Tried and Tested: Is Beko’s HarvestFresh™ technology the future of fridge freezers?

As a family, myself and my two grown-up daughters are making every effort to lead a healthier and well-balanced lifestyle. We’re conscious of making better choices when it comes to food, and more often than not, we cook and eat lots of vegetarian meals. As I’m no Nigella in the kitchen, I rely heavily on cookbooks, which tend to promote the benefits of using fresh ingredients.

This generally means our weekly shop includes loads of fresh produce, especially when we’re trying to make lunches and dinners as interesting as possible. One problem I’ve come up against though is keeping everything crisp and tasty, especially towards the end of the week. In my experience, fruits and vegetables can go off pretty quickly – it’s such a waste of money. My existing fridge freezer just wasn’t up to scratch, and I was keen to replace it with a more efficient one.

What were your first impressions of the Beko HarvestFresh™ fridge freezer that we asked you to try out?

Well firstly, I was impressed by how stylish it was. I’ve just revamped my kitchen and it ties in perfectly with the other black accents in the room, creating a striking contrast with my terracotta walls. My kitchen is relatively small, but we need a decent-sized fridge freezer for a family of three, and we’ve found that this one’s 50/50 design offers more than enough space for our needs. I don’t know about you, but when I’m buying large appliances, my first thought isn’t always the style. I usually base my decision on its key features so this model is the best of both worlds. It’s got some amazing tech, it fits in wonderfully and it blends in with the rest of my kitchen décor. It’s perfect.

Good stuff. And would you be able to explain a little about what HarvestFresh™ technology actually is?

Of course. So in the crisper drawer, there’s some innovative 3 Colour Light technology. This basically (and very cleverly) mimics the sun’s 24-hour cycle. You may be wondering how this benefits the life of your food? Well, the special lights preserve the vitamins and nutrients in fruits and vegetables, keeping them fresher for longer. It’s so impressive - I’m all for anything that prolongs the goodness in the food that I buy and eat.

So we challenged you to see how long the food from your weekly shop would last. How did you get on?

When you asked me to try HarvestFresh™ out, I jumped at the chance and couldn’t wait to test it. Here was my opportunity to wave bye-bye to bendy cucumbers and floppy lettuce leaves!

So to sum up, I kept track of how my fruit and veg was doing over the course of 7 days, and I can honestly say that it’s been a real eye-opener and I’ve seen amazing results. As I’m a creature of habit, I always have fresh strawberries with yoghurt for my breakfast. My biggest bug bear is how quickly my strawberries turn mushy. That’s now a thing of the past, and they stayed delicious, firm and ripe for the whole week and beyond. Everything else; peppers, mushrooms, spinach, you name it, the entire week’s fruit and veg is as completely fresh as when I first bought it. I can’t believe it.

We’re so pleased! And now for the verdict – do you have any final thoughts on this fridge freezer? Who do you think it’d be great for?

If you’re asking me if I’d recommend it? Yes, I absolutely would - especially if your food shop consists of as much fruit and vegetables as ours. HarvestFresh™ technology is incredible and I’m blown away by its performance. I’ve not had to throw out a single thing from the weekly shop; no puckered peppers and no crinkly cherries. Opening the fridge and being greeted by bright, colourful and fresh ingredients is a great motivator for healthy eating. I love that I can trust it’ll stay in great condition between the weekly trips to the supermarket.

There’s a bunch of other good features too. The amount of room that the crisper drawer offers is fantastic, and I’m able to fit everything in without it spilling out onto the main shelves. The water tank inside is slim and makes it easy to quickly grab a glass of cold water whilst on-the-go. I honestly can’t fault anything on this model. It lets me buy everything I need for the week at once, and I know it’ll stay fresh – no more mid-week food dashes.

@cloud_nine_interiors is using the Beko HarvestFresh™ fridge freezer

This article includes a conversation between our product expert and @cloud_nine_interiors, and has been written up by our copywriter.