Sometimes it’s difficult to keep track of the latest healthy eating trends. Microwave meals and frozen food are two topics that get raised time and time again, often with a lot of incorrect information. We’ve pulled together the six most common statements we hear about microwave and frozen food and the truth behind them.
1. Frozen Food is Less Healthy Than Fresh or Tinned Food. True or False?
False: Freezing is a modern and safe way of preserving, keeping the flavour and the freshness of vegetables whilst retaining nutrients. Freezing is a natural preservation process that doesn’t need chemicals. Some scientific studies have shown that frozen food can contain more nutrients than the food you buy fresh. This is because fresh vegetables might have been harvested days before arriving in the supermarket and then stood for a few more days on the shelf before being purchased and then sat in a fridge at home before being cooked.
Frozen products do not require any added preservatives because microorganisms do not grow when the temperature of the food is below −9.5 °C (15 °F) and so more essential nutrients can be retained.
Frozen food stays in top condition in your freezer for months so can be as fresh as the day it was picked, caught, butchered or cooked.
Oakhouse Foods’ frozen meals are cooked and flash frozen to ensure that they stay at peak freshness for months in your freezer.
2. Microwaving is Bad For Food. True or False?
False. Microwaving has several benefits other cooking methods don’t have. According to the Harvard Medical School, “The cooking method that best retains nutrients is one that cooks quickly, heats food in the shortest amount of time and uses as little liquid as possible. Microwaving meets those criteria.”
Cooking fresh vegetables or fresh food by traditional methods leads to some loss of vitamins and minerals but microwaving preserves more of the goodness in the food as the cooking time is so much shorter.
3. Frozen and Microwaved Foods Lack Flavour. True or False?
False: Our range of ready meals delivers all of the great flavours and quality you'd experience with fresh produce - with a sprinkling of convenience thrown in. Oakhouse Foods use only the finest quality ingredients, and the meals are flash frozen once they’ve been prepared, locking in the flavour and retaining maximum freshness from our kitchens to yours.
So, how does Oakhouse Foods deliver on taste? We have a reputation for quality, meals like you’d make at home at great value. Our range consists of over 350 dishes to suit all tastes and diets, from traditional roasts to fish pie and pastas as well as more the exotic flavours that you’ll discover in our curries.
Even vegetarians are well catered for - Oakhouse Foods recently won ‘Great Taste Awards’ for our dishes including our Roasted Vegetables & Goat’s Cheese and Roasted Vegetable Lasagne. Browse our range of
Vegetarian main meals.
4. Microwaveable Meals Can Save Money and Time. True or False?
True: Time is saved with no shopping, preparation, cooking, as well as the washing up of pans when using one of Oakhouse Food’s microwaveable meals delivered to your door. Our meals can either be eaten on the same day or stored until needed.
Oakhouse Foods ready meals are pre-portioned into
main meals or
mini meals to suit your appetite, so cutting down on any food waste.
As frozen food has a much longer shelf life, there is much less waste than buying and storing fresh ingredients.
Microwaves cook in a fraction of time so saving money on electricity costs. All Oakhouse Foods microwavable meals can be cooked within a matter of minutes.
5. Microwaves are Not Safe. True or False?
False: The belief that microwaves are not safe stems from a lack of understanding of how they work. Microwave ovens use high frequency electromagnetic waves which cause molecules of liquid in your food to vibrate. This friction is what heats and cooks your food.
There are always concerns about new ways of doing things but The World Health Authority has stated, “When used according to manufacturers' instructions, microwave ovens are safe and convenient for heating and cooking a variety of foods.” Which is good news as the Office of National Statistics estimates 92% of us have at least one microwave. In a recent BBC Good Food survey, microwaves were voted the UK’s favourite kitchen gadget.
Oakhouse Foods can even provide a microwave for you to cook the food, contact us for more details.
6. Ready Meals are Just or the Elderly. True or False?
False: Oakhouse Food ready meals can be used by everyone. Especially those who are simply short of time such as mums juggling work and children, for those having to cater for different eating tastes and people who have to work late. They are useful if you’re not feeling well enough to cook and they can be a life saver for those going through the process of house renovation and don’t have any conventional means of cooking. Oakhouse Foods are suitable for those on
special diets including: lactose free, vegetarian, low fat, low calorie, low sugar, low salt, free from alcohol and many more.
That said, Oakhouse Foods’ ready meals can be the ideal solution for the elderly as they provide nutritionally balanced meals that are quick and easy to put on the table. Especially so in rural areas where there is often both poor public transport and a lack of nearby shops, then Oakhouse Foods can help by providing your food direct to your door. And of course, our ready meals can be stored in the freezer until wanted.
Ultimately, ready meals enable you to free up more time, allowing you to do more of what is important to you – whether that’s hobbies and interests or spending more time with your family and any grandchildren. Whatever your age, gaining some extra time to spend doing what you love is a real benefit.
In Summary…..
The proof of the pudding is always in the eating so why don’t you pop an Oakhouse Foods frozen meal into your microwave to experience the freshness and all the flavours. You won’t be disappointed.
Further reading:
"Microwave cooking may be quick and easy – but are microwaves safe for your food?"
Harvard Health Publishing