Dear LPG, 

Isn’t it funny how reading something that you probably already know can renew the awareness of it in your head.  I recently read on your pages what BC had to say about the fact that all we people who are working hard to keep the costs of electricity down, would do well to remember that microwaves can cook and get things hot at a fraction of the cost that it would take to do the same thing with gas or electricity (►►►).  That was worth remembering although, to my mind, there are some things that just don’t taste the same when you take them out of the smaller appliance, but there are a lot of things where you would be hard-pressed to be able to tell the difference.

Just putting things in a microwave to heat is one way of saving money but in an age where food is going up in price as well there is another aspect of saving money that should be brought to the front of the thought processes too.

I recently saw a programme on television which aimed to answer the question about why frozen food is cheaper than fresh in many cases. It is so easy to believe that fresh food is better because it is usually a bit more expensive but the real truth is that this is not always true.

In a lot of cases, things like fresh vegetables and fruit are often not as nutritious because they have spent a day or two getting from the farm to the shop while the frozen versions are processed at source keeping all the goodness locked in.  

The other thing that was brought to the fore is that if you buy something and don’t use it, after a couple of days the fresh version has to be thrown away but the frozen version will be just as good a month or two later.

The programme that I saw explained that, like natural foods that are frozen, things like TV dinners, frozen gateaux, pizza and many other pre-made foods that we find in the freezers are often made in exactly the same way, the only difference being that some are frozen while others aren’t and the price is all about shelf life and wastage.  A lot more foodstuffs found in the ‘fresh’ isles don’t get bought on time and end up being too old to sell, so it gets wasted, but it still has to be paid for.  The programme I saw explained that the shops add that extra cost of fresh produce to the price that we pay which is why we have to pay more for fresh than frozen.  

FI, Catford.

LPG found some internet evidence but could not find the programme FI referred to…

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