082 The Full Freezer

082 The Full Freezer


About this Episode

Kate Hall is the Founder of The Full Freezer™ and author of the e-book ‘The Full Freezer (Save Food, Save Time, Save Money)’.

Kate helps households to reduce their food waste and cook from scratch more easily by using their home freezers more effectively. Unlike batch cooking, The Full Freezer Method is completely flexible and allows families to easily enjoy a wide variety of meals without any waste. 

Kate has been featured by BBC Food, Steph's Packed Lunch, Prima Magazine, and The Telegraph and has collaborated with more than 50 creators within health & well-being, parenting, and sustainability. With over 40,000 followers across Instagram and Facebook, The Full Freezer™ is transforming attitudes towards food waste and empowering parents to cut down on convenience foods and embrace home cooking. 

Kate lives in Greater London with her husband and two young children.

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Episode Transcript

Katherine Ann Byam 0:00
But what about the nutritional impact? What if someone says I don't want my food to have a diminished impact? I don't know if my kids will be getting the same level of nutrition. What is your feedback to that?

Kate Hall 0:11
If you've decided to cut out what I do, and literally just go straight to the supermarket aisle and buy frozen, you're actually most likely going to be enjoying produce that's of a higher nutritional value because it is frozen so close to the source so soon after being picked. And my position when it comes to what I do is that you know, you can if you want to be in control of the nutrition if you're very conscious of the nutritional value, the most important thing is to buy as local as you possibly can and to freeze as soon as possible, because basically, the older that the food is, the more the nutritional value will deplete.

Katherine Ann Byam 0:45
I'm so pleased to bring Kate Hall's perspectives on how to freeze your food and save the planet, as well as save money, tune into this episode now. This is season five, the great debates of our times, Season Five will be centred around the great debates. And we will be comparing and contrasting different viewpoints on various topics that are consuming the public discourse at present. The reason I've decided to take this approach is because, we or at least many of us, are losing the skill of debate. And I think this is an essential skill for us all to practice once more. I don't see how we get to the point of saving the world and saving our planet. If we don't know how to discuss our differences. I also think that the solution to most of our challenges is somewhere in the spectrum of views but never a type of extreme. I will be working with guests to curate the content and discuss beforehand, I will understand their positions, their areas of genius, and navigate my questions around that so that the conversation is challenging and stimulating. Without being combative. I hope you enjoy season five of Where Ideas Launch; the Sustainable Innovation podcast. Kate Hall is the founder of The Full Freezer, and author of the ebook The Full Freezer; Save Food, Save Time and Save Money. Kate helps households to reduce their food waste and cook from scratch more easily by using their home freezers more effectively. Unlike batch cooking, the full freezer method is completely flexible and allows families to easily enjoy a wide variety of meals without any waste. Kate, welcome to Where Ideas Launch, it's a pleasure to host you on the programme.

Kate Hall 2:28
Thank you so much for having me, Katherine. I'm so, so excited to chat to you today.

Katherine Ann Byam 2:32
So I've seen that you've been on BBC, you've been on TV, tell us a little bit about the journey to create The Full Freezer. Why, what inspired you to not just freeze all your food but to make it an actual business.

Kate Hall 2:46
So it was really the lockdown and the pandemic that pushed me to take this from just doing it in my own home to making it a business and sharing it with the world. And it was essentially the fact that I was put on furlough from my day job. And that was when I wrote the ebook because my instinct was, this is going to be useful to people, this has been so helpful to me in my own home developing a combination of methods of essentially freezing individual ingredients to kind of press the pause button on them. And give me a bit longer, particularly as a busy mum and as someone who was working, to be able to use that food. And I felt like if I could get all of it written down and in one place, then I could help other people to benefit in the same way. So I did that. I did that in the first couple of weeks of being on furlough. And then, I basically was made redundant from my day job, and said, you know what, I don't want to go and do another day job, I want to do this, I want to teach more people because I'd given away that ebook, initially, sort of the first month, six weeks, I gave it away. And the feedback I got was essentially, this is really interesting. This is really useful. And I thought actually, if I can teach people this on a deeper level, because I found a lot of people will take a little bit of what I do and then go, oh, yes, I know how to do it now. And they run with it. But there's sort of me in the background going. But if you do it this way, it'll be quicker or it'll be more convenient or it'll be safer. And so yeah, I started to do a few one to ones and build up my course and create content, and then go on to help corporations as well to sort of educate their employees and working with brands now as well, which is great fun. So it's it's been a very gradual progression. But really the thing that made me want to change it from being in my own home to being a business was just that instinct that I just felt it was something that would be useful to people that it would, and it's simple, it's a simple thing to change.

Katherine Ann Byam 4:48
Yeah, it's incredibly magnetic. I've been on your Instagram page and all your videos are so well done and really professionally done. Easy to follow on like, it's it's a page that you want to go back to so that, that's probably a really, really well done.

Kate Hall 5:01
Thank you.

Katherine Ann Byam 5:02
So I want to move to two things, actually. Because right now we're going through this massive energy crisis. So people are thinking about their freezers, their heaters and everything. But at the same time, what we, what we know from the research done around sustainability, etc, is that food waste is the number one thing we can do as individuals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Because it literally it takes a landmass the size of China, to grow the food that we actually don't eat, which is massive. What are your thoughts on all of this and how people can navigate this?

Kate Hall 5:42
I completely agree with with that whole premise of this being the you know, the number one thing we can do, because in comparison to other things, which I'm not saying we shouldn't do the other things as well, of course, we should reduce our plastic or drive less or eat less meat. But this is something that we have so much control over. Because we don't need a government to change any laws, we don't need corporations to change how they package things, literally by just stopping throwing things in the bin, and eating them instead. So, you know, you think, well, that's a benefit in itself that I actually eat the food that I buy, you know, we can we can benefit the planet, and we can also benefit ourselves financially, you know, average families are wasting a huge amount of money. So that's something that I think when you add it together, it's like, well, if I can, in my instance, freeze the food to give me a bit more time, then it just makes sense to do and as you say, you know, the impact of this is enormous. People sort of think, well, it's just a bit of food, it just rots down, does it really matter? But actually, that, remembering that when we throw food away, we're not just throwing away the food, we're throwing away all the resources that went into producing it, all of a sudden, it becomes so much more substantial. I think that was one of the things that when I started The Full Freezer, I wasn't thinking about it that way, I was thinking about it from the financial perspective, and also from the guilt, because I kept buying food with good intentions, and then it would just end up in the bin and we'd end up getting takeaway or convenience foods. And when I learned of the impact of food waste, and how bad it was, and how substantial the problem was, it was like, well, I can't, I can't actually turn my back on this now, I can't throw away a banana without feeling horrendously guilty, because I know that's not just a banana, that is all of the water, the land, the energy, the transportation, it might even have packaging, you know, all of those things have gone in to creating that food just for me to watch it go off on the side and throw it in the bin and buy more. And I think we have just gotten into this habit of thinking well, because there's more food and because it has previously been very affordable, then does it really matter. And actually, the more that people are realising that this does have a huge environmental impact, and it does as well, when food rots, it releases greenhouse gases as well. I believe the overall impact, there was a study from the waste Resources Action Programme, that have found that the impact of food waste is six times bigger than global aviation, or six times the size of global aviation. So you know, people say, Well, I take my holidays in the UK, I don't get on a plane. It's like, Yeah, but if you're wasting food, you know, you're still having a really negative impact. And I think, you know, we can change so that we eat less meat or so that we eat wonky vegetables, but if we buy those things, and then we throw them in the bin, we're not achieving what we want to by doing that. So I think that's something that we've got so much control over, and particularly as the stats in the UK show that 70% of food waste actually comes from our homes. So we have got that control. We don't have to have, you know, yes, supermarkets and restaurants should be doing it too. But actually, we need to step up and take responsibility too. And I think when you start to do that, it's so satisfying. It's nice, because you see, you're not wasting the food, but you're also saving the money and you're getting to enjoy what you've bought. Just makes sense.

Katherine Ann Byam 9:19
No, you're absolutely right. But what about the nutritional impact? What if, what if someone says to you like, I don't want my food to have a diminished impact? I don't know if my kids will be getting the same level of nutrition. What is your feedback to that?

Kate Hall 9:33
That is a fantastic question. Because I mean, it's it's complicated from the perspective of what I do, because you don't know at what point you're going to freeze the food so the nutritional value will decrease over time. But if for example, you bought frozen produce if you decided to cut out what I do and literally just go straight to the supermarket aisle and buy frozen, you're actually most likely going to be enjoying produce that's of a higher nutritional value, because it is frozen so close to the source so soon after being picked, that actually that nutritional value is locked in. So you might not be able to use the product in the same way you might usually want to, you can't make a salad with it, for example, unless you roast the veggies and everything. But the quality of the food and the nutritional value is actually exceptionally good with frozen food. And my position when it comes to what I do is that you know you can, if you want to be in control of the nutrition, if you're very conscious of the nutritional value, the most important thing is to buy as local as you possibly can. And to freeze as soon as possible. Because basically, the older that the food is, the more the nutritional value will deplete. So if you freeze it, as soon as you get it, you are going to have a better nutritional value when you eat it. Assuming in both instances you were cooking it, if you eat it fresh straightaway, you're going to have the highest benefit. But you know, if you if you freeze it sooner, you're going to enjoy that nutritional benefit rather than letting it sit in your fridge for a week and then eating it. Or even worse, letting it sit in your fridge for a week and then throwing it in the bin because then you don't get any nutritional value from that food. So it really freezing is nature's pause button. We don't have it, you know, there's no need for any additives or preservatives. It is literally just nature, keeping our food safe until we're ready to eat it. So it's, it's a great compromise if you're somebody that wants to eat well, but sometimes finds that time and life stop you from doing that.

You've convinced me, at the time of this when, you've sort of surpassed I guess 10s of 1000s of followers on Instagram, where are you at now?

I think just over 34 and a half 1000 followers, I think that's on my main account. But I do have a second account as well. Can I freeze it? Which is I think at over 14 and a half 1000 for that.

Katherine Ann Byam 12:05
Wow. What do you think more people don't, don't already know? And what feedback do you get from your followers? And since they've been engaging with your work?

Kate Hall 12:15
You know what I find it really fascinating because, to be completely fair, I didn't know before I started doing it before I got to a point where it was a problem. And I think that's the thing that it's not necessarily, well, actually it is that people don't know, because the amount of shock like in answer to your question, you know, the number of times I get sent the mind blown emoji, people just going what I can freeze eggs, I can freeze nuts. Like, what?

Katherine Ann Byam 12:45
What I can freeze eggs?

Kate Hall 12:47
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. This is exactlyit, it's like, but a lot of the time, it's, it's simply something that none of us have thought about, or that we've had any need to do, because food's been plentiful. And it's been affordable. It's not something we've ever had to be taught. So most of us, I mean, to be fair, freezing is the only preservation method that I'm truly familiar with. But it could be you know, there are families who grow produce, and they are familiar with dehydrating and canning and pickling. Because it's something that was necessary. And that is necessary to reduce that food waste to make sure that food doesn't go to waste when so much effort has been put into producing it. So I think it's the fact that we've become so disconnected with how much work goes into producing our food. And therefore, we've become complacent. And you know, that's not me being judgmental of anybody I know, in my time I have wasted a horrendous amount of food. Prior to doing this, you know, I was incredibly wasteful because I didn't value the food because it was affordable. And you know that? Well, I'll just go to the shop. And I'll buy more what's the problem? But I think it is, I think awareness is, is slowly and surely increasing. So we've seen over the last couple of years. Two years ago, they introduced the waste Resources Action Programme introduced food waste Action Week. So that's starting to raise the profile and we're seeing more and more supermarkets committing and I think that's helping to sort of raise the profile as well for individuals we've seen this year. And over the last year, the sort of increase in supermarkets taking away best before dates off produce where it's really not necessary. So we with we're seeing more mainstream stuff when I first started, literally, nobody really knew or cared what I was talking about. It was not the priority. But definitely, I think between seeing climate change in very real terms in terms of weather changes and everything and even more so with the cost of living crisis, people are becoming so much more aware that we just really need to stop wasting food. It's just unnecessary.

Katherine Ann Byam 15:08
Yeah, I remember when I first met my partner, this was 10 years ago, he pulled out this, this bottle of meat from under his cupboard that had been there for three years. Like literally it was it was being preserved for three years in a mason jar. And I was like, what? Like, you can't give that to me to eat? What are you telling me? And then and then he told me that this was a tradition like his his father would would hunt, he would literally go into the forest and hunt. And then he would prepare the food and store it, and he would have it for years. So I was, I was really impressed and this, these are just things that I mean, okay, come I come from a very, very hot country in Trinidad and Tobago. So it's not the kind of thing that would be typical, necessarily, nor nor do we go out hunting. So I was really impressed. And what I realised is that, you know, there's a whole array of things that you could do to preserve your food. Mason jars are magnificent, right?

Kate Hall 16:04
I think it's something I mean, even you know, that sort of thing terrifies me if I'm totally honest, because it's like, oh, how do I know like, with freezing, I feel very confident because I, you know, I understand the science of it, that if it's minus 18 degrees, the bacteria cannot develop. And that's it. It can't, it can't breed. But when it's something like dehydrating or pickling, or storing mason jars, or canning, any of those things, I'm like, I understand the science in the sense of if you've removed the moisture, or if you've removed the oxygen, but I'm still really nervous. But that's something that I know I need to learn as well, like, that's another area that as, as The Full Freezer progresses, maybe there'll be a full pantry as well, I don't know? One day somebody can teach me other ways to help us avoid this food waste.

Katherine Ann Byam 16:51
So if I were to do this today, let's see, let's assume that I'm an average family, two kids, partner, how much could I save if I started to do this? You think?

Kate Hall 17:03
So there was a study by the waste Resources Action Programme that found the average family's wasting about 720 pounds a year, so about 60 pounds a month, buying food that literally just gets thrown away. And that's not scraps, that is bread and milk and cheese, and you know, all the good stuff. So yeah, an average of 60 pounds. And then I always like to highlight with that the fact that, that is just the food that's been thrown away as well. So if a family is listening, that know that they're quite guilty of throwing stuff, they've also got to take into account what are they buying to replace the stuff they're throwing away, and how much people are relying as well upon the convenience options that we tend to lean for, you know, when we can't be bothered to cook, and it's like, oh, well, I'll leave the food in the fridge for another day. Let's get a takeaway. Let us grab something from the supermarket, we can sling in the oven. And like, again, there's no judgement here. I've done it myself, every so often, I still do it in terms of, you know, getting the takeaway and whatever, but I don't throw away the food that's in the fridge. And that's the difference for me. And I think that's the thing that, you know, if people look at, how much are they throwing away, but actually, also how much more are they spending because of what they're throwing away. And that can be, you know, well into over 1000 pounds a year for some people. So it's potential, really substantial savings.

Katherine Ann Byam 18:32
Yeah, that's, that's important in this time of sort of economic crisis. So definitely good to look at this. So your work has garnered much interest from the press internationally. What's next for The Full Freezer?

Kate Hall 18:45
Oh, my gosh. So I've got some really exciting stuff going on. At the moment, you'll know this feeling of the pressures of book writing. So I started writing a book well over a year ago, and was planning to self publish, and then got approached by an agent, who asked if I would be interested to work with her and pitch to literary agents and literary sorry, traditional publishers rather. And we are, we are literally just in the last throes of getting my proposal together to pitch to publishers.

Katherine Ann Byam 19:20
That's amazing.

Kate Hall 19:20
So hopefully, anyone who's listening to this, you will, you know, hopefully I will be in a situation of panicking about actually writing the rest of the whole of the book. But if that doesn't happen, then I will still to be honest, be working on getting everything together for the book because, again, I just feel it's something that is really helpful to have broken down into a step by step process. So yeah, hopefully, hopefully a book will be on the cards on a wider scale. I've got my courses launching again. I'm now converting the Freezer Geek Academy, which is my six week programme, into a sort of self, kind of self led course so that people can do it at any time. Because it really frustrates me that I've previously launched twice a year and worked with groups of ladies so far, to take them through the process. And it's really frustrating not to be able to kind of help people to do that throughout the year. And when I need to say, I'm really excited to launch a course that allows people to do that. And then just continuing with creating my free content as well, working with corporations, and I've got some exciting brand collaborations coming up as well, which is, yeah, it's really good fun. So it's a busy time, a busy time, and especially with, you know, all Christmas festivities and everything, there's, there's a lot to be done around, you know, celebrations and getting the family together and having your freezer there as a tool to make that less stressful and less expensive as well.

Katherine Ann Byam 20:57
This is, this is amazing. This is really congratulations. And I want to I want to tip into this business aspect of it as well, because when did you start?

Kate Hall 21:07
During the pandemic. So it was 2020.

Katherine Ann Byam 21:11
Right? So that's, that's just around two years now. Yet, you're doing so fantastically well. So what, what do you, what would you say contributed to your success? And what were your challenges?

Kate Hall 21:24
I think, I mean, I think my biggest challenge in the early days was self confidence and self doubt. And, really, although I was, I felt confident that what I do would be helpful to people. But I really struggled to communicate that and to believe that anyone would actually want to pay me to teach them, or work with me, collaborate with me. So I think that that self doubt was by far, my biggest challenge. And I really overcame that by working with other entrepreneurs investing in myself with training and coaching. Working with, I had a support pod, through the course that I did, who were great at kind of cheering me on and encouraging me to just keep going. And I think the biggest thing that's actually converted into the success has been taking that and being consistent, and, you know, consistently, confident, quietly confident that, you know, what, even if this reel that I put out only helps one person that's worthwhile, even if this blog article that I write only helps one person that's worthwhile. So I think, you know, having that attitude, that because I knew it had helped me, that it would eventually help other people that other people would eventually start to pick up on what I was doing. And that's something that, you know, running the Freezer Geek Academy massively helped to kind of secure for me, because all of a sudden, I was actually getting feedback from students saying, h, my gosh, like, I got a I got a message, because we have a WhatsApp group on the most recent round. And I got a message from one of the ladies at 11 o'clock at night saying, I'm so sorry to message so late. But I had to message now, before I forget, and literally had sent me this long message, saying how much it had changed her life and you know that she's talking to everyone, she knows about it now. And they're looking at her like, She's crazy. In the same way, people were looking at me in the early days, like I was crazy. But she's still talking to them, because she knows it can help them because she knows it can make a difference. And that thing of the excitement that I now see from the people that I've worked with, and the people in my community who are getting it, who are getting addicted to that freezing, and using the frozen food and saving the money and saving the food is just like, that just lights me up. So I think you know, to anybody who is in a situation with your business, where you're thinking, oh, my gosh, when you know, is this ever gonna work? Is this ever gonna be successful? You just have to keep going. You just have to keep showing up, being consistent. And I think, you know, if it's something that helps people, then it's going to, it's going to catch on, it's going to get there, but it's yeah, you just got to keep going with it, really.

Katherine Ann Byam 24:22
Great advice. So three tips that you'd give to families listening to this and learning about your work for the first time, what would you say to them on how to, on how to get started?

Kate Hall 24:33
Sure, so I've got three tips that are sort of bundled up into one action. So the one action is to keep a food waste diary, which sounds really unsexy and really boring and a little bit like keeping, you know, a diet diary and things where you're like, I just don't want to actually write this down because I don't want to face up to the truth. But it makes such a difference to see things written down on paper, and I think being as honest as you can, about just how much you're throwing away is the first step to making a change into tackling it. And then the the three tips that come into that, and it could be that you start by just jotting down the first thing I'm going to say, and then the second and then the third, rather than trying to write down all the things you're wasting initially. Because if you do that, you might be just put off and horrified and go and curl up in a corner. So the first thing is to just throw, is to just write down things you are throwing away, that are unopened, you've not touched them, you've not got to them, you know, fruit, vegetables, things in the cupboard, whatever it is, just jot down those things as you throw them away. What that will allow you to do is see, could you have just not bought as much? Are you buying some things on autopilot just because they're on your shopping list? And actually, you don't get through them that often. So you could just buy less? Or are they things you want to always have in stock, and therefore maybe you could freeze them which I'll tell you where I've got tips on how you can do that which are totally free. But then you know, once you've got that sense of what you're throwing away, that's whole, you can move on to the next stage, which is looking at things you're throwing away that are part used. So do you always open a jar of pesto and put it in the fridge? After using just one tablespoon? And then discover it, you know, six weeks later with mould growing on it? Do you always use some of the tomato puree and then it goes in the fridge and gets forgotten about? Do you always put, even things like leftovers, you know, are you using some of your food but then letting the leftovers go bad in the fridge or ingredients like using part of an onion or maybe some ginger or Chili's or anything like that. Anything that you're using a bit of for a recipe. And then it goes in the cupboard or it goes in the fridge and it goes bad, write those things down. And then figure out could you freeze them instead, which is also what I can teach you and share with you and I I've got lots of videos on that that are totally free. And then the final thing is looking at what scraps you're throwing away. So when you've tackled the first two, and don't try and do this until you've tackled the first two, unless you are somebody who is like properly on a mission. So looking at the scraps, it might well be that there are things you're throwing in the bin that you can actually eat. So I've seen people throw away broccoli stalks, cauliflower leaves, things like the tops, I've seen tops of spring onions thrown away, which was very strange to me, because they just they're al,l it's all edible, it's all fine. So looking at things like that, and seeing actually, you know, and like literally a quick search online, can I eat this bit of the food, and you'll find that there are things I mean, if you really want to take your food waste seriously. And I'll admit, I am not at this level, because I have two small children and I'm running a business. But one day, I might get to this level that you can, you can cook banana skins and eat banana skins, you know. So there are things that we don't always think of as edible that actually, with the right preparation, I believe you can cook and I think you can candy melon rinds as well, something like that. So there might be things when you get to that level, if you want to push your food waste reduction even harder, that you could be eating that you're not eating. And if you're you know, if you've got things that just aren't avoidable, then the thing I, you know, I think is a given that should always be said is to compost as much as you can. If you've got the space to have a compost pile, that's great. Make sure that you look at how to do it properly. Because again, I'll confess our old house we have the space for a compost pile, we have no idea how to actually do it. So we just ended up with a, you know, a pile of dirt. Basically, there wasn't, it wasn't in any way useful. That didn't rot down properly. So definitely, you know, do the research to find out how to do it properly. There are hot composts that you can buy as well. I think it's a green Joanna or something like that, that's worth looking into. I think there's there's various different ways that you can process that food waste. And the simplest if you have a compost collection service in your area is to use it for your food. And especially if you are still at a stage where you're throwing away Whole Foods. At least if you're going to throw it away or at least take it out of the packaging, put the food in the food waste bin and put the packaging in the recycling if it can be recycled, at the very least as a first step. So I think you know, taking those three steps of breaking it down, don't feel guilty about it. Don't feel I can't face this. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. Like step back from it and start to see the money you're saving. Start to see the food you're saving the food you're getting to enjoy. Take it as the positives of the things you're saving rather than punishing yourself about what you have been wasting, because that is history. And you can change where you are, you can totally change it, and you can totally do it. So, yeah, that's what I would say.

Katherine Ann Byam 30:10
Thank you. Thank you for sharing these steps. This is a really great place to start. I think so, so wonderful. How can everyone get involved with the rest of your work?

Kate Hall 30:19
So the best places to find me are on Instagram at Full Freezer, or I mentioned before about having some videos, so at Can I freeze it? I have all my videos. And if you search on YouTube, for The Full Freezer, you'll find all my videos on there as well if you're not on Instagram, and then on Facebook, I have a free group which is called The Full Freezer Family. So I would love to see anyone come and say hello, let me know you've joined through Katherine. And yeah, you can get tips and advice, ask questions and share your wins. So yeah, please do come join us.

Katherine Ann Byam 30:50
Perfect. Thank you so much, Kate, for joining us. This has been wonderful and best wishes with your business for the rest of this year and for next year as well.

Kate Hall 30:58
Thank you so much. Thank you for having me, Katherine. It's been great.

Katherine Ann Byam 31:01
And good luck with the book. This podcast is brought to you today by the brand new Women In Sustainable Business Awards that kicks off in 2023. If you're a business owner who's starting a business with principles of sustainability in mind, and you want to preserve some lost skills, some handcrafting, artisinal work, or you're a social media manager supporting purpose driven brands, or you're creating fashion or something that is relevant to the sustainability and green transformation, you are more than welcome to join us and to get involved in these awards. Check out our group on Facebook: Women In Sustainable business or follow the podcast Where Ideas Launch on Instagram to find out more.