Helping shoppers reduce food waste will be the theme of the first Frozen Food Week organised by the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF), which starts on 5 September with a national social media and PR campaign.

Launching the build-up to the week, new BFFF CEO, Rupert Ashby said: “We will be encouraging consumers to buy more frozen food by demonstrating how they can reduce the amount of food they throw away and save money.

“At a time when household bills are under real pressure, this is a powerful message that not only benefits shoppers, but also helps fight climate change by reducing the 4.5 million tonnes of edible food thrown away by UK households every year.”

The digitally-led campaign is focussing on younger Millennial, Gen Z and Gen X shoppers as research shows these consumers are more likely to buy sustainable, high-quality products, often prioritise digital shopping and spend many hours on social media.

Every day of the week will feature a different food theme and explain how sourcing, portion control and preservation help reduce food waste. Monday will focus on no meat and plant-based products, Tuesday on frozen veg and Wednesday on frozen fruit. Thursday will be themed around savoury products, Friday will focus on fish and Saturday and Sunday will look at ice cream and inspirational recipes.

BFFF member companies are also supporting the campaign and will be able to download Frozen Food Week asset packs from the campaign’s Fresh From The Freezer website and share the assets on their own social media channels. The campaign’ resources are also available to any retailers who wish to support the campaign.

Louise Collier, category director at Birds Eye, said: “As the UK’s leading frozen food brand, Birds Eye will be supporting the first annual Frozen Food Week with both consumer and trade-facing activations as there’s never been a more important time to remind consumers of the value of frozen.

“Frozen food has always played an important role in helping shoppers get more for their money without them having to compromise on quality, offering consumers longer shelf-life and greater portion control which helps reduce food waste so allowing budgets to stretch further. In fact, when swapping like for like fresh and frozen products, shoppers can make a saving of almost 25% on average, while receiving up to 50% more for the same price^[1]”

Mr Ashby added: “This is the first time the frozen food industry has come together to run Frozen Food Week and I have been impressed by the support and enthusiasm we have received from our members.

“I am sure the week will play an important role in educating many shoppers about the range of frozen products on offer and the very real benefits of buying frozen. We hope to build on the momentum in the years ahead.”

[1] Based on base online prices on 6.5.22 comparing 6 of Frozen bestselling lines to equivalent lines across the rest of the store, average across www.asda.com, www.sainsburys.co.uk, www.tesco.com, www.morrisons.com