The days when our freezers were home solely to frozen peas, a sad clump of mixed chopped vegetables and perhaps some fish fingers are long gone. Open a frosty drawer in someone’s home today and you’re as likely to find a whole lobster and bag of frozen soffrito as you are oven chips.
“Frozen food is seeing a real resurgence as shoppers are discovering that it offers reassuringly good value and quality, as well as unmatched convenience,” says Nicola Waller, the buying director for fresh and frozen goods at Ocado Retail.
Recent research by Tesco found that 33 per cent of us eat frozen food at least twice a week, while Ocado Retail and Savanta found that 80 per cent of us believe there’s more choice in frozen food than ever before. Many supermarkets are expanding their frozen ranges – but not in the ways you’d expect.
From fancy ready meals to sharing desserts via cooking hacks and posh pastries, frozen foods are no longer a utilitarian answer to what’s for tea on a wet Wednesday, but a way, even, to host a short-notice dinner party. Behold, the new face of frozen food.
Nine essentials for your freezer
Posh potatoes
There aren’t many of us who don’t have a cheeky bag of frozen chips in our freezers. They’re increasingly popular according to M&S, whose sales of frozen fries have grown 19 per cent year on year. But it’s not just chips that consumers are after.
Sales of frozen potatoes in the last month are up 33 per cent at Waitrose, and the fancier the better. Waitrose No.1 Wagyu Beef Potatoes in particular (which come ready coated in Wagyu beef fat, rapeseed oil and butter) sold 38 per cent more in the last month. Pass them off as prepared-from-scratch if you prefer, or advertise the ease of a freezer-based menu to guests – there’s no judgment here.
Gourmet ready meals
We’re eating out less than we did a year ago, according to YouGov data. But our appetite for restaurant-style dinners is unabated. Filling that gap? Gourmet ready meals. Sainsbury’s reports a whopping 929 per cent year on year rise in searches for Taste the Difference frozen products.
Craving coq au vin with creamy potato gratin? You got it in 40 minutes from frozen. Meanwhile brands such as Gym Kitchen have seen their sales of frozen ready meals grow by 63.8 per cent – thanks to their focus on simple ingredients that appeal to people looking to avoid ultra-processed food.
Viennoiserie
Our un-diminishing love of bakeries and baked goods over the past few years is well-documented. But what if you didn’t have to leave the house for croissants? And what if you could keep them for longer without them going stale?
That lure is strong, meaning both Waitrose and Ocado have seen demand for fancy frozen pastries boom – Ocado reports sales of Pret’s almond croissants are up 80 per cent, and Waitrose’s own brand is up 235 per cent on last year. I’ll be rummaging in the freezer for its all-butter cinnamon swirls too…
Sharing desserts
Has frozen dessert always meant Viennetta? Expand your repertoire when it comes to dinner-party afters. Sainsbury’s has seen sales of its New York Cheesecake skyrocket by 368 per cent year on year, and Tesco added indulgent puddings including creme brulée, Sicilian lemon tart and pecan roulade to its frozen offerings at the end of 2025.
If only layered ice cream will do, Wall’s launched a new pistachio and vanilla Viennetta – a nod to the Dubai chocolate trend – at the end of last year. Which leads us onto…
Premium ice cream
When Ottolenghi launched a range of premium ice cream into Waitrose last year, the brand sold over 125,000 tubs in the first six months – and witnessed an overall uplift in sales of 90 per cent. Ice cream fans went on social media treasure hunts to source sold out Ottolenghi ice cream flavours.
Demand, says Waitrose’s ice cream buyer Katie Knight, is driven by “an focus on quality, flavour innovation (for example, Ottolenghi’s Madagascan Vanilla and Miso Salted Caramel) and nostalgia”. RIP Neapolitan…
Fancy frozen fish
The joy of a fish-finger butty is hard to deny, but our tastes in frozen fish are expanding beyond something battered. Waitrose has seen growth in frozen fish – British hake sales are up 26 per cent on last year and plaice fillets are up 15 per cent. But we’re not just looking for at-home replacements for the classic Friday chippy tea. It’s higher class than that, something Tesco has clocked, where you can now find whole raw lobster tails – and whole cooked lobster if you’re really going for it – in the freezer aisle.
All the vegetables
As more of us try to increase the number of plant-based foods in our diet, frozen mixed vegetables have had a makeover. Cubes of carrots have been joined by quick-to-use packs of diced onions, sliced mushrooms and sweet potato chunks – all among the frozen veg Tesco added to its new and improved frozen range last autumn.
Make it organic and you’re booming – start-up brand Pack’d reported a 177 per cent growth in sales of its organic frozen veggies (among them edamame beans and cauliflower rice) early last year.
Perfect portions
Health is a big part of the equation for busy shoppers who want to eat well with ease. Sixty-seven per cent of shoppers told Ocado and Savanta that frozen ingredients help them plan meals more effectively, so it’s probably unsurprising that brands like Stocked, which freezes ready meals in blocks so people can choose their preferred portion size, are increasingly popular. Stocked’s curried chickpea ready meal, for example, has seen sales rise by 29 per cent month-on-month.
Cooking hacks
Ingredients that were once store-cupboard staples are being swapped for frozen equivalents. M&S Food points to social media cooking hacks to explain a boom – 54 per cent growth year on year – in sales of frozen ginger and garlic.
Meanwhile Ocado’s sales of frozen herbs are up 31 per cent and Ice Kitchen, which makes fragrant frozen pastes and sauces, has seen sales of Thai red curry and Thai Panang curry pastes up 56 per cent and 139 per cent respectively. Ice-cold convenience foods for discerning cooks.