Stay ahead of the curve and future-proof your business with Mintel’s UK Ready Meals and Ready-to-Cook Foods Market Report 2023. Our full report is packed with consumer-led market intelligence, the latest UK ready meals market research, trends and consumer behaviours affecting your business. Get a 360° view of the ready-to-cook food market, including market size, share and forecasted growth to help you align your business strategy with the needs of your audience.
Below, we’ve handpicked the key insights analysed in the full report and summarised the core topics.
Topics Analysed in this Report
- The impact of inflation on the ready meals and ready-to-cook foods market, including falling volumes and trading down within the category
- Key trends in recent launch activity and future opportunities in the UK ready meals market.
- Usage of ready meals/ready-to-cook foods and key demographics.
- Factors consumers associate with value for money in the ready-to-cook food market.
- Consumer behaviours and attitudes related to UK ready meals market.
UK Ready Meals Market: Overview
Volume sales in the ready-to-cook food market fell in 2023, as household finances remained under pressure, continuing to boost the appeal of home cooking. The cost of living crisis also prompted trading down within the category.
Ready-to-Cook Food Market: Opportunities
Cater to plant-based diets
The flexitarian trend is now firmly mainstream. As the trend continues to become more established, products that make it easy to reduce meat intake are likely to chime. Ready meals and ready-to-cook foods have strong potential to lean into this, being widely seen as an easy way to bring more plant-based foods into one’s diet.
- Ready-to-eat food market trends: 47% of adults either don’t eat meat or have limited their intake.
Communicate nutritional benefits
A third of category buyers and users agree that being nutritionally complete signals good value for money for ready meals and ready-to-cook food. The strong value connotations of this proposition point to an opportunity for the ready-to-eat food market to deliver comprehensive nutrition to win favour in the short term.
- UK ready meals market opportunity: 33% of ready meal buyers agree that nutritionally complete products are signaling good value.
To learn more about the read-to-cook food market market, including a five-year forecast, consumer behaviour analysis, and market opportunities recommendations, purchase our full UK Ready Meals and Ready-to-Cook Foods Market Report.
Leading Brands in the Ready-to-Cook Food Market
Sainsbury’s, M&S, Myprotein, Allplants, Strong Roots, Heinz, Goodfella’s, Deliciously Ella, Crosta & Mollica, Veetee, Ben’s.
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Expert Insights from a Food Analyst
This report, written by Isabelle Shilling, a leading food analyst, delivers in-depth commentary and analysis to highlight trends in the UK ready meals market and add expert context to the numbers.
The income squeeze has seen total volumes fall and prompted trading down. Better-for-you and plant-based NPD hold potential moving forward.
Isabelle Shilling
Research Analyst
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- Key issues covered in this Report
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Executive Summary
- Opportunities for the ready meal and ready-to-cook food market
- Market dynamics and outlook
- Graph 1: retail value and volume sales of ready meals and ready-to-cook foods, 2019-23
- Graph 2: leading brands’ sales in the chilled ready meals market, 2020/21-2022/23
- Key market drivers
- What consumers want and why
- Graph 3: types of ready meals and ready-to-cook foods eaten, 2021-23
- Graph 4: choice factors for ready meals/ready-to-cook foods, 2023
- Graph 5: factors that signal good value in ready meals/ready-to-cook foods, 2023
- Graph 6: behaviours related to ready meals and ready-to-cook foods, 2023
- Graph 7: attitudes towards ready meals/ready-to-cook foods, 2023
- Innovation and marketing
- Graph 8: share of vegan, vegetarian or plant-based claims among total prepared meal launches, 2018-23
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Market Dynamics
- Market size
- Graph 9: retail value and volume sales of ready meals and ready-to-cook foods, 2019-23
- Market forecast
- Graph 10: retail value sales of ready meals and ready-to-cook foods, by segment, 2010-14
- Market segmentation
- Graph 11: retail value sales of ready meals and ready-to-cook foods, by segment, 2021-23
- Graph 12: retail volume sales of ready meals and ready-to-cook foods, by segment, 2021-23
- Market share
- Graph 13: retail sales of leading brands in chilled ready meals, by value, 2020/21-2022/23
- Graph 14: retail sales of leading brands in frozen ready meals, by value, 2020/21-2022/23
- Graph 15: retail sales of leading brands in ready-to-cook foods, by value, 2020/21-2022/23
- Graph 16: retail sales of leading brands in ambient ready meals, by value, 2020/21-2022/23
- Macro-economic factors
- Graph 17: GDP, 2021-23
- Graph 18: CPI inflation rate, 2021-23
- Graph 19: ‘have you been affected by any of these issues over the last two months? Please select all that apply’, 2023
- Graph 20: Consumer Price Index for ready-made meals, all food and restaurants and cafes, 2016-23
- Graph 21: the financial wellbeing index, 2016-23
- Graph 22: the financial confidence index, 2016-23
- Social, environmental and legal factors
- Graph 23: how often people try to eat healthily, 2018-22
- Graph 24: attitudes towards what makes ready meals/ready-to-cook foods more trustworthy, 2022
- Graph 25: meat eating habits, 2022
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What Consumers Want and Why
- Usage of ready meals and ready-to-cook foods
- Graph 26: types of ready meals and ready-to-cook foods eaten, 2021-23
- Graph 27: frequency of eating ready meals and ready-to-cook foods, 2023
- Graph 28: usage of ready meals and ready-to-cook foods at least once a week, by age, 2023
- Graph 29: occasions for eating ready meals/ready-to-cook foods, 2023
- Choice factors for ready meals and ready-to-cook foods
- Graph 30: choice factors for ready meals/ready-to-cook foods, 2023
- Factors that signal good value in ready meals and ready-to-cook foods
- Graph 31: factors that signal good value in ready meals/ready-to-cook foods, 2023
- Behaviours related to ready meals and ready-to-cook foods
- Graph 32: behaviours related to ready meals and ready-to-cook foods, 2023
- Graph 33: consumers who agree that it is difficult to find what they want in the ready meals/ready-to-cook foods aisle, by being in a rush when shopping for the meals, 2023
- Attitudes towards ready meals and ready-to-cook foods
- Graph 34: attitudes towards ready meals/ready-to-cook foods, 2023
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Innovation And Marketing Trends
- Launch activity and innovation
- Graph 35: share of vegan, vegetarian or plant-based claims of total prepared meal launches, 2018-23
- Graph 36: prepared meal launches by storage type, 2019-23
- Graph 37: share of prepared meals launches with high-/added-protein, low-/no-/reduced-fat, weight and muscle gain and diet/light claims, 2018-23
- Graph 38: premium and economy claims’ share of prepared meals launches, 2018-23
- Advertising and marketing activity
- Graph 39: total above-the line, online display and direct mail advertising expenditure on ready meals, by advertiser, 2020-23
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Appendix
- Supplementary data
- Supplementary data: advertising and marketing activity
- Supplementary data: market segmentation
- Supplementary data: market share
- Market forecast data and methodology
- Report scope and definitions
- Methodology
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