On an unassuming retail park, sandwiched between a Topps Tiles and a Pets at Home, lies a middle-class shopping mecca.
It’s not a chi-chi deli nor a new branch of M&S… but an unlikely retail haven that’s fast-becoming foodies’ guilty little secret.
Farmfoods is Britain’s second-biggest frozen food shop behind Iceland – yet many of us have never heard of it.
With an annual turnover of £1billion, more stores than Waitrose (340 compared to the upmarket supermarket’s 329) and astonishingly low prices on meat, fish, veg and everyday essentials, it’s acquired a cult following.
‘Mumfluencers’ can’t get enough of Farmfoods’ frozen Greek salad (£2.49) and duck bao buns (£1.99); while middle-class cooks are raving about its multipacks of Black Angus sirloin steaks (£14.99 for 1kg), extra-large legs of lamb (£24.99) and jumbo king prawns (£4.99).
On TikTok, the budget brand has racked up 1.3million likes, with followers sharing weekly ‘hauls’ of their favourite products.
It was after a friend’s dinner party when, having listened to me wax lyrical about her paella, she confessed the truth: it came in a packet, cost just £2.99 and took ten minutes to cook from freezer to wok.
I hopped in the car to my nearest Farmfoods to see what all the fuss was about. Inside, the family chain – which started life as a North Lanarkshire meat processing business in 1954 – is everything you’d expect of a retailer that specialises in frozen, bagged food.
With its strip lighting and basic signage, this is not somewhere to go for a pleasant shopping experience.
But what it lacks in ambience it boasts in produce. The meat and fish aisle is vast, with four freezers specialising in chicken alone, and six more containing everything from wild salmon fillets and scallops to pork tenderloin and racks of ribs.
Cooks’ ingredients abound (chopped ginger, coriander, chilli and garlic), as do exotic fruits (bags of washed and prepped lychees, dragon fruit and blackberries) and desserts for all tastes.
‘We believe passionately in the benefits of frozen food for families,’ the chain’s Sam Brown tells me.
You can buy frozen custard tarts imported from Portugal, pakoras made in India and mixed vegetables from the Mediterranean.
If it weren’t for the garish packaging, I could be in a fancy farm shop. I leave laden with so much stuff I struggle to squeeze it all in my freezer. The total cost of my trolley-load? Just £36.24.
So does Farmfoods’ frozen produce live up to the hype? I put its most viral products to the test…
GREEK FETA PASTA SALAD (350g)
PRICE: £2.49
TASTE TEST: Few things sound less appealing than a frozen Greek salad but shoppers have branded it a ‘revelation’ on social media.
Mercifully, it’s made with orzo pasta rather than soggy lettuce, mixed with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, black olives, red onion and feta. All I have to do is leave it for 2-4 hours to defrost.
The result? Astonishingly good. Crunchy veg, al dente orzo, salty cubes of feta and a lovely lemony, garlicky dressing. This would make a handy weekday lunch.
VERDICT: 5/5
SOURDOUGH DOUBLE PEPPERONI PIZZA (360g)
PRICE: £1.49
TASTE TEST: Farmfoods’ pizzas are impossibly cheap – as well as this normal-sized one, you can buy a huge 14-incher for just £2.99. Somehow, I resisted, and ended up with this double pepperoni with a sourdough-style crust. On closer inspection, the sourdough is anything but (it contains yeast and all sorts of stabilisers), and the pizza itself is a letdown, with scant cheese, a few token bits of meat and a chewy base.
VERDICT: 1/5
CARAMELISED BISCUIT ICE CREAM (1 litre)
PRICE: £2.99
TASTE TEST: I’m a sucker for anything sweet, and Farmfoods’ ice cream section does not disappoint, with a range of scrumptious-sounding flavours – including this one.
A take on Haagen-Dazs’ biscuit and cream tub (which, at £5.75 for just 460ml, is four times the price) it’s creamy, rich and studded with crunchy biscuit pieces, as well as a cinnamon-spiced sauce.
Marks off for nutrition: just one scoop (55g) contains 140 calories, 7.8g of fat and 13g of sugar.
VERDICT: 4/5
GRILLED STEAK PASTA (350g)
PRICE: £2.49
TASTE TEST: This meal for one comes in a nifty steam bag, meaning it can be cooked in just seven minutes (from frozen) in the microwave.
It claims to contain frozen linguine with grilled steak strips, tomatoes and carrots in a Mediterranean sauce.
What’s inside the bag looks appetising enough, but it’s all a little squishy – with minuscule clumps of chewy steak – for my liking.
VERDICT: 2/5
PAK CHOI (800g)
PRICE: 99p
TASTE TEST: This most middle-class of veggies is a staple in stir-fries in my house, and to have a bag of it – washed, prepped and chopped – in my freezer is extremely convenient. It takes just three minutes in a hot wok and is still crisp, iron‑rich and vibrant green, making this the ultimate cook’s shortcut.
VERDICT: 5/5
SIX HOISIN DUCK BAO BUNS (270g)
PRICE: £1.99
TASTE TEST: With remarkably similar branding to another frozen bao bun brand (Itsu’s hoisin duck baos cost £3.95 for eight), this ‘fakeaway’ starter looks promising.
The fluffy little buns take just 40 seconds each in. But though they smell fragrant, the ratio of dough to filling is all wrong. They’re stodgy and bland.
VERDICT: 2/5
SEAFOOD AND CHICKEN PAELLA (750g)
PRICE: £2.99
TASTE TEST: The product that started it all for me, this paella is packed with healthy-sounding ingredients: yellow rice, vegetables, chicken, mussels, prawns and pollock, in a Spanish seasoning made from paprika, tomato, garlic, turmeric and herbs.
I already know it tastes great (thanks to my friend’s dinner party wok version), so I try the alternative cooking option – 12 minutes in the microwave – to test its versatility. It’s not good; the rice is claggy and the protein overcooked.
VERDICT: 3/5
JUMBO KING PRAWNS (325g)
PRICE: £4.99
TASTE TEST: I can barely believe the size of these prawns, all of them bigger than my thumb, nor their bargain-basement price. A 200g bag at Waitrose costs £5.50, making these a steal.
They’re far from sustainable, having been farmed and packed in Vietnam before travelling 10,000 miles by boat to the UK, but if you can ignore that, the flavour is mouthwatering. After three minutes in a pan, they’re pink, plump and succulent. VERDICT: 4/5
PUFF PASTRY (340g)
PRICE: 99p
TASTE TEST: This block of frozen pastry is a bargain, but the ingredients list is disappointing. Made from flour, margarine and water, it’s about as far from authentic buttery puff pastry as you can get.
Once cooked (it must be defrosted overnight in the fridge before being rolled, topped and baked for 12-15 minutes), it’s passable, but still tastes a little artificial.
VERDICT: 3/5
PORK LEG WITH CRISPY CRACKLING (600g)
PRICE: £3.99
TASTE TEST: Having shelled out £40 on pork elsewhere over the Easter weekend, I’m staggered that Farmfoods has a whole joint on sale for less than £4!
It’s EU pork – not British – but it’s been hand-cut by butchers and comes with a crispy crackling crust. Roasted in its foil tray, it’s on the table in just 90 minutes and serves five.
