Did you know that buying fresh and local food is good for you and the planet?

Buying fresh local food and locally grown ingredients from home-grown e-groceries such as FreshToHome is good for your health and benefits the environment.

More and more people are seeking out local sources of fresh produce and other foods. But what is local food?

There are several, informal definitions but simply put, eating local means you enjoy foods that are bought directly from farmers, fishermen and other food producers in your community.

Traditionally, when people wanted to know where their food was coming from, they would head to a farmers' market in their neighbourhoods to buy local instead of going to a supermarket to shop for frozen and processed foods. However, e-groceries such as FreshToHome have now made it possible to get the same quality and freshness as a traditional farmers' market without even stepping out of your kitchen.

Launched in 2019, FreshToHome has quickly become a household name in the UAE and a preferred choice for fresh produce such as poultry, meat, fish, fruits and vegetables, and other foods such as ready-to-cook, bakery and pantry items, which are 100% clean label, that is, prepared with a few, easily-identifiable ingredients.

FreshToHome sources its supply from handpicked local food producers, eliminating all middlemen, thereby reducing costs and ensuring that the food reaches you from farm to home or from coast to home within 24 hours of being harvested or caught.

There are many health benefits of buying local from an e-grocery such as FreshToHome. Here are the top ones:

Local food is fresher, tastier and more nutritious. For example, fruits and veggies can start losing their nutritional value as soon as they are picked. If you buy imported, out-of-season fruits and veggies from the supermarket, they are often picked unripe and then artificially ripened in transit, which can adversely impact your health.

Alternatively, with locally grown fruits you can rest assured that they are given enough time to ripen, picked fresh and in season, as they don't have to travel over a long distance before reaching you.

You get foods that are safe to consume. When you are buying fresh produce off grocery shelves, many of them have been in stock for days and contain harmful chemicals that have been used to increase their shelf-life.

Conversely, all FreshToHome products undergo regular tests at leading labs in the country to ensure that everything you consume is completely free of all chemicals, antibiotic-residues, preservatives and additives. FreshToHome never increases the shelf-life of its products and even goes as far as to offer a money-back guarantee on quality and freshness. In addition, the products are always delivered in temperature-controlled vehicles and vacuum packed to ensure the highest level of safety and hygiene.

You can say no to ultra-processed foods, such as frozen pizza and microwaveable meals which have low nutritional value and have been linked to obesity and a higher risk of other diseases. For example, a 2021 study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) found a higher consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) was associated with a substantially greater 5-year body weight gain and a greater risk of obesity.

Even when you are hard pressed for time, you no longer need to stock up on ultra-processed foods or order unhealthy food from a takeout app, as FreshToHome has an extensive ready-to-cook range, offering chef-inspired recipes and convenient meals that taste just like homemade, freshly prepared with a few, local ingredients. There are also minimally processed options available such as leafy salads and pre-cut vegetables. With FreshToHome’s express delivery service, you can get these at your doorstep within 90 minutes.

You eat mindfully. You are more connected to your food when you know where it came from, who produced it and how it ended up on your plate. It’s not a microwavable meal that you quickly grabbed at the nearby convenience store with no idea of where its ingredients have come from.

Apart from the health benefits of eating local, there are also economic and environmental benefits of making this choice. As there is no middleman and extensive shipping and packaging costs, local food can be more affordable.

Buying local food helps the local food producing communities thrive and expand, and as a result helps preserve green and open spaces as farmers are less likely to sell their lands to developers. For example, FreshToHome gets fresh produce from handpicked local suppliers, with any excess stocks donated to charitable organisations, so there is a substantial social and economic impact of buying from the e-grocery.

You also help reduce CO2 emissions as the food you buy has not traveled over very long distances. A shorter distribution chain means less environmental waste as well as less food wastage.

So the next time you shop for food, think about all these health and environmental benefits of local produce, and how you can add more locally grown foods to your menu!

For more information please visit : https://ae.freshtohome.com/