Beat the credit crunch – Invest in your freezer!

Over the coming year I'll be helping you get the very best out of your housekeeping budget by showing you how the choices you make when you buy your food have a direct effect on your household's bottom line.

The central problem we face when buying food is pretty simple: how do we maintain the quality of taste combined with nutritional value without having to pay the earth to do it?

The answer's pretty simple too! Take a new look at the frozen food option, and learn new tricks and techniques to make it help your money go further. After all, frozen food's the ideal solution... It's convenient, it's nutritious, it tastes good - and it's great value for money!

My upcoming series of articles here in the New Ice Age will be firmly focussed on showing you ways to make the most both of frozen food and of your household budget.

In my next article, I'll look at what has caused the rise in the cost of food; how it affects the average household; and offering tips on food budgeting.

In following article, we'll be looking at ways of minimising the wastage caused by buying 'fresh' food, the importance of controlling portions, and a host of other ways you can stretch your money - but not your budget! - by using your freezer to help you get through 2009 without throwing your money away.

Apart from the tips I'll be sharing with you, I'm looking forward to your input. So, if you have any questions, thoughts, fears, tips or tricks of your own, do please share them with us via the 'ask us a question about frozen food' section. I'll do my best to provide responses that will help not only you but the whole of our new online community here.

I hope you gain value, knowledge and fun from the column over the next year, so welcome to the New Ice Age - I'm looking forward to working with you and for you.