What was the first frozen food available in Britain, and when was it available? Anon.

Hi there, this is a great question! We enjoy every chance we get to delve into the archives of the history of frozen food.

Frozen food has been around since 3000BC, when the ancient Chinese used ice cellars to preserve food throughout the seasons. The Romans also used to store food in compressed snow in insulated cellars. However, the modern frozen food industry as we know it only dates back to the early 20th Century. In one of his excursions to Canada in 1917, Clarence Birdseye observed local inhabitants preserve fish and meat by letting it freeze in ice rapidly in the Arctic temperatures. Birdseye brought the idea back to the US, where he consequently developed the process known as ‘quick freezing’. Frozen food quickly became a big hit in the US and by the 50s the sales exceeded one billion dollars annually. This method of preserving food naturally travelled across the Atlantic, and post-war Britain embraced the safe and economic way of keeping food. The UK frozen food market grew rapidly in the late 40s and early 50s, and the first frozen ready meal was introduced to UK shoppers in 1953.

While the records are unclear of what the first commercially frozen food product in Britain was, we like to think it was the versatile – and much loved – frozen pea.

If you would like to see behind the scenes of a frozen food factory click here for frozen fish and click here for frozen vegetables.

Thank you for your frozen food question. Click here to see where your frozen food comes from.

The New Ice Age Team