There was an article in today’s newspaper which pained me.
[www.stuff.co.nz]
It mentions “switching to frozen vegetables may save consumers money…”, “but with next to no frozen vegetables being produced in New Zealand…” “smaller [NZ veg] farms may close this year”. “…few people knew almost all frozen vegetables were grown overseas.” “Local growers can’t compete with international suppliers of frozen vegetables”. “Most were imported from Africa, Asia or Europe.” “Many local growers could decide to convert to produce that was popular on the export market such as kiwifruit, grapes or apples, which provided more profit.” “…if we’re not prepared to pay for our locally grown produce, we will have to look to imported goods to fill the gap.”

The one good thing in the article was the final sentence: “From May 2023 all frozen products will have to have a country of origin label as part of the Fair Trading Act.”

I don’t buy frozen veg except for Wattie’s NZ grown peas. I looked up some frozen veg packets to see what the typical country of origin was:

Product of New Zealand:
Wattie's Steamfresh Mixed Vegetables Baby Peas & Sweetcorn 320g
Wattie's Mixed Vegetables Carrots Peas Green Beans Corn 1kg
Wattie's Mixed Vegetables Kiwi Roast Mix 650g
Wattie's Mixed Vegetables Baby Peas & Supersweet Corn 750g

Made in New Zealand from local and imported ingredients:
Wattie's Steamfresh Mixed Vegetables Corn, Carrots & Broccoli 320g
Wattie's Steamfresh Mixed Vegetables Broccoli, Carrots & Peas 320g
Wattie's Steamfresh Mixed Vegetables Broccoli, Pea, Corn & Couscous 440g
Wattie's Steamfresh Mixed Vegetables Greenbeans Sugarsnap Peas 320g
Wattie's Steamfresh Mixed Vegetables Carrot, Cauli, Broc & Cheese 235g
Wattie's Steamfresh Mixed Vegetables Carrots, Broccoli & Cauli 320g
Wattie's Steamfresh Mixed Vegetables Cauli, Carrots & Peas 320g
Wattie's Steamfresh Mixed Vegetables Sweet Corn, Capsicum & Beans 400g
Wattie's Steamfresh Mixed Vegetables Carrot, Cauli, Corn & Ginger 400g
Wattie's Mixed Vegetables Broccoli & Cauliflower Medley 650g
Wattie's Mixed Vegetables Super Greens 700g
Wattie's Mixed Vegetables Rainbow Mix 700g
Wattie's Mixed Vegetables Super Mix 700g
McCain Mixed Vegetables Winter Mix 1kg
Mccain Mixed Vegetables Garden Greens 500g

Packed in Australia from at least 70% Australian ingredients:
Birds Eye Steam Fresh Mixed Vegetables Carrots Corn Broccoli 450g

Packed in Australia from imported ingredients:
Birds Eye Steam Fresh Mixed Vegetables Carrot Cauli Broccoli 450g

Made in Belgium:
Birds Eye Steam Fresh Mixed Vegetables Baby Potatoes & Veges 400g
Birds Eye Seasoned Sides Mixed Vegetables Mediterranean 600g

Product of Spain:
Countdown Mixed Vegetables Chunky Mix 750g $4.20

I decided to take one bag as an example and figure out if frozen vegetables really were cheaper than buying fresh.

The order of the bag’s title (e.g. Wattie's Steamfresh Mixed Vegetables Carrots, Broccoli & Cauli 320g $3) matches the order of ingredients. That is, this bag will have lots of carrot, less broccoli, and even less cauliflower.
So, continuing with using this bag as the example, its weight is 320g (for $3).

One typical fresh carrot from the supermarket weighs 150g.
So let’s imagine the frozen bag contains 150g of carrot, i.e. one carrot.
Fresh carrots are currently selling for $1.70kg PnS (as a 2kg bag for $3.39). At 150g per carrot, that’s about 6½ carrots per kg (for $1.70). And that means the price of one fresh carrot is 26 cents.

One typical fresh broccoli head from the supermarket weighs 300g.
So let’s imagine the frozen bag contains 100g broccoli (remembering it has to be less than the carrot weight, but more than the cauli weight, according to the ingredient list), i.e. one third of a broccoli head.
A fresh broccoli head is currently selling for $2. That means the price of one third of a fresh broccoli is 66c.

One typical fresh cauliflower head from the supermarket weighs…I’m not sure. I have a very large one in the fridge right now that cost me $4.50 and, with the leaves and excess main stalk trimmed off, weighs 1803g. So, let’s say a typical TRIMMED (leaves and excess stalk gone) cauli weighs 1400g. Correct me if I’m wrong – ya’ll go weigh your cauliflowers now……
So let’s imagine the frozen bag contains 70g of cauliflower (the balance of the bag’s weight).
A fresh cauliflower is currently selling for $4.50 each. That means the price for 70g of cauli is a fraction over 22c.

So the frozen bag has the equivalent of one carrot, one third of a head of broccoli, and one-twentieth of a cauliflower.
Currently, one fresh carrot costs 26c to buy, one third of a broccoli costs 66c to buy, and one-twentieth of a cauli costs 22c to buy.
So, the equivalent of the frozen bag contents would cost $1.14 to buy fresh.
But the frozen bag costs $3 (currently, at Countdown). At New World that same frozen bag currently costs $4.09!
So the frozen bag of vegetables is almost three to four times higher than the cost of fresh vegetables.

Thanks for doing all that arithmetic! Very interesting.

Now, we need to factor in the air miles involved in those veges travelling halfway around the world.

With all the talk of food waste, expensive vegies, inflation, interest rate rises etc, I dived into the vege container in my fridge before venturing out to shop for the week, now have a big pot of vege soup on the go, added some split peas, and there is my lunch for a few days. I am really going to make more of an effort on my food waste. But must admit I do have access to a vegie shop 500m from my house.

In recent years I've been making a real effort not to waste food, especially veges. One of the things I've discovered is that left over green salad or mixed salad (dressed with vinaigrette, not mayo) makes a good addition to a soup or a stew. I've had particular success with salads of lettuce, citrus, tomato, onion and herbs, which sometimes sit in the fridge for days waiting to be eaten up. I just chop it all up and add it. The acid in the vinaigrette adds a dimension to meaty stews and so does the seasoning.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/19/2022 08:14AM by TPANDAV.

That is a great tip Tpandav, amazing what can go into soups and stews. Am just re-reading Samin Nosrat's chapter on using acid. My brother, who lives next door, made whitebait fritters last night, and we both commented that the fresh squeeze of lemon juice on the fritters was essential.

I agree with you Anneie H. They are a wonder fruit! Sprinkle fresh lemon juice on food in place of the salt shaker! Certainly brings out the flavour and better for your health!

J1 you are a marvel with your in-depth research! What a great benefit your information is to the uninformed. Thinking I was a smartie, I started buying a lot more frozen vegetables when cauli's etc were so dear. I have second thoughts now, although I have never been a great frozen vegetables buyer, mainly peas and beans out of season. I think a lot of people buy them for convenience over fresh vegetables. So easy to pop into microwave or saucepan, no prep required!
Regards,
Dawn.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/19/2022 11:58PM by Dawn.

Dawn, thanks, and that's a great tip about lemon juice on food instead of salt. I'm going to try that on my next lunch veg plate.

Thinking about air miles - my husband bought a pack of cold-smoked salmon at Countdown the other day. According to the label it was Norwegian salmon, processed in Denmark, distributed by an Australian company. It was nice quality but goodness me, how can this happen when we have our own salmon fisheries and processors? Cheapness I suppose. I would happily pay more for local smoked salmon if it was readily available.

I don't buy frozen vegetables apart from peas because they don't seem to have much taste to me. I suppose looking at the cost if your fresh veg ends up uneaten and languishing in the chiller frozen veg could become a little less expensive to buy.

That's the trouble, people seem unwilling to bother with fresh vegetables or feel they don't have the time to deal with them, or they don't know what to do with them, or they don't really like vegetables anyway. Frozen vegetables are more of an excuse for all or any of those reasons, rather than because of finances - finances is the acceptable reason to use frozen veg, a bit like "family emergency" being the acceptable (to the patriarchy) reason for suddenly vacating your breakfast show job.

J1, I laughed out loud at your "family emergency". Thanks for bringing humour to the table. Annie

I love using fresh lemon juice on my hot chips, delish

I have definatly noticed more frozen veges coming into the supermarket freezer. I always look at the different combinations of veges but am never tempted to buy them. I once bght frozen beans and when I cooked them they turned out like a soft sodden mess. Even in stirfries they never cooked up nice. Now I only buy peas and corn. Fresh is always best.

Most frozen vegetables are not worth buying in my opinion, apart from peas, corn, and spinach.

I find Countdown own brand is much cheaper...esp their Brocoli and Cauli Mix...also their chopped spinach...I grow my own Silverbeet which I love and devour regularly ... and shop at the Market for Cabbage .......bought half of a nice ''green '' one for $2.50 so that makes excellent coleslaw or crispy cabbage............I passed on red Peppers (capsicums) at $3.90 a piece....can do without those as I really only use to ''colour'' a meal.

Fleur, you say “I find Countdown own brand is much cheaper...esp their Brocoli and Cauli Mix...also their chopped spinach”.

Countdown frozen Broccoli & Cauliflower Mix 750g is currently selling for $3.70. Country of origin is “Packed in Belgium from imported and local ingredients”. Ingredients are: Broccoli florets, cauliflower florets.

The image on the bag shows an equal mix of broccoli and cauliflower so I’ll assume, in the 750g bag, there’s 375g broccoli and 375g cauliflower.

One typical fresh broccoli head from the supermarket weighs 300g.
A fresh broccoli head is currently selling for $2.29.
So, the price per gram of fresh broccoli is 0.00763 cents per gram ($2.29 divided by 300g).
That means the price for 375g of fresh broccoli is $2.86.

One typical fresh cauliflower head (trimmed of leaves and excess stalk) from the supermarket weighs 1400g.
A fresh cauliflower head is currently selling for $4.00.
So, the price per gram of fresh cauli is 0.00285 cents per gram ($4 divided by 1400g).
That means the price for 375g of fresh cauli is $1.07.

So, the equivalent of the frozen bag contents (375g broc, 375g cauli) would cost $3.93 ($2.86 plus $1.07) to buy fresh.
The frozen bag costs $3.70. So buying this frozen bag instead of fresh saves 23 cents.

There are other factors that could be taken into consideration.

Flavour and texture loss of frozen vegetables is an issue.

The buying of vegetables from overseas contributes to the demise of fresh vegetable growing in New Zealand. Are we happy to support this demise through our buying choices? This not only means NZ would have to become more reliant on imported fresh/frozen vegetables, but it also means the NZ workforce is not supported, and the consumer's money flows out of NZ rather than circulating within our economic system and helping us all.

The bag in question here comes from Belgium. Where the vegetables in it actually come from is a complete mystery. Spain is one of the top exporters of broccoli, so possibly from there, although China is a top producer of broccoli, so maybe from there. Cauliflower origin is harder to track down but points to China, Ecuador, Guatemala or Spain.

So, the vegetables in this bag were sent, perhaps, from Spain or China, to Belgium, where they were packed. This bag then had to make its way from Belgium to New Zealand in refrigerated transport (ship, I assume), Quite a few food miles, as they say. In contrast, the fresh broccoli we can buy from an Auckland supermarket most likely got grown in the Auckland region (or maybe Manawatu). A lot less logistics, handling and transport required.

It’s also veg in a plastic bag. The bag was most likely made in China, using all the oil and chemicals that plastic is created from, plus the printing inks. When you think about the Earth origins and manufacturing processes and equipment that need to be in place to create all that oil, chemicals and printing inks in the first place, it’s mind boggling. Fresh broccoli and cauliflower don’t come in plastic bags in New Zealand (yet, thank goodness, and long may it continue – which will only be for as long as the consumer majority support that state over preference for some other state).

There is the possibility that supermarkets may even support and promote the purchase of frozen vegetables over fresh, as fresh vegetables are probably quite a bit more work for them to deal with and there is probably a chance of higher profits from frozen rather than fresh, and no need for them to worry about things like spoilage, quality control, etc, that is part of supplying fresh.

The 23 cents saving for the consumer on this bag of frozen vegetables over fresh is a dubious saving when one looks at the bigger picture. The hidden cost is in the amount of human effort and planetary impact behind its creation, and the repercussions of not supporting the enterprise, efforts and workers of NZ.

Certainly, I think, frozen spinach will most often work out cheaper than fresh, with fresh selling for around $6 per 400g, and Countdown frozen spinach 500g selling for $2.30. Made in Belgium from imported and local ingredients.

"The 23 cents saving for the consumer on this bag of frozen vegetables over fresh is a dubious saving when one looks at the bigger picture. The hidden cost is in the amount of human effort and planetary impact behind its creation, and the repercussions of not supporting the enterprise, efforts and workers of NZ.
"
Well said J1 !

Enjoyed reading your breakdown of costs J1. Crazy things going on in our food distribution chain. And here in Hawkes Bay they keep on putting more concrete on beautiful fertile soil!!

J1, thank you for giving us your research results. For me, it’s mainly fresh and the savings from buying frozen are dubious.

Ok All I can say is that....Because I live alone and often the veggies I buy fresh cant use in time before they go limp.......for Me frozen is a better choice for ME

In my freezer I always have frozen peas - great for a roast, and frozen Asian veg - great for a stir-fry which often will be a last minute choice.

If I see frozen cauliflower on special, for instance a 500g bag at Reduced to Clear for $1.99 and a 1 kg bag of Green Capsicum sliced which was also $1.99. My wallet does not allow me the luxury of thinking oh I must buy fresh and only NZ sourced. Currently, capsicum are what $3.50 each? Out of that 1 kg bag of capsicum I have enough for a 4th meal left, have been using it in a Chorizo and Capsicum Stew.

Yes it is nice to buy NZ sourced veg and if they are fresh, but try selling that concept to a single mother who might be holding down 3 jobs to put her kids through Uni to enable her kids to enjoy better opportunities (seen on a documentary recently which had me in tears) and also trying to feed her kids healthy meals when she is time poor.

Isn't it better that veggies are being eaten than none at all? I can see totally where you are coming from Fleur and I would do and have done the same.

If it's any help, when plastic bags were phased out from supermarkets, I bought some Cuisine Queen 7L and 8L plastic containers and now store all my veg in them, in the fridge. I do this because I've found the veg bins in fridges just don't keep the veg right - I remove the fridge veg bins and they're in storage. Things like celery, carrots, cauli, broccoli, - really, all veg - keep for ages - in some cases almost indefinitely - in these closed lid plastic containers and nothing goes limp.

Excuse the pun but food for thought from both sides.

There was a time when carbon footprint wasn't in our everyday speech. At that time my Dad had a huge garden. Mum would salt the runner beans, I think it was common salt. We mostly ate fresh vegetables, the home grown peas were eaten when available but pre-deep freeze era we had canned peas.
Later we also had a vege garden or bought most produce from the green grocer. Nothing was wasted and we also had animals who would benefit from left overs.
I buy fresh whenever it looks good and is in a fresh state and affordable. I have peas, beans and stir fried vegetables in my freezer too.
Reading Irene's post reminded me that years ago I joined a group of volunteers who helped people get out of debt. It was a lot easier then as not very many people used credit cards. The budgetting side was very much the key to success and what we would always want wasn't always practical.

Irene, you got me thinking about the fact my mum, to help make ends meet, used to work for strawberry, tomato and potato growers while we were at school. I’ve never thought about that connection before but it’s probably a subconscious part of my support for NZ growers. She never got to bring any home either!

Marnie, thanks for the memories. Mum and Dad had a huge vegetable garden too (and we do now too) and we'd groan when it was time for the family effort to pick the peas and runner beans, and then shell all the peas too!. We had guinea pigs and Dad would sow oats into the garden, to turn back into the soil and, oh my, did those guinea pigs LOVE the freshly cut oat 'grass'. Their other favourite was sweetcorn leaves. They'd start at one end and nibble their way down to the other. It was funny to watch.