Go Frozen With Iceland and a Vegetarian Special Egg Fried Rice recipe

I'm a big fan of frozen food. It allows you to buy produce all year round, you can buy in bulk more cheaply and you always have something for dinner. You don't have to go shopping as often and you waste less. I am more than happy to Go Frozen With Iceland.

We were given some Iceland vouchers and went to explore our local store to see how it compared with our usual shop. One of the things I was excited about was what different foods they might have in the veggie range, but a bit disappointed when I saw it wasn't exactly huge - however they have plenty of frozen desserts!

The veggie range was however perfectly adequate, with a few little surprises. For the cheese-loving veggies there are Mac 'n' Cheese Burgers. These went down incredibly well, but the winner was the Piri Piri Sweet Potato Burgers - they're gorgeous and the sauce is properly hot!  I did also get Wild Boar & Apple Sausages as a treat for the meat-eaters.

Some real surprises elsewhere in store - the 'Dipping Chips', shaped oven chips dusted with flavour were a hit (these were 'Chip Shop Gravy' style and are perfect to dip in ketchup), and the frozen soup is perfect - this Tomato and Basil tasted like fresh soup, with a nice tang and a very easy to use microwaveable bowl included. I was also really pleased to find a current offer that meant if I bought 2 Dolmio sauces I could take a free lasagne dish! The final photo is the Piri Piri Sweet Potato Burger...just delicious.

One of the most exciting ranges for us was the frozen baked breakfast goods. I love to treat my lot to Croissants or Pain Au Chocolat at the weekend, and so we got a selection to try.

25 minutes in the oven and they were beautifully risen and delicious, and genuinely couldn't be fresher. The Croissants were beautifully fluffy inside, the Maple And Pecan Danish were sticky and full of flavour, but the Pain Au Chocolat were my favourite - plenty of chocolate.

I was asked to use some of my purchases to create a meal and I wanted to really show The Power Of Frozen, so I decided to make a super-quick and easy meal that is on the table in less than 30 minutes and can feed as many or as few as you want.

I was cooking for 7 people. 4 veggies and 3 meat-eaters. Because you are using frozen ingredients you can check the serving portions on the back and take out the right amount for your diners with no waste.

Vegetarian Special Egg Fried Rice

Ingredients:

Quorn Sausages (£1.50 for 10)
Quorn Gammon Steaks (£1.50 for 4)
Iceland Egg Fried Rice (£1.50 for 650g)
Broccoli - cut into florets (Iceland also sell produce which is not frozen, and their broccoli was incredibly fresh at 89p)

For the meaty version I exchanged the Quorn Sausages for the Wild Boar & Apple Sausages (£2.50 for 6)

Method:

1. Cook the Quorn/sausages as directed, cut into bite sized chunks, set to one side.
2. Put a large wok or pan over a medium heat and add a little oil.
3. Stir fry broccoli florets and egg fried rice for 4 minutes.
4. Add chopped Quorn/sausage, stir fry until everything is hot, another 3-4 minutes.

Serve and eat.

It's an incredibly quick and easy dish which includes a good amount of protein and vegetables. I actually bought frozen sweetcorn to include, but didn't need it, as the Iceland Egg Fried Rice was packed with veg already. 

Including the Quorn Gammon Steaks works really well, as the slightly salty taste compliments rice and egg perfectly. Obviously you can get the same effect from actual gammon!

I'm really impressed with the quality of the foods from Iceland. For the price it's excellent value, and everything we've eaten so far has been really tasty and fresh frozen, retaining flavour and texture. The range is great, with some really quirky items that let everyone try something a bit different.  

Of course we ended the meal with a pudding....it would have been rude not to...especially at £1! Excuse the plate, my son's choice...

Iceland have stores all across the UK, and offer Free Home Delivery for orders over £35 made online. Many stores also offer Free Home Delivery for shopping over £25 once you've paid for your goods in store - brilliant for people who don't have access to a car. To find your nearest store check the Iceland website.