Shoppers are turning to the frozen aisle to cut costs as annual food bills are set to increase by an additional £1,378. New research has found that 75% of people are now buying more frozen products than ever before.
Free-from ready meal brand Kirsty's also found that 71% of shoppers say that buying frozen meals is saving them money.
According to UK shoppers, other reasons for this switch to buying frozen is that the food lasts longer (77%), it’s cheaper (60%) and that it makes for less fresh food waste (39%).
The average weekly food shop has now risen by £26.50, almost three times the national living wage, and the rising price of fresh food is worrying 87% of Brits as the cost-of-living crisis starts to impact shopping habits.
The latest figures show that grocery price inflation has hit another record high. Supermarket inflation hit 17.5% in the month to March 19, up from 17.1% in February, analysts Kantar said. Read more about that here.
“The cost-of-living crisis is having a huge impact on shopping habits, and whilst shoppers still like the convenience of chilled meals when making choices for their evening meal, but when it comes to the weekly shop, we are seeing more shoppers than ever buying frozen,” founder of Kirsty’s, Kirsty Henshaw said.
“The increases in costs are also obviously impacting food manufacturers, earlier this year we were prompted to start making frozen meals because of a global free-from manufacturer deciding to no longer serve the UK due to spiraling transport costs.”
Henshaw continued: “Even though we are still heavily affected by rising ingredients and labour prices, owning our UK factory allows us to offer better value for customers.
“These are exceptional times, and we want to continue to help offer a good choice of quality free-from food to UK shoppers, especially those who have a free-from diet or suffer from a food intolerance.”
Frozen foods are widely considered to be much lower in quality and nutritional value. But recent studies have begun to debunk this assumption, finding the frozen option could be as nutritious as the fresh one. More details on research here.
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