Fresh vs. Frozen

As our Frozen Express range of Complete mixes grows in popularity (thank you), we thought we'd take a moment to examine this range in comparison to our weekly fresh-to-order offering. What's the difference? Spoiler alert: very little.

As consumers, we've become conditioned to the "fresh is best" mantra of the supermarket giants. And, to an extent, this is correct.  However, the meaning of freshness is not simply how long the product has been sitting on the shelf before we take it home- there are many other factors to be taken into consideration. How far has the product travelled before finding it's way to the shelves? It's often from the other side of the world. Farm-to-fork is an attractive concept but what if the farm is 15,000km away? What has it been treated with in order to maintain that vibrant colour that indicates to us that it's fresh?

'Freshness', in truth, means the extent to which the product is processed. We all know that processing reduces the nutritional value of the foodstuff so less is best. Processing methods include cooking, canning, salting, blanching, pasteurization, HPP (high pressure processing) and the addition of preservatives. It also includes freezing! It is widely accepted that freezing foods is the method with the least impact on nutritional value, especially if done rapidly.

What we do:

We make fresh-to-order weekly and we don't carry any stock. Once we tally up your orders, we take delivery of the various ingredients required for that week's production. Our meats come direct-from-source and our fruits and veggies are hand-picked weekly at market. We produce the mixes in a temperature controlled-facility, vacuum seal them, pack them and send them off to you via chilled courier- it's on your doorstep within only a couple of days. You will have noticed that the dating on the packs advises "if fresh, use by"- this is just a couple of days after you receive your order. After this, we advise to freeze it. Why?

We don't add any additives or preservatives or use any tricks to make the food last longer. It's as unprocessed as it gets. All of our ingredients are 100% Australian, meaning no trans-global journeys or questionable places-of-origin.

What about our Frozen range?

The manufacturing process for our Frozen Express range of meals is....exactly the same! We take delivery of the same fresh meats, hand-pick the same fresh produce and prepare it in the very same way. The only difference is we freeze it before you have to- so it's arguably even 'fresher'!

As we mentioned, freezing is the method of processing that best retains nutritional value. There is very little denaturation of proteins, especially when compared to cooking or any other type of heat treatment. Water-soluble vitamins (the B-vitamins and Vitamin C) are retained with little nutritional loss (remember to tip any remaining liquids into the bowl too, as this will be rich in them!). Fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) are even more stable for freezing and are largely unaffected.

So, as you can see, our Frozen range is the very same high standard of product! In fact, as the customer freezers our fresh range shortly after delivery, we're actually just taking even more work away by freezing it first! The Frozen gives us even greater flexibility with delivery days and we can get it to you, usually within a couple of days of ordering.

While our Frozen range currently consists of our 3 Complete mixes, we will be introducing some Essentials mixes very soon- so stay tuned!

https://cdk9raw.com.au/collections/express-delivery