Frozen vs fresh: the smarter choice for healthy, affordable eating

Eating well doesn’t have to cost more. Frozen fruit and vegetables offer a practical way to make healthy meals more affordable, reduce food waste and bring greater flexibility to everyday cooking.

The numbers: frozen is now 36% cheaper

With household budgets under pressure, the cost of eating well remains a concern for many families. Yet choosing wholesome food doesn’t necessarily mean spending more.

According to new research by the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF), a family of four in the UK, each eating five 80 g portions a day, could save around £1,314 (approx. €1,566) a year by choosing frozen fruit and vegetables over fresh.

The study, published in October 2026, compared the cost of 80 g portions of five products: broccoli, spinach, mixed vegetables, strawberries and blueberries, using prices from four major UK supermarkets. A portion of fresh produce cost 51p (approx. €0.61) on average, compared with 33p (approx. €0.39) for frozen. The gap has also widened over the past year, with potential savings growing by around £200 (approx. €238).

These figures are based on UK supermarket prices. Actual savings will vary by country, retailer and product. Still, they show how frozen produce can help make a varied diet more accessible and earn its place in a cost-conscious shopping basket.

Nutritional value, from field to freezer

Although fresh produce is often perceived as the healthier option, it isn’t necessarily nutritionally superior to frozen alternatives. Certain vitamins can decline after harvesting, depending on the type of produce and how it is stored and transported. As a result, frozen fruit and vegetables can sometimes retain more of these nutrients than fresh produce that has spent longer in the supply chain.

Research supports this. A two-year study by the University of Georgia, published in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, compared eight commonly bought fruits and vegetables, including broccoli, spinach, peas, strawberries and blueberries. It looked at three forms: fresh on the day of purchase, frozen, and fresh after five days in the fridge. In most cases, the researchers found no significant difference in vitamin content. Where there was a difference, frozen produce outperformed the stored fresh produce more often than the other way around.

At Ardo, vegetables, fruit and herbs are frozen in facilities close to the fields in their country of origin, shortly after harvesting. Keeping this time as short as possible helps preserve their nutritional quality, flavour, colour and texture.

In other words, choosing frozen doesn’t have to mean trading nutrition for price: for many common fruits and vegetables, you get similar vitamin levels at a lower cost per portion.

Reducing food waste, controlling costs

According to the BFFF, the main reason frozen produce costs less is that less food is wasted in the frozen supply chain. That matters, because every discarded ingredient represents not only a cost, but also the water, energy and effort involved in producing and transporting it.

Frozen fruit and vegetables can help households and foodservice professionals reduce avoidable waste. Their long shelf life makes it possible to keep ingredients available for longer, while using only the quantities needed for each occasion. For households, this means fewer ingredients left unused in the fridge and greater flexibility when planning meals.

In professional kitchens, frozen ingredients can support more accurate portioning and more efficient stock management. Pre-prepared products can also reduce preparation time and ingredient wastage, helping kitchens control costs and respond more easily to changing demand.
 

A practical choice for everyday cooking

Making nutritious food part of everyday life means finding choices that work for different budgets, routines and cooking needs. Whether you’re preparing a family meal or serving customers at scale, frozen produce makes it easy to keep a wide variety of vegetables, fruit and herbs on the menu throughout the year. Affordable, nutritious and less wasteful, it shows that good food and smart spending can go hand in hand.

Discover Ardo’s range of frozen vegetables, fruit and herbs and find inspiration for your next culinary creation.

Sources

• British Frozen Food Federation (2026). Families could save more than £1,300 a year on a nutritious diet by choosing frozen fruit and veg
• Li, L., Pegg, R.B., Eitenmiller, R.R., Chun, J.Y. & Kerrihard, A.L. (2017). Selected nutrient analyses of fresh, fresh-stored, and frozen fruits and vegetables. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 59, 8–17.