Keeping that in mind, it can be tempting for families to bring home takeaway meals and serve it up while doing chores, homework, or finishing up leftover paperwork from the office. But high prices, long waits, and food that you are often unsure of can make takeaway meals less appealing. Fortunately, there is another alternative, and one that can make cooking dinner for your family a lot healthier and a lot less complicated. 

That alternative is having delicious, frozen meals delivered straight to your door. It can save you time and money and keep your family eating healthy. But there are even more benefits of frozen meal delivery, and we are going to take a look at some of them now:

Benefits Of Frozen Food Delivery Service For Busy Families

No More Long Queues
Long queues at restaurants and grocery stores are unavoidable and commonplace in many large cities. If you are in a hurry or running late, a long queue can be an unnecessary obstacle in your day. By having delicious, frozen meals delivered straight to your door, you can avoid the long queues and start eating dinner together.

Avoid Traffic
Traffic jams are just another part of today’s modern urban lifestyle and they can make you late for work, late for school, or late getting home to make dinner. Sometimes, it can over an hour to get to your local grocer. With delicious, frozen meals, you don’t have to wait in traffic just to go to the supermarket.

No Parking
Dining out or going into town to buy groceries means finding available parking. In some cities, parking space is at a premium and if you find one, it can be more expensive than your meal. Stay home instead and cook dinner quickly, easily, and affordably with Hey Fresto!’s frozen gourmet meals.

It is worth noting some foods freeze better than others. Find out which foods that do and do not freeze well.

Contact Hey Fresto!

To learn more benefits of food delivery service for busy families, contact Hey Fresto! today and shop a wide selection of high-quality food delivered to your door!

If you enjoyed this article, please feel free to share it on your favourite social media sites.

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There is an element of ‘inverted snobbery’ when people claim that ‘fresh is best’ – unless you pick something straight from a tree, or freshly dug up from organic soil in your garden, this statement couldn’t be more wrong.

What does Fresh Food Mean?

Supermarkets have a great range of so-called fresh food, so why choose frozen?

Next time you wander around a supermarket, looking lovingly at the vast array of fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and meat you should ask yourself ‘how long did it take to get here?’ 

Those gorgeous, glossy apples you see may well have not seen a tree for many months and will certainly have been treated with some kind of preservative to retain their good looks. Or those delicious, pink and juicy prawns may well have been in frozen blocks of ice in a container for a long, long time, and in some cases, colouration has been applied. 

If you add transit time from point of origin to arrival on the shelf, fresh is well, frankly, no longer fresh.

Is frozen food less nutritious?

The truth of the matter is that freezing does not remove, damage or lessen the nutritional content of any food product. Generally, frozen foods retain their vitamins and minerals and there is no change to the carbohydrate, protein or fat content. 

In some cases, frozen foods have more vitamins and minerals compared to fresh because fresh foods lose vitamins and minerals over time while freezing preserves nutrients.

Quality manufacturers such as Hey Fresto! will always use approved and ethically sourced produce from suppliers that they know and trust. Making sure the quality of the food is of the highest standards ensures the flavours and nutritional content of the meals that arrive ready for you to cook.

Why don’t frozen foods need preservatives?

If due care and attention is applied when freezing food, they will never need preservatives of any kind. This due to because microorganisms do not grow when the temperature of the food is below −9.5 °C (15 °F), which is sufficient on its own in preventing food spoilage. Long-term preservation of food may call for food storage at even lower temperatures.

Dedicated manufacturers of frozen food will always use blast freezers to retain the flavour, nutritional value and to prevent further growth of any microbes (bacteria) that may be trapped in the produce. 

Blast freezing is the most efficient and fastest way to maintain the quality of the product.

If you are purchasing food that you are going to place in your freezer, always buy it ready frozen and defrost and cook it as per the manufacturer’s instructions, to ensure premium usage.

Frozen food can be an asset, a cost saver and is low on wastage. Beautifully produced  are not only flavoursome, but they can also be more nutritious than fresh if handled correctly.

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Without mind-boggling you with science, here are the simple reasons why frozen food can be a healthier option.

Freezing locks in nutrients

Frozen food manufacturers, or those making ready meals and freezing them, understand how important the process of choosing fruit and vegetables at the right time, picking them, and freezing within the shortest possible time. This ensures that vitamins and minerals are locked in and not lost in the process. Fresh food however, will lose nutrients over time, the longer they sit around in the vegetable rack or in the fridge.

Choosing frozen food give you the option of the best from every food group, not just fruit and vegetables, but also whole grains, protein and dairy.

You can mix and match frozen foods with fresh

If you have ever gone to make a meal and found that you are missing some of the ingredients, by having a freezer with some basic staples can solve the problem. For instance, adding frozen vegetables to a protein or grain dish, can create a delicious stir fry, or other meal of your choice. Just make sure you always check nutrition labels to avoid any excess fat or sodium that may be incorporated into the frozen food.

Equally so, a ready made vegetable dish can be added to meat to create a tasty casserole or stew, particularly if the frozen meal has an unctuous sauce.

Frozen food can be a healthier option if you are short of time

So, you are in a hurry or running late for an appointment? Rather than grab and go with a sugar-laden snack bar or a bag of deep fried snacks, keep a selection of healthy in your freezer. This also applies to coming home exhausted after work, and munching down on a sugary bowl of cereal. It’s not healthy and you certainly won’t sleep after a sugar rush. A delicious roasted Mediterranean vegetable paella can be ready for you in just 8 minutes from Hey Fresto, and has all the nutrients you need.

Portion Control is your best friend

Do you overeat sometimes? Are you looking to lose weight? Using portion control along with eating healthy foods is the answer to a sustainable weight loss.  can be bought in 1, 2 or multiple portions to ensure that you eat the right amount. Just remember to check the labels to find out the weight and nutritional information.

Say ‘no’ to preservatives

Frozen food, processed in the right way, should never contain preservatives, which are harmful to your body. Always choose a manufacturer who clearly marks ‘contains no preservatives’ or similar on their labelling. This applies to all frozen products including any form of processed meat or fish. Often, preservatives are used for food products that are cooked in oil, to prevent the oil from turning rancid. Beware!

Finally, and on the economics side of the coin, frozen food can often be far cheaper than fresh, and you have no worries about seasonality – you can buy almost anything you wish at any time of the year. So, if you are on a tight budget, opt for frozen foods to keep your pocket healthy as well!

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Of course, if you persistently reach for the bag of frozen chips in your freezer to serve a quick meal, this is not the answer. According to a recent survey, the British public eats chips or variations of fried potatoes, 3 times a week. 

At Hey Fresto, we produce , that are nutritionally balanced and contain fewer preservatives. We are not a diet plan company, We just care about what we are serving our customers. We care that we not only produce delicious dishes for adults but for kids too.

To save you from reaching for the easiest thing to cook, which could be a nutritional nightmare, Hey Fresto has the answer with our range of ready-made tasty frozen meals. Easy to cook, as everything is already done for you!

If you look at what a balanced diet should be: A healthy diet is a diet that helps maintain or improve overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients, micronutrients, and adequate food energy. You will see that it is vital that you are consuming the correct foods and by doing so you do not need to reach for supplements as the first answer. Here are our suggestions from our range of great-tasting and healthy food. Check out Hey Fresto’s low calorie ready meals here.

Protein

Protein is one of the three macronutrients, which includes Carbohydrates and Fat. These Macronutrients provide energy in the form of calories. The body requires large amounts of macronutrients to sustain life. 

Proteins are made up of amino acids which are essentially the building blocks of life and plays a pivotal role in the body’s immune system, especially for healing and recovery. 

Our bodies break down the protein we eat into individual amino acids. Our bodies need these amino acids in order to produce very important molecules such as:

Enzymes, hormones, neurotransmitters, and antibodies.

Protein is also the ‘building block’ for your organs, bones, teeth and hair. Protein can be broken down to do the job carbohydrates and fats do but the carbohydrates and fats cannot do the job protein does.

Everyone should eat a variety of protein sources including seafood, lean meat, poultry, eggs, beans and peas, soy products and unsalted nuts and seeds. 

Try our Chicken and Leek in a Creamy Tarragon Sauce. Protein features in this dish, and it’s full of flavour.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A, also known as retinol, has several important functions in the body. Helping to regulate the immune system and protect against infections by keeping skin and tissues in the mouth, stomach, intestines and respiratory system healthy. 

Amazingly also helps your vision in dim light. 

You can get Vitamin A from foods such as sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, spinach, red bell peppers, apricots, eggs, milk or some cereals.

Deficiency in Vitamin A can lead to Dry Skin, Dry eyes and Night Blindness, Poor wound healing, Delayed growth and Throat infections. 

Try our Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Jalfrezi. Authentic Indian dish with red and green peppers for Vitamin A, as well as protein in the chicken.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C helps support the body’s immune system by stimulating the formation of antibodies, essential for fighting off infections. 

Vitamin C deficiency is associated with poor immunity and a higher risk of infection, including serious illnesses like pneumonia. 

Many people with scurvy, a disease caused by vitamin C deficiency, eventually die of infection due to their poorly functioning immune systems

The body can not produce Vitamin C, so it must be ingested. Choose citrus fruits such as oranges, grapefruit and tangerines, vegetables such as Brussels sprouts, leafy greens, tomatoes, red and green bell peppers, squash and even potatoes!

Try our Squash, Cranberry and Red Onion Tagine for a tasty touch of Vitamin C.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E helps maintain healthy skin and eyes, and strengthen the body’s natural defence against illness and infection (the immune system).

Vitamin E is a group of compounds found in a wide variety of foods and can be found in sunflower seeds or oil, spinach, red peppers.

Try our Keralan Red Pepper and Cauliflower Curry. A little Vitamin E does you good!

Zinc

Zinc aids in the mechanics of the immune system and potentially help wounds heal. 

Zinc can be found in lean meat, poultry, seafood, milk, whole grain products, beans, seeds and nuts.

Try our Creamy Cajun Bake with Lobster and Seafood for a delicious seafood dish.

Other nutrients

A variety of nutrients such as vitamin B6, B12, copper, folate, selenium and iron also aid a healthful lifestyle and play an important part in a nutritionally balanced diet. Faster healing and quicker recovery are some of the benefits of these nutrients.

For an array of vitamins and nutrients and a tasty lunch or supper dish, try our Spinach and Lentil Pie with Kale Mash

Whether you are a meat-eater, pescatarian, vegetarian or vegan, we provide nutritionally balanced frozen ready-made meals for everyone.

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Are Frozen Ready Meals Cheaper Than Home Cooking?

Ready meals and frozen foods have had a bad reputation over the years, with many people believing they are a more expensive choice than home cooking from fresh. The exact cost comparisons will always depend on the meal in question, but one thing is for sure, when you cook from scratch, you need to buy every ingredient. In some cases, the cost of each individual spice, vegetable and meat for a recipe will outweigh the cost of frozen pre-made meals. On the other hand, some frozen ready meals might work out slightly costlier than the ingredients on their own. The real money-saving comes in when you factor in food wastage, cooking time, and additional spending in supermarkets.

Reduce Your Food Waste

When your meals are delivered straight to your door and stored carefully in your freezer until dinner time, there is no room for any wastage. Buying fresh ingredients often leads to something going to waste, as using every last scrap of food before it goes out of date can be a challenge. Those meals, which cost slightly more than the ingredient counterparts, are guaranteed not to send any produce to the bin. Spending your hard- earned pennies on ingredients that go to waste is essentially throwing money down the drain. Frozen meals mean all your cash is spent on delicious food for you and your family to enjoy.

Time Is Money

One of the biggest benefits of frozen meals is the amount of precious time they can save. The time you would usually spend cooking will now be yours to do as you please because you know your tasty dinner is waiting for you in the freezer. You can spend more time with your family, get those last bits of work finished at the end of the day, or just use your free time to relax and unwind. Not only that, but frozen meals mean you don’t have to spend as much time at the supermarket. Perhaps you can save some cash on childcare by picking your little ones up early instead of popping to the shops or cut down your fuel bill by not driving to the supermarket.

No More Unplanned Spending

Frozen ready meals can help you stay on budget with your food shopping. We’re all guilty of picking up some extra bits when wandering down the supermarket aisles and being surprised at how much we’ve spent when we get to the till. By having your meals delivered straight to your freezer, you will cut out all this unplanned spending. You can set your food budget and know exactly how much you are spending on your frozen ready meals delivered with Hey Fresto.

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It can also feel like an arduous chore, knowing that you must feed the kids first and then your partner a few hours later, as their food choices will not necessarily be the same.

One of the challenges over and above this has been the recent pandemic, which caused shopping chaos, supermarkets running out of food, vast queues and unappealing dishes, rattling around in the bottom of a shop freezer, potentially no choice and unappetising frozen meals. This will certainly be the time when you wish you had organised deliveries of readymade gourmet frozen meals to your door, that have restaurant quality flavour as well as a selection of dishes that would appeal to the most discerning diners, adult or child!

Hey Fresto! would have solved this problem for you with the mouth-watering range of meals in handy two and four portions – something for you and for the kids.

How long does frozen food last?

You have no need to worry about how long Hey Fresto!’s last. Every single dish prepared by our experienced chefs is full of flavour, of top quality and frozen to perfection. When they are delivered to you, you only need to pop them into your freezer (no worries) and decide which of the glorious meals you are having that night (big decision!). How long do meals that are frozen last? Just about as long as it takes for you to resist them!

We produce frozen ready meals that last, of that you can be assured. Easy to pack with convenient sizes that fit neatly into your freezer, you can easily find exactly what you want to eat, quickly, and have your meals piping hot on the table in rapid time, to feed your hungry family.

No corners are cut when it comes to choosing quality, well-sourced ingredients, cooking methods and importantly, frozen ready meals that will last the test of time in your freezer, without damaging quality, flavour or texture. Our methods of preparation after the meals have cooled down to the right temperature include blast freezing in the shortest of time to lock in quality and flavour, all without using additives to aid the process! Attractive and easy to read labels and instructions make the whole task so easy, you will wish you had done it before.

Are there any safety rules on how long pre-frozen meals last?

The Food Safety Agency (government legislative board) recommend up to 3 months and you can rest assured that Hey Fresto!’s follow all guidelines issued by the government for safe freezing, and that your meals appear from freezer to table at their best. Do not worry, your gourmet delights will not last that long, as you will be eating them way before that!

Please do check your freezer regularly and look after it, as we do before and during delivery to your door. Older freezers may not function properly, so a regular temperature check is strongly advised.

If in any doubt and as a guideline, check your freezer’s user manual. The number of stars (these look like snowflakes) is your freezer rating, which the manufacturer will have determined as to how long you should keep the food for. Each manufacturer will have their own guides for how long to expect gourmet frozen meals to last, along these lines:

• One star (-6°C) is perfect for making ice cubes and is sufficiently cold to keep food for three or four days.
• ** Two stars (-12°C) stores food for fifteen to twenty days.
• *** Three stars (-18°C) will keep food safe for up to three months.
• **** Four stars (below -18°C) means that the compartment provides the ideal conditions for freezing down fresh and pre-cooked foods.

Enjoy our range of delicious frozen meals – the quality is made to last, but the temptation to eat them is a much more immediate!

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There are many misconceptions surrounding ready made meals and frozen food, and today we are busting five common frozen meal myths and explaining the truth behind Hey Fresto! food. 

Frozen Ready Meals Are Full Of Additives And Preservatives

We often have customers ask if our meals use additives and preservatives. With Hey Fresto! you will never find any of these in any of our meals, and we don’t use refined sugars or excess salt either. Unlike chilled ready meals, our dishes are frozen immediately, keeping them fresh without any nasty extras. When you have frozen ready meals delivered, you can choose from our wide range of dishes, and see a full list of ingredients and nutritional information.  

Ready Meals Use Low Quality Ingredients

One very common myth is that ready meals are poor quality, and don’t use high-end ingredients. At Hey Fresto! all of our meals are prepared using quality produce, such as our Cheese and Cauliflower Bake which is carefully cooked with Croxton Manor Cheese. Every ingredient we use is sourced from approved and ethically sourced suppliers, and thoroughly inspected before being used in any of our dishes. 

Frozen Meals Are Less Nutritious

Many people believe that frozen foods are heavily processed, and therefore less nutritious than their fresh counterparts. In actual fact, frozen ready meals are frozen immediately to lock in all their nutritional value. When frozen and packaged correctly, frozen food can have just as many nutrients as home cooking. At Hey Fresto! we provide all of the nutritional information for each of our dishes directly on our website, so you can review them when choosing to have your frozen ready meals delivered.

Having Frozen Ready Meals Delivered Isn’t Possible With Allergies

Everyone with a food allergy knows they have to be a little more careful with what they eat, but a common thought is that they have to avoid ready meals all together. In actual fact, ready meals are required to list allergens and all ingredients on their packaging. When you have frozen ready meals delivered from Hey Fresto! you can choose dishes which are vegan, gluten free, dairy free and more. 

Ready Meals Are Boring

Years ago, the variety in frozen ready meals might have been limited, but today, there are so many options available. Hey Fresto! offer loads of different cuisines and dishes to try, so you can choose Indian ready meals, American favourites or British Fayre. Whatever you fancy, you can find a frozen ready meal to satisfy your tastebuds. 

Explore our which can be delivered directly to you. You can discover more of our delicious, nutritious dishes. 

Interested in learning more about food? Check out the truth behind food packaging!

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While the quality of frozen ready meals has significantly improved, the image of mushy, beige coloured TV dinners from the ‘50s hasn’t been fully wiped from people’s memories. Frozen meals are often dismissed as being poor quality, less nutritious than fresh and not as good in comparison to meals prepared from scratch.

It’s time for this frosty attitude towards frozen food to defrost.

The many benefits of healthy frozen meals

There are many misconceptions around frozen food, including the quality being poor and it containing less nutrients compared to fresh food. When in fact this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Here are some of the benefits frozen meals can present…

More nutrients

Frozen meals are now mostly blast frozen, including ours at Hey Fresto!, which means they’re quickly frozen at a lower temperature. 

Not only does this process alleviate the risk of bacteria spreading, resulting in food that is both fresher and safer to eat, but it is also a natural preservation process that does not require the use of additional preservatives. 

Vitamins and minerals are ‘locked in’ through freezing, while fats, proteins and carbohydrates remain unaffected. Therefore, frozen food is just as good nutritionally compared to frozen food and loses none of the good stuff.

Save money

Many people think that are more expensive when compared to cooking from fresh, but stocking your freezer with ready meals can be a great way to save money. 

One of the biggest expenses for any household is food. A weekly shop on top of picking up bits during the week can soon add up. When cooking from scratch, you will need to buy all of the ingredients plus any additional seasonings. In some cases this will far-outweigh the cost of frozen ready meals.

Plus, you will also need to factor in food wastage, time spent cooking as well as in the supermarket.

Save waste

The topic of food waste has gained a lot of momentum over the last decade as the larger conversation relating to climate change has become more prominent.

In the UK alone, 6.7 million tonnes of food is wasted per year – this equates to an annual cost of £250-£400 per household. While this figure has decreased over the past three years, there’s still much more to be done to reduce this further.

It can often be a struggle to eat foods before they perish, which is where frozen food can help. Research published in the British Food Journal shows that frozen foods generate 47% less food waste in the home compared to frozen food. 

With Hey Fresto! there’s no need to purchase a range of ingredients you may not get round to using. Our main meals and sides are specifically portioned to ensure no waste. 

Unnecessary or non recyclable packaging is also adding to the problem, with five million tonnes of household packaging waste in the UK every year. Which is why our packaging is completely recyclable. The sleeve, tray and film are all widely recycled. So after you’ve finished your meal, you can pop the container into the recycling bin.

Save time

When it comes to the preparation of meals, nothing beats the convenience of frozen foods. 

After a hectic day, the last thing you want to do is cook yourself a homemade meal which could take hours. You could always order a takeaway, but that may take up to another hour of waiting while you’re ready to eat. This is where frozen meals come in.

After all, why spend hours in the supermarket doing your food shop and cooking in the kitchen when you can spend just a few minutes? 

Fill your freezer with Hey Fresto!

Delivering a range of tasty frozen meals straight to your door, Hey Fresto! offers 50 dishes from across the globe – meaning there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

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• Is it cheaper to buy frozen meals?
• Can freezer meals be healthy?
• Is frozen food more environmentally friendly than fresh food?
• Can you get sick from eating frozen food?
• Is frozen food worse than fast food?
• A frozen future for you? 

Pay attention. The record is about to be set straight on frozen food. 

Answering the internet’s most searched freezer dinner questions, this blog will illustrate to you the environmental, dietary and social benefits provided by frozen meals. 

Between January 2021 to January 2022, food prices rose by 4.5% in the UK; approximately 4.7 million adults still struggle with food insecurity. 

Frozen meals aren’t just convenient. They are time-savers, life-aiders, waste-reducers, nutrient-sustainers and health-providers. 

Forget the stereotyped sludge and misconceptions about mushy microwave meals.

This is why frozen suppers deserve a place in everybody’s freezer.  

Is it cheaper to buy frozen meals?

In a nutshell, yes. If a variety of nutrients, ingredients and flavours is what you desire from your dinner, then frozen meals are the way forward on a budget. 

Saving you from individually buying the spices, the vegetables, the meats, the tofu, the canned beans, the dried beans and so forth, frozen meals contain a balance of many ingredients for minimal cost. 

Furthermore, think about how many times you’ve bought a pack of peppers or a bag of potatoes and not managed to use them up before they begin growing new specimens. 

Stored in your freezer for whenever you need them, frozen meals drastically minimise the money you throw away from neglected groceries. 

$1 trillion dollars worth of food is wasted annually across the world – for context, that is more than the combined net worth of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault, the three richest people in the world. 

Just some food for thought.

Can freezer meals be healthy?

Yes, yes and definitely yes. 

Frozen meals can be tailored to specific diets, contain any ingredients and many are packed with the same, if not more nutrients than home-cooked food. 

One study from 2017 discovered the majority of consumers’ assumptions that fresh produce was more nutritional than frozen is actually incorrect – the warmer storage temperatures of fresh produce leads to a loss of vitamins and minerals over time. 

Hey Fresto! meals use a technique called blast freezing to quickly lock in ingredient nutrients. Fats, proteins and carbohydrates remain unaffected during this process and vitamins and minerals are preserved. 

Additionally, frozen meals also reduce the snack foods you are tempted to buy whilst browsing the supermarkets. 

Instead of picking up the extra bar of chocolate here and there, purchasing your frozen meals online limits the degree of sweet and fatty foods entering your basket – out of sight out of mind right? 

Is frozen food more environmentally friendly than fresh food?

Where food waste is concerned, absolutely. 

Did you know, if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter after China and the USA; in the UK, the average household is throwing away eight meals a week. 

Compounding both the climate and cost of living crises, food waste is a burden to the health of ourselves, our planet and our economy. 

Portioned accurately, frozen meals are an easy solution to an out-of-control problem – leftovers and outdated veggies are simply not an issue with freezer food. 

This is not to say that you should never eat fresh food ever again, just that frozen food can be a more sustainable alternative to include in your weekly meal plan. 

Why not help the environment and yourself by adding a few frozen meals into your diet?

Can you get sick from eating frozen food?

Frozen meals are no more dangerous than cooking fresh food – germs are dormant below freezing and exterminated in hot temperatures. 

To ensure you avoid those foodborne nasties, heat up your frozen feasts to at least 75°C (167 F). 

This is especially important if your meal contains meat but should be the rule of thumb for any food you reheat. 

Bacteria thrive in temperatures between 4°C (40 F) and 60°C (140 F) so get those lasagnas piping hot! 

Is frozen food worse than fast food?

Confidently able to match most fast food or takeaway grub, frozen meals are full of flavour with minimised guilt. 

Lower in trans and saturated fats than takeaways, frozen food is a great way to treat yourself to a few nights off from cooking. 

Rather than focusing on one or two cuisines, frozen meals offered online often cover a variety of flavour combinations from across the globe – take the Hey Fresto! Menu as an example which provides everything from rich beef rendang to vegan cashew nut paella.  

Another beauty of frozen meals today is the range of dietary requirements met by suppliers. 

With statistics suggesting more than a third of the British population are interested in becoming vegan, frozen meals are a deliciously simple alternative to savouring the takeaway sensation minus the meat. 

A frozen future for you? 

So there you have it. The truth behind the frozen exterior. Cheaper, healthier, tastier, and better for you, your family, friends and the planet, frozen meals are more than just a televised stereotype.

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• Why do humans need salt? 
• Why is salt bad for you?
• Why are herbs a better alternative to salt?
• How can I reduce my salt intake? 
• Eat frozen to reduce your salt consumption 

Few other pleasures in life produce the same joy as salt. 

It just makes everything taste better – chips, meat, ice cream, bread, soups and sauces are all transformed into heavenly delights with the addition of salt. 

The craving we have for salt even has some scientific basis with the consumption of the mineral capable of altering the same reward pathways in the brain that are impacted by consuming drugs of abuse.

And like the negative impact which such drugs have on our bodies, high-salt diets come at a high price too. 

‘More herbs, Less salt day’ is an annual day dedicated to promoting the use of herbs to flavour our food instead of adding salt. 

Why do humans need salt? 

Our borderline addiction to salt is not unfounded; it’s a mineral we cannot live without. 

Salt is made up of sodium and chloride, both of which play an important role in the healthy functioning of the body. 

According to Havard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, salt is needed by the body to contract and relax muscles, conduct nerve impulses and manage the correct balance of minerals and water. 

A feeling of needing salt is not always necessarily bad either and can be an indication of dehydration, low electrolyte levels or lack of sleep. 

Why is salt bad for you?

Despite it being a mineral the body requires, salt is not good for us when consumed in higher quantities. 

The main worry with a high-salt diet is its link to high blood pressure which can lead to heart disease and stroke. 

With few to no symptoms, untreated high blood pressure is a silent killer that four million people under the age of 65 are living with in the UK.  

Partly to blame for this worrying statistic is that in the UK, we are one of the top consumers of salt in the world, alongside the USA, China, Australia and South Africa. 

However, the blame does not fall entirely at the feet of consumers; three quarters of the salt we eat is put into the food we buy from supermarkets. 

Whilst it’s daunting to feel that you have little control over your salt intake considering the amount of it pumped into our foods, there is an easy way to resolve this: choose herbs. 

Why are herbs a better alternative to salt? 

There is an abundance of research which has indicated the benefits of eating herbs. From their anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties to their ability to lower the body’s cholesterol, herbs are undoubtedly a healthier alternative to salt. 

From Thyme, which has microbial properties, meaning it can help fight harmful organisms in the body, to Basil, which has been associated with protecting our livers, and parsley, a rich source of vitamin K and aids the production of proteins for blood clotting and bone construction. 

How can I reduce my salt intake? 

Understanding the recommended daily consumption of salt is a great place to start decreasing the amount of salt in your diet. 

According to the NHS, adults should not eat more than one teaspoon (six grams) of salt a day. 

The recommended amount for children is significantly less – infants aged between one and three should not consume more than two grams of salt and those aged seven to ten should not eat more than five. 

If you’re struggling to minimise your salt intake, tips for reducing it include: 

• Using herbs for seasoning instead of salt.
• Reducing your intake of fast food, takeaways and meals which contain high quantities of salt.
• Avoid adding salt to your food in restaurants and minimise using it in your home cooking.
• Remember that ingredients like olives, anchovies, cheese, and most meats already have salt in them so don’t add more. 
• Eat more fresh whole foods, fruits and vegetables.
• Pay attention to how much salt is in food products and brands. 

Eat frozen to reduce your salt intake 

Another brilliant way to monitor how much salt you’re consuming is to eat frozen meals which display all of the ingredients and their measurements on the packaging. 

If a flavourful, low-salt diet is what you’re after, look no further than the Hey Fresto! Frozen meal range. Enjoy healthy, nutritious meals full of flavour at Hey Fresto! – frozen food delivered.

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