When it comes to food shopping, Iceland was never a supermarket that was very high up on my radar, that was until quite recently. Back in April it was announced that Iceland would be the first major supermarket to ban the use of palm oil from its own brand products and suddenly my ears perked up. In all honesty, they were the last retailers that I expected to become pioneers for important environmental issues, but this news did perk up my interest in them.
Their great work goes further than that, as they also announced back in January that they would be working to phase out the use of plastic by 2023. Another first! This great work by the brand had really changed my perspective of the brand, so when they recently invited me along to try out their new BBQ food range, I thought it was the perfect opportunity for me find out a bit more about them and to actually try some of their new grub too.
Iceland’s head chef, Neil Nugent was in charge of the BBQ on the day and had crafted up a menu of delicious grub, all made using the supermarkets products. The first thing that I noticed was the sheer scale of the Iceland range. My somewhat skewed idea of basic frozen pizzas and burgers was complimented with luxury and speciality products too, like their vegan ‘No Bull’ burgers, top quality wagyu burgers and their Canadian lobster tails (my favourite).
As well as providing a taste of the Iceland products, Neil also blew my mind with some of his top BBQ hacks and tips. Quesadillas, smoked vegetables and even cheesecake were all things that I would have never previously associated with a BBQ. I’m still not quite over the fact that he showed me how to make eggs on the BBQ grill though. You simply pierce a tiny hole in the end of an egg (to stop them exploding) and place it (in their shells) on the grill, turning them to allow them to cook through. It’s basically a bit like boiling but without actually boiling them. Mind blown and so tasty!
I know that there is often a bit of snobbery around frozen food and that a lot of people (some of my mates included) think that it’s inferior in quality to fresh food. If that’s you then I suggest you clear out those thoughts and give it a bash as based on my experience at the barbecue, you will most likely get a pleasant surprise!
#WinningAtSummer
This is a partnership post in collaboration with Iceland
