Birds Eye was rated best in Canstar Blue’s frozen vegetable review, receiving five stars for taste, variety & range, packaging convenience, and overall satisfaction.
Getting your five servings of greens per day isn’t always practical. That’s where frozen veggies can step in and ‘green up’ your plate. However, you don’t always get what you hoped (or paid) for when you buy snap-frozen produce, especially if you get more air than greens in your packet, or if the peas outnumber the corn 10 to one (sigh). With so much variety in the freezers, it’s hard to know which brands to trust and try. Canstar Blue compares the most popular frozen vegetable brands in the freezer section to find the greens to make you grin.
Canstar Blue surveyed 1,634 Australians for their feedback on the frozen vegetables they’ve purchased and consumed in the last six months. Note: this includes frozen vegetables purchased from a supermarket or grocer.
Respondents rate their satisfaction with their frozen vegetable brand(s) from zero to ten, where zero is extremely dissatisfied and ten is extremely satisfied. Brand satisfaction was rated by respondents on the following criteria:
The winning brand is the one that receives the highest Overall satisfaction rating once all the scores from the Overall satisfaction criteria are combined and averaged.
Brands must have received at least 30 responses to be included, so not all brands available in the market have been compared in this survey. The brands rated in this survey are listed below in order of best overall satisfaction.
Birds Eye scooped up five stars for taste, variety and range, packaging convenience, and overall satisfaction. Supermarket brand ALDI also scored five stars, earning top marks for value for money.
Find more detailed information on our ratings methodology.
Having been around since the 1940s, Birds Eye is one of the oldest frozen food producers in Australia, recognisable via the famous tagline ‘Give ‘Em Your Best’. Some Birds Eye vegetables – like the pea range – are sourced locally in Australia, while other products are shipped in from overseas. The frozen food range also includes frozen potato chips, bakes, fish and plant-based meats, but it’s the Birds Eye frozen veggies range that is most extensive, with over 50 product combinations available. Some products include:
Birds Eye frozen veggies start at $2.90, and can be purchased at most major supermarkets.
Almost a third of survey respondents (27%) said they buy frozen veggies to save time when cooking. Besides convenience, there are other reasons to buy your veggies from the frozen section. Frozen veggies are harvested and snap frozen at the peak of ripeness. This means that flavours and essential nutrients are better retained and don’t dissipate with time like with other fresh produce. That’s particularly important if you’re buying out-of-season fruits and veg. You can also store frozen vegetables for much longer than fresh greens, which tend to turn mushy pretty quickly. Lastly, frozen veggies tend to be cheaper to buy as there’s less complexity to their supply chain and operation scale. So, buying frozen veggies can save you time, and money and help reduce food waste.
Whether you prefer a vegetable mix option or just greens, you should start by checking the nutritional information panel on the back of your frozen veggies packet. Look for products that are higher in fibre and protein and that are low in sodium, and check whether your frozen produce is non-GMO.
While frozen veggies are typically cheaper than the fresh alternative, you still want to get the best bang for your buck at the checkout. How? With unit pricing. It’s a labelling system that compares the selling price of a product against a standard unit of measurement (i.e. per litre, kilogram, etc.). This allows you to compare prices more accurately, regardless of packaging size or brand.
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Megan is Canstar Blue’s Home & Lifestyle Editor, leading the team that focuses on consumer products and services, ranging from supermarkets and groceries to home and personal appliances and retail stores. She interprets Canstar Blue’s bespoke research on the thousands of brands that we compare, rate and review, to help shoppers make better purchasing decisions.
Samantha Howse is Canstar Blue’s Consumer Research Specialist, coordinating the consumer research program behind our customer satisfaction awards across Canstar and Canstar Blue in Australia and New Zealand. Sam has earned a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) from Griffith University and, with seven years in market research and 2 years in marketing, she is experienced in survey design, implementation and analysis, coupled with an understanding of marketing principles and best practice.
Here are the previous winners from Canstar Blue’s frozen vegetable ratings:
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