Households are buying frozen food in smaller quantities as energy prices continue to soar, according to Iceland.
The frozen food retailers head of product and process, Stuart Lendrum told the Food Foundation investor summit last week that shoppers “are avoiding stocking up on frozen food because of the risk of not having enough money to put in their energy prepayment meter.”
“We think of the benefits of frozen foods, but if you’re not dealing with that it really brings to light the challenges. You’ve got the risk of losing all the money that you’ve put into the frozen food,” he added, as reported by The Times.
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However, Lendrum said that Iceland has worked with its suppliers to update its packaging and “lead the way on introducing airfryer cooking instructions as airfrying is a really economic cooking method.”
Last year, Iceland partnered with energy provider Utilita to find the most cost-effective cooking method was using an airfryer, saving over £3 on each meal.
This came as data from the Office for National Statistics revealed that 48% of adults were struggling to pay their energy bills.
Earlier this week, Iceland also partnered with Birds Eye and Currys to launch a new project aimed at providing low-income families with freezers to improve their access to the benefits of frozen food.
However, for the retailer itself, its energy bill jumped from £70 million to about £155 million in 2022, and last month it revealed plans to scale back the amount of chilled food it sells in an effort to reduce its energy bills.
Last week, Iceland was also hit with the news that French credit insurance provider Coface would no longer be insuring suppliers providing it with services.
However, an Iceland spokesperson told The Grocer that despite this challenge, it was “incredibly well positioned,” and that the decision had only impacted a “handful” of suppliers.
