For many busy families, frozen food can be a massive help.
There's often little chance to cook from scratch, especially during the week.
It's also a good way of limiting our food waste at a time when we're all trying to do our bit for the environment and keep costs down.
But it's surprising just how much the prices of products can differ from store to store.
To find out how supermarkets compare, the Manchester Evening News visited six stores to buy the same five items.
These were Birds Eye potato waffles, Richmond skinless sausages, Birds Eye chicken dippers, Birds Eye omega 3 fish fingers and Mars ice creams.
While some had offers on that would have reduced prices by buying in bulk, we stuck to one of each item for a fairer comparison. We also didn't take advantage of Tesco's Clubcard prices, which would have reduced the bill there.
The pack sizes were mostly exactly the same - with just a larger pack of ice creams in Farmfoods, which we've accounted for, and a smaller pack of fish fingers in Iceland, which was balanced out by the larger pack of sausages.
We were shocked to discover that overall Tesco came in at the most expensive, at £11.45 for all five items, while Sainsbury's - where prices used to be at the higher end - was the cheapest at £9.25. That's almost a 25% difference and was helped by the current offer on Mars ice creams, reduced from £2 to £1.50
While easier said than done if your budget is tight or you have little freezer space at home, what our shopping trip did prove was just how much consumers can save by buying in bulk.
At Iceland it was much cheaper to buy two of many of its products - two packs of the skinless sausages for £3, saving £1.50; and two packs of Mars ice creams for £3, saving £1. The same ice cream offer was available at Asda and Morrisons too.
And at Iceland a current offer on the 38-pack of chicken nuggets meant we also got a free pack of 12 Fab ice lollies worth £3.
Farmfoods had similar bulk offers, with two boxes of the waffles for £2 and the larger box of ice creams bringing the price down too.
Had we made use of the Clubcard at Tesco, we could have got the fish fingers for £1 instead of £2, bringing the overall bill to £10.45 and making it the joint second cheapest along with Asda.
Sainsbury's
Birds Eye potato waffles - £1.50
Richmond skinless sausages - £1.75
Birds Eye chicken dippers, 38 pack - £3.50
Birds Eye omega 3 fish fingers - £1
Mars Ice Cream - £1.50
Total - £9.25
Asda
Birds Eye potato waffles - £1.25
Richmond skinless sausages - £2
Birds Eye chicken dippers, 38 pack - £3
Birds Eye omega 3 fish fingers - £2.20
Mars Ice Cream - £2
Total - £10.45
Iceland
Birds Eye potato waffles - £1.50
Richmond skinless sausages, 20 pack - £2.25
Birds Eye chicken dippers, 38 pack - £4
Birds Eye omega 3 fish fingers, 8 pack - £1
Mars Ice Cream - £2
Fab lollies, 12 pack - Free
Total - £10.75
Farmfoods
Birds Eye potato waffles - £1.25
Richmond skinless sausages - £1.99
Birds Eye chicken dippers, 38 pack - £3.99
Birds Eye omega 3 fish fingers - £1.99
Mars Ice Cream (7 pack) - £2.75, equates to £1.57 for 4 pack
Total - £10.79
Morrisons
Birds Eye potato waffles - £1.50
Richmond skinless sausages - £2
Birds Eye chicken dippers, 38 pack - £3.25
Birds Eye omega 3 fish fingers (out of stock) - £2.30
Mars Ice Cream - £2
Total - £11.05
Tesco
Birds Eye potato waffles - £1.50
Richmond skinless sausages - £2
Birds Eye chicken dippers, 38 pack - £3.90
Birds Eye omega 3 fish fingers - £2.05
Mars Ice Cream - £2
Total - £11.45
