Many of us may think of frozen fare as being cheaper, poorer quality, less healthy and not as tasty as fresh food – but this isn’t necessarily true.
With research showing that frozen vegetables actually retain more vitamins than non-frozen products – thanks to how quickly the vegetables are frozen – and a new focus from supermarkets on healthier, better quality frozen products, it could be possible to eat just as well without buying fresh ingredients. But is it still cheaper?
Freezer food giant Iceland is one such retailer looking to up the quality and scope of its freezer fare, raising the prices to match in some cases. Its been working with chef Neil Nugent (who created the Heston for Waitrose line) in an attempt to transform its core offering.
Neil heads up a new purpose-built £2 million Iceland development kitchen where he has been creating a new breed of frozen products, like whole salt-baked sea bass and veal saltimbocca. It’s a world away from Iceland’s old cheep and cheerful image and questionable meals like its ‘chicken tikka lasagne’.
It’s not just Iceland flying the frozen flag. Other big retailers are recognising that customers are keen on convenience, top quality ingredients, reducing food waste and nutritious food.
With that in mind, we asked Femail writer and mother-of-two, Joanne Gould, 32, of north-west London, to try and feed herself and her family a balanced diet for a week using only her freezer.
Here’s how she got on.
Joanne Gould spent a week only eating and cooking frozen food for her family of four. She didn’t purposefully scrimp, spending as she normally would but replacing her regular fresh groceries with frozen options. But she she save any money?
Can you believe this food was all frozen? Joanne meal prepped herself lunches of chicken, sweet potato, avocado and quinoa for lunch using only frozen ingredients
Joanne was on entertaining duty for two days of her seven-day freezer challenge, so bought some gourmet frozen canapes from Picard, including mini hamburgers, cheese puffs and tarts
Whilst I use my freezer a lot, it tends to be for freezing leftovers, or keeping fresh fish and meat that I’ve bought and not used in time, for longer.
Hearing that I’d be living out of my freezer for a week meant I’d have to have some element of meal planning to survive, and facing the reality that I wouldn’t be able to eat whatever I fancied on a whim – but I was interested to see how much frozen food has improved, and whether it was markedly more economical.
Iceland has never been my go-to supermarket, but this is where I headed for most of my supplies and stocked up on a selection of frozen ingredients like meat, fish and full frozen meals for emergencies.
I bagged myself a selection of ‘scratch cook’ items like genius chopped onion, chilli, garlic, coriander and the like from Asda, plus some easy option items from Birds Eye for when I’m short on time.
With two small children (three-and-a-half and an almost one-year-old), I also had to consider their meals, but luckily there are now a good range of healthy kids meals too from the likes of Annabel Karmel and Kiddyum.
DAY ONE
Joanne was hosting a lavish Sunday lunch for a handful of friends on the first day of her freezer challenge so decided to go gourmet and order a frozen steak from the Queen’s butcher
Breakfast is Birds Eye frozen pancakes, which we’ve never tried before. They take minutes in the toaster, go down brilliantly with the kids (and me!) and are far nicer than any pancake I’ve ever made.
I’ve thrown myself in at the deep end by inviting friends for Sunday lunch today. I’ve got some incredible looking canapes from Ocado from a brand called Picard, that just need defrosting and are ready to serve. They look amazing and everyone is impressed – most of all me. They’re pricey at £18.99 a box, but there are 30 individual items and the quality is very high.
For the lunch itself, I’ve ordered a frozen Chateaubriand joint from the Queen’s butcher Donald Russell as I’m keen for no-one to criticise the quality of the food. I’m serving it with some giant Argentinian red shrimp from Iceland, some individual Iceland gratins, frozen asparagus and green beans – the whole lunch takes little to no effort.
Everyone tucks in, complimenting the food and are blown away when I tell them it’s all from frozen. The veg however lacks crispness and crunch, letting down the side. Clearing up is a doddle – a bonus.
DAY TWO
Joanne’s son Leo loved the food during the frozen week challenge. Joanne cooked her children these veggie french bean and spinach sausages for a healthy take on a sausage sandwich for breakfast
For her working lunches, Joanne would eat a chicken quinoa sweet potato and avocado salad that she had meal prepped for herself earlier in the week
Joanne and her husband enjoyed a dinner of salmon with spinach, frozen mash and peas but said it was not very gastronomic and took them back 20 years
A breakfast of GoodLife veggie sausage sandwich sets us all up for the day and ticks a few nutrition boxes as they’re full of peas, green beans and spinach and only 48 cals a sausage.
I usually meal prep most of mine and my husband’s lunches which tends to be chicken or salmon salad, but salad is out this week obviously.
Instead I’ve got Iceland’s Zesty Bean Quinoa, Strong Roots Ripened Avocado, Strong Roots Garlic Roasted Sweet Potato, Asda Sliced Peppers and Asda Cooked Chicken Breast – all frozen, which I cook as appropriate, sprinkle with Asda’s frozen chilli and box up for the week.
It looks surprisingly good, and when lunchtime rolls around I’m pleased to find it tastes fresh and flavoursome. I don’t get back until late that night, so we shove two Birds Eye Cod Fillets in Tomato and Rosemary Sauce in the oven and have it with some frozen mash and frozen spinach mixed together with peas. It’s not the most gastronomic meal ever to be honest, but it serves a function and is nutritious, with very little effort.
DAY THREE
Joanne said she didn’t eat quite as healthily during the freezer week challenge because of the delicious frozen pastries she had bought, including a cook-from-frozen pain au raisin (pictured)
The problem with all this freezer food is that there is so much temptation! I’d never normally eat pastries for breakfast in the week except as a treat, but knowing there are pain au raisins at the ready is too much and I cave, popping a couple in the oven.
They taste freshly baked and I will not be buying these in future for the sanctity of my waistline. At least lunch is my healthy chicken quinoa salad.
The kids choose a meal each from the freezer selection – I’m getting worryingly used to this laziness! Dinner is exciting – as meals go – with Iceland rose veal saltimbocca, sweet potato fries and creamed spinach.
My husband cooks it (inasmuch as there is cooking to be done) and it tastes really delicious. I’ll definitely buy the saltimbocca again and the fries are the best I’ve tried – perfectly crispy, yet still low in saturated fat done in the oven. Yum.
DAY FOUR
Joanne’s son Leo enjoyed his frozen meal of chicken dipper with frozen mash and peas
Joanne’s baby Viola also enjoyed tucking into a sandwich of frozen fish fingers
Too busy for breakfast today. When lunch rolls around I’m starving and fancy something other than my meal-prepped lunch so try a WeightWatchers ready meal of Thai Green Chicken Curry.
I’m never a ready meal fan, but I tried a few of theirs for this paper last year and they were ok, but this is terrible. It tastes of nothing at all and despite hating to waste food, it goes straight in the bin.
I decide to treat myself to something nice for dinner to make up for a disappointing lunch. I’ve got some fancy looking Iceland ‘Gaucho’ rump steaks (£4) and take them out to defrost.
The kids choose Birds Eye chicken dippers for dinner with frozen mash and peas. Of course, they love them and ask for seconds… My steak however is disappointing.
DAY FIVE
It doesn’t look like it but this meal is in fact a microwave-from-frozen ready meal of a veggie chilli on cauliflower rice – proving frozen food doesn’t have to be unhealthy
No breakfast for me again today, and I’m attempting another ready meal for lunch as I’ve got a GoodLife veggie chilli meal which just needs microwaving.
It’s so good and tastes properly homemade, with loads of paprika and spices and I love the fact it’s cauliflower rice rather than normal rice; I’m finding my normal low carb diet is pretty hard to maintain on this freezer lifestyle.
Solo dinner tonight: it’s Iceland Zuppe di Pesce. It’s a cook-from-frozen pack of clams, octopus, hake and mussels in a rich tomato sauce and tastes utterly delicious. £3.50 for a pack that’s meant to serve two but I eat it all (it’s healthy anyway). Will be stocking up on this!
DAY SIX
When Joanne had a friend over for dinner, she whipped up some more gourmet frozen canapes from Picard, which were easy to prepare and delicious
No nursery today, so the kids and I head out for a picnic. I’ve made little chicken pinwheels from the Asda cooked chicken (such a time saver), defrosted some Iceland sushi and quickly cooked some GoodLife falafel. The sushi is generously portioned at £3 but the quality is so-so. We eat it all anyway.
My friend is coming over tonight and usually we’d have drinks and a Caesar salad or something, but tonight I’ve only got the freezer to choose from.
I end up using some more of the lovely Picard canapes – this time with some little cheese choux puffs and some mini burgers. They’re fab; normally with supermarket sliders you have to assemble them yourself with loads of different cooking times for each component, but these you just bung in – brilliant.
DAY SEVEN
Could you tell this bacon and pastry was frozen? Joanne said the frozen croissants were far too delicious and tempting to be a regular purchase
Joanne relied on some frozen healthy ready meals from Annabel Karmel and Kiddyum to feed her children for some lunches and dinners
Frozen croissants for breakfast, and they’re lovely – these wouldn’t last long in my freezer.
Lunch is a bit of a nostalgic treat in the form of fish finger sandwiches – a real weakness of mine and Leo thinks they’re great (he’s since asked for one daily).
He has Kiddyum macaroni Bolognese for dinner, which he’s decided is his favourite though he’s liked every meal. Dinner for us is a frozen version of chicken kebab instead of getting a takeaway.
I roast a huge spatchcocked chicken from Iceland in its tray along with some Mediterranean veg and some pittas I’ve dug out of the freezer and we have it all with chips – an almost healthy alternative to the kebab shop and pretty tasty too.
CONCLUSION
Joanne found she ate far more carbs than usual during the freezer week – and surprisingly she only saved £20 on what she would have spent normally
Joanne’s children, including baby Viola, enjoyed the frozen food challenge, and didn’t seem to miss their fresh fare
This week has taught me that it is far more economical to use freezer food; for example, I’ll carry on using the frozen cooked chicken, quinoa and avocado rather than buying fresh.
It’s also a lot quicker and I loved the time saving element of the big lunch I hosted.
I definitely missed fresh food – particularly vegetables and salads – and I found that my diet was different to usual as a result, with less plant based foods and far, far more carbs, but with more planning and shopping differently it wouldn’t have to be like that.
I already buy the Kiddyum and Annabel Karmel kids meals to keep in the freezer for busy days and I’ll carry on doing so; they’re full of healthy veg and are low salt and sugar, so it just makes sense.
I’d like to see better quality meat in the freezer section; I noticed that whilst it’s easy to pick up higher welfare or organic chicken in the fresh aisle, this isn’t an option in frozen which is a shame.
Overall, I’ve quite enjoyed the week and it just shows that frozen food doesn’t have to be unhealthy, beige and boring – and I’ll be using mine more.