This report looks at the following areas:
- Consumption frequency of ready meals in the last three months
- Penetration of ready meal formats by meal occasions
- Satisfaction levels with ready meals and their contributing factors
- Features in ready meals that consumers are willing to pay more for
- Cuisines of interest in different ready meal bases
- Innovations of interest in ready meals
Retain Confident Consumers while appealing to Contingent Consumers. Optimise protein and sodium balance, innovate with culturally relevant cuisines, and select the right meal bases to align with market demand.
Rashmika Khanijou, Senior Analyst
Market Definitions
Ready meals are pre-prepared food products designed for convenience, allowing consumers to enjoy a quick and hassle-free meal.
- Heat-and-Eat Ready Meals: these meals come in frozen, chilled, or ambient formats and only require heating before serving.
Please note this report excludes instant noodles, soups and pastas. It also does not cover semi-finished products, such as curry pastes, ready-to-cook pre-mixes or batters.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- What you need to know
- Key issues covered in this Report
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MARKET LANDSCAPE
- China and Vietnam are rapidly innovating, while Thailand’s ready meal market has stabilised over the last five years
- Graph 1: share of ready meal launches in top 10 markets, by market, 2020-25
- Ready meals play a significant role in Thai consumers’ lives, but lose out on being a daily ‘essential’
- Graph 2: consumption frequency of ready meals in the last three months, 2025
- Ready meal brands are adding value beyond convenience
- Graph 3: share of product launches in ready meals, by claims, 2022-25
- Occasion dictates consumers’ choice of ready meal format
- Graph 4: ready meal formats consumed for different meal occasions in the last three months, 2025
- Breakfast is an untapped market, with potential for new formats and nutritional options
- Chilled formats are growing while frozen is declining, leaving room to rebuild relevance
- Graph 5: share of product launches in ready meals, by storage type, 2022-25
- Consumer segments shaping the Thai ready meal market
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STRATEGIES FOR RETAINING AND EXPANDING THE MARKET
- Strategy 1: retain Convinced Consumers by strengthening the core benefits that anchor satisfaction
- Now: highlight texture innovation to deepen sensory satisfaction
- Now: retain Confident Consumers by prioritising progress on eco-credentials
- Now: turn Thailand’s waste problem into a ready-meal opportunity
- Graph 6: share of product launches in ready meals, by ethical claims, 2020-25
- Next: tap into ‘upcycled ingredients’ to drive eco-progress
- Strategy 2: convert Contingent Consumers
- Now: making preparation as easy as possible for Contingent Consumers
- Next: increase consumption frequency among Contingent Consumers by tackling their biggest pain points
- Next: build clean label positioning to enhance trust in this ultra-processed category
- Next: address safety and transparency concerns through tangible production stories
- Next: embrace the farm-to-fork concept to highlight the product journey with complete transparency
- Next: communicate innovative technology to enhance trust in the safety and nutritional quality of ready meals
- Next: strengthen nutritional credibility through daypart nutrition to expand relevance
- Future: expand into the senior market with daypart nutrition scheduling
- Future: senior-care subscription model tapping into nutrition scheduling
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SHAPING THE PROTEIN–SODIUM EQUATION INTO A PREMIUM OPPORTUNITY
- Now: sodium levels are making the ready meals category vulnerable, putting the category at risk even among its core users
- Graph 7: food/drink categories that consumers plan to reduce the most to lower their sodium intake, by Convinced Consumers vs Contingent Consumers, 2025
- Now: anchor the sodium-reduction movement in high-protein reformulations as the most fruitful path
- Now: use the right method for sodium reduction
- Graph 8: sodium-reduced products that consumers would consider buying, by Confident Consumers vs Contingent Consumers, 2025
- Now: balance sodium reduction with herbs and potassium-enriched salt
- Now: high-protein and reduced-sodium ready meal innovations are not moving in tandem
- Graph 9: share of product launches in prepared meals and meal kits, by select claims, 2020-25
- Adjust the protein-sodium formula in ready meals to strengthen positioning in the Thai market
- Next: position high protein + reduced sodium for weight management
- Next: position high protein + controlled sodium for rebalancing active lifestyles
- Next: extend the protein + reduced sodium platform into everyday heart-healthy choices
- Future: move beyond ‘high’ and ‘reduced’ towards ‘modulating’ protein and sodium for chronic health diseases
- Future: renal care kit with vitamin D fortification to fill deficiencies
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THE CULINARY MAP OF READY MEALS
- Now: Thai cuisine remains the anchor of preference in ready meals
- Graph 10: cuisines of interest in different ready meal base types, 2025
- From comfort to adventure: ready meal bases dictate culinary openness
- Now: reinforce the Comfort Zone with Thai home-cooked style to deepen emotional connections in rice-based ready meals
- Now: premiumise Thai noodles through co-branding with trusted Thai foodservice brands
- Now: guide consumers from the Comfort Zone into the Discovery Zone through Thai-led Asian fusions
- Next: meet Gen Z’s desire for Korean and Gen X’s desire for Chinese cuisine in noodle-based meals
- Graph 11: interest in Korean and Chinese cuisine in ‘noodle-based’ ready meals, by generation, 2025
- Appeal to Gen Z with trending Korean flavours
- Next: introduce Mexican flavours to pizza and pasta as the bold gateway to the Adventure Zone
- Next: expand on the Adventure Zone with Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavours
- Future: unlock Thai-led global formats to help consumers explore less penetrated cuisines
- Future: global comfort 2.0 unlocking exotic formats with local flavour
- Key takeaways
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APPENDIX
- Report definition
- Generations
- Consumer research methodology
- TURF analysis
- Key driver analysis – correlation
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