Birds Eye frozen veggie rice cauliflower healthy and sustainability product review
Birds Eye frozen cauliflower rice has been reviewed by our team of dietitians, nutritionists and sustainable eating experts. The healthy and sustainable product rating considers the following: nutritional value, packaging, processing, food origins and food miles. Keep reading for details on the pros, cons and overall summary of this product.
Our rating
Pros
  • The only ingredient is cauliflower, so from a nutrition point of view this is a great option to increase your vegetable intake
  • Cauliflower is high in vitamin C, fibre and folate, and these nutrients are not destroyed in the freezer
  • A quick and easy way to get more vegetables into your day and add diversity
  • This product allows access to cauliflower when it’s not in season
  • Vegan friendly.
Cons
  • This product is from Spain, which means that it has high food miles. It is a frozen product so transporting this across the globe means refrigeration is required – and that is even more greenhouse gas emissions
  • There are many Australian farmers growing cauliflower here in Australia, so this product could be sourced locally
  • There is no indication on the packaging that this product was processed and stored immediately on picking (this is called being snap frozen). So, we don’t know whether it has been in cold storage before being frozen, increasing its environmental impact
  • We have an issue with the marketing on this packet – cauliflower is not a substitute for rice and our bodies need carbohydrates
  • Packaged in soft plastic which is only recyclable at your local red-cycle and not in your household recycling bin.
Summary

Overall from a nutritional point of view cauliflower is a great source of fibre, folate and vitamin C and these nutrients are not destroyed in the freezer. By using cauliflower in this way, it is also time effective and increases diversity in your vegetable intake.

From a sustainability point of view, this product has been transported across the world (frozen). This means not only high food miles but when a product is frozen it requires freezing the whole way across the globe which results in even more carbon emissions. It is also disappointing given how many growers we have here locally which could produce the cauliflowers for this product. While there are nutritional benefits to eating this product, this product is very unsustainable. A better choice would be to make cauliflower rice yourself as needed, it only takes 5 minutes! 

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