consumers’ assumptions that fresh produce was more nutritional than frozen is actually incorrect – the warmer storage temperatures of fresh produce leads to a loss of vitamins and minerals over time.
Hey Fresto! meals use a technique called blast freezing to quickly lock in ingredient nutrients. Fats, proteins and carbohydrates remain unaffected during this process and vitamins and minerals are preserved.
Additionally, frozen meals also reduce the snack foods you are tempted to buy whilst browsing the supermarkets.
Instead of picking up the extra bar of chocolate here and there, purchasing your frozen meals online limits the degree of sweet and fatty foods entering your basket – out of sight out of mind right?
Is frozen food more environmentally friendly than fresh food?
Where food waste is concerned, absolutely.
Did you know, if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter after China and the USA; in the UK, the average household is throwing away eight meals a week.
Compounding both the climate and cost of living crises, food waste is a burden to the health of ourselves, our planet and our economy.
Portioned accurately, frozen meals are an easy solution to an out-of-control problem – leftovers and outdated veggies are simply not an issue with freezer food.
This is not to say that you should never eat fresh food ever again, just that frozen food can be a more sustainable alternative to include in your weekly meal plan.
Why not help the environment and yourself by adding a few frozen meals into your diet?
Can you get sick from eating frozen food?
Frozen meals are no more dangerous than cooking fresh food – germs are dormant below freezing and exterminated in hot temperatures.
To ensure you avoid those foodborne nasties, heat up your frozen feasts to at least 75°C (167 F).
This is especially important if your meal contains meat but should be the rule of thumb for any food you reheat.
Bacteria thrive in temperatures between 4°C (40 F) and 60°C (140 F) so get those lasagnas piping hot!
Is frozen food worse than fast food?
Confidently able to match most fast food or takeaway grub, frozen meals are full of flavour with minimised guilt.
Lower in trans and saturated fats than takeaways, frozen food is a great way to treat yourself to a few nights off from cooking.
Rather than focusing on one or two cuisines, frozen meals offered online often cover a variety of flavour combinations from across the globe – take the Hey Fresto! Menu as an example which provides everything from rich beef rendang to vegan cashew nut paella.
Another beauty of frozen meals today is the range of dietary requirements met by suppliers.
With statistics suggesting more than a third of the British population are interested in becoming vegan, frozen meals are a deliciously simple alternative to savouring the takeaway sensation minus the meat.
A frozen future for you?
So there you have it. The truth behind the frozen exterior. Cheaper, healthier, tastier, and better for you, your family, friends and the planet, frozen meals are more than just a televised stereotype.