As far back as the 1920s, Clarence Birdseye, of Birds Eye fame, developed a system for fast-freezing, a true industry pioneer. But it wasn't until the 1950s, when domestic and commercial freezers became more affordable, that frozen food became popular. It's as nutritious as fresh, helps prevent food waste and is a godsend for large and small households alike. Here's our list of the greatest frozen foods of all time, with tips on how to use them.
Click or scroll through our gallery as we reveal the foods that should always be in your freezer, counting down to the most essential of all.
Fresh cherries have a short season and spoil quickly, so enterprising growers came up with the idea of freezing their surplus. What's more, they are already pitted for you and are still high in vitamins A and C. Use them in any desserts or cakes instead of fresh.
These immature soybeans were first cultivated in China centuries ago, but it wasn't until the 20th century they began to appear in the USA and Europe. They are now readily available frozen, either in the pod or podded. High in protein, they're a great addition to noodle bowls, stir-fries and salads.
Frozen roast potatoes first appeared commercially in the UK in 1999, from the brand Aunt Bessie's. They are cooked from frozen in around 25 minutes and give a perfectly crisp exterior and a fluffy interior. Try adding some chopped rosemary, smoked paprika or garlic powder to jazz them up. They are especially useful for smaller households and to save time.
In 1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson left a cup with powdered soda, water and a stirring stick on his porch in San Francisco. Cold overnight temperatures caused it to freeze, and his 'Epsicle' was born. He launched it in California in 1923 – his kids persuaded him to call it 'popsicle'. The company is now owned by the giant Unilever, but the classic cherry flavor is still a bestseller in the USA.
Highly nutritious, broccoli is one of the top-sellers in the frozen vegetable market. Convenient and quick to prepare, it can be served as a side on its own, added to soups, quiches and salads, in a stir-fry, or roasted.
You can find frozen onions chopped or sliced, perfect for sensitive eyes or time-poor cooks. But the best ones of all are frozen pearl or pickling onions, which are fiddly to peel. Use them in our beef stifado recipe, a tasty slow-cooked Greek stew with tomatoes, spices, red wine and pearl onions.
Frozen mixed vegetables have been a freezer staple since the 1950s. An easy way to get your five-a-day, they are handy for stir-fries, soups or as a simple side. Try them in our vegetable pulao recipe, a spiced rice dish with chilies, cardamom, ginger and garlic. It's an easy dish, full of flavor, and ready in under an hour.
Raspberries are frozen within a few hours of picking, so retain all their nutritional content. Fresh raspberries don't have a long fridge life, so it's worth having a bag in the freezer, especially when they are out of season. Use them from frozen in our gooey chocolate and raspberry cheesecake brownies recipe.
Get the recipe for chocolate and raspberry cheesecake brownies here
Top-quality frozen scallops are a great buy, as they are seasonal and often hard to track down fresh. Remember to defrost them in the fridge before using, then pat them dry before cooking. Adding a sprinkling of salt to them once thawed will draw out any excess moisture. Try scallops wrapped with Parma Ham and rosemary, then quickly fried in olive oil and drizzled with a balsamic glaze.
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Frozen, prepared squash is one of the most useful vegetables to have in the freezer. Fresh squash takes time to prepare, especially if your knives aren't very sharp. It's so versatile – for soups, roasting, adding to salads, making purée or even as an addition to a classic macaroni cheese.
Whether it's breakfast goods, bread or pizza dough, this section of the freezer aisle has grown remarkably over the past 20 years, becoming ever more innovative and exciting. The waft of a freshly baked loaf, which has taken zero effort, is a winner. Try using frozen bread dough to make our moreish bacon and Cheddar loaves. You'll need 500g/18oz of raw dough.
There won't be many households with children which don't have a bag of breaded chicken in the freezer. The chicken nugget wasn't invented under Colonel Sanders, however, but by Robert C. Baker, a food science professor at Cornell University in the 1950s.
The majority of prawns are sold frozen and are farmed. But look out for wild-caught shellfish from South America, which are fat and juicy. A favorite addition to everyone's freezer, they have so many uses – in salads, fish cakes, curries, noodle bowls, and stir-fries.
Having observed the Inuit people preserving their fish on ice in freezing temperatures in Canada, Clarence Birdseye was inspired to create a fast-freezing method to preserve food. The first machine he designed in 1924 was created to freeze haddock fillets. It wasn't until after the Second World War that domestic consumption of frozen food took off, when freezers were more affordable and Birds Eye launched a big marketing campaign.
The US is the largest producer of corn in the world and naturally, a huge consumer of it. Frozen sweetcorn comes as kernels or whole cobs, and tastes as good as fresh and better than canned. To cook it from frozen, either sauté or stir-fry – never boil it. It works a treat in our creamy, warming sweetcorn and seafood chowder recipe.
Spinach is one of the best frozen vegetables. Its flavor is more intense than fresh, and you need a huge amount of fresh spinach to make a decent soup. Also, fresh can be gritty and needs careful washing. Discover the wonderful flavor of frozen in our excellent and speedy spinach orecchiette recipe. Adding a little cream, some Parmesan and olive oil to pasta makes it into a perfect midweek meal.
Italian immigrants brought ice cream to the UK and US, although it has been around for centuries. Once a luxury, it became a freezer staple in the 1950s when domestic refrigeration became more affordable. Ben & Jerry's is one of the biggest brands in both countries, yet despite their huge range of flavors, ice creams with chocolate, vanilla and strawberry in them remain favorites.
It's widely believed that the TV dinner was created by American salesman Gerry Thomas, whose company Swanson was left with a massive amount of turkey after Thanksgiving. Taking inspiration from the way meals were served on airlines, the first product in partitioned aluminium was turkey, gravy, sweet potato, cornbread stuffing and peas. The first production was in 1954, when they sold 10 million meals. Other competitors followed suit, into a market where innovation never ceases to this day.
Commercial frozen pizza didn't appear in the US until the 1950s, and manufacturers were small-scale, local producers. Now the frozen pizza market in the US is worth around $6 billion (£4.5bn), and rising. Cheese and pepperoni are still the bestsellers, with global consumer trends showing a preference for thick crusts. There's also a growing trend for sourdough bases, and for plant-based and vegan pizza.
Sales of frozen food are on the rise, partly due to an increase in quality and innovation, and partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic when consumers wanted to avoid shopping too often. Burgers are no exception, where the quality of meat has improved dramatically.
We have, once again, Clarence Birdseye to thank for this invention which came to market in 1955. Fish sticks are the biggest selling frozen fish product in the UK. Loved by children and adults, they are an easy and tasty way to have a portion of fish. Our recipe for fish stick tacos ups the ante with avocado cream and a watermelon and chili salsa.
Yet again we have Clarence Birdseye to thank for the frozen pea, who discovered in the 1920s that quickly blanching fresh peas after harvest, then flash-freezing kept their flavor and a vivid green colour. To this day, peas are frozen within a few hours of harvest, so they are invariably fresher than any you would buy. Endlessly versatile, try them in our creamy, sweet and salty pea, Parma Ham and feta quiche.
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Get the recipe for pea, Parma Ham and feta quiche here
Now discover the foods that should NEVER be kept in your freezer