Iceland and Currys are giving away free freezers to help with the cost of living

15 February 2023 , 12:45

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Iceland and Currys are giving away free freezers to help with the cost of living

Major highstreet retailers have teamed up to provide low-income households with free freezers to help with the cost of living.

The frozen food retailer Iceland has teamed up with electrical retailer Currys and Birds Eye to provide support for low-income households.

To help, Currys will be providing selected households with a free freezer.

Iceland and Birds Eye will then help support the needs of individual families with face-to-face and online cooking classes, recipes and general help with budgeting.

Beginning next month, the project is only a trial and only a small group of people will be able to access it.

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At the moment, the trial is offered to those who live in properties owned by Clarion Housing Group in Salford, Greater Manchester.

Clarion Housing Group is one of the largest social landlords in the UK and has also worked to tailor the package of support provided.

The initiative comes after research from Manchester Metropolitan University showed that families switching from fresh to frozen food halve their food waste and reduce their household grocery bill by almost a quarter.

The initial pilot scheme will be evaluated by the university and a white paper of the results will be published and shared with UK policymakers, social landlords and local authorities.

The project is trial and only a small group of people are being offered the help at the moment (Getty Images)

The pilot will track whether having better access to frozen food helps families to cut food waste and reduce their household food bill.

Iceland said it hoped its involvement would act as a “call to action” for policymakers to improve the accessibility to frozen food for lower-income households.

Currys will donate the freezers following a consultation with each household taking part, to identify the best solution for them based on their needs, available space and energy use, helping to mitigate the impact of energy price rises.

Richard Walker, Iceland's executive chairman, said: "The cost-of-living crisis is a concern for households across the UK and we know many people will be looking for ways to lower the cost of their food shop.

"This unique community project will help families with barriers to freezer ownership, and we hope that we will find that families can save money and improve their diets when they are able to access and use freezers and frozen food."

Birds Eye general manager Steve Challouma said: “By making healthy options more convenient, and by reducing food waste, we hope that this project succeeds in helping participating families and households adopt healthier and more affordable eating habits.”

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