Everything you need to make the right decisions
Providing the most comprehensive and up-to-date information and analysis of the Ready Meals and Ready-to-Cook Foods market, its consumers and the major players who make up that market.
Market
Point of sale market data
In conjunction with IRi, extensive point of sale data shows you what consumers are spending their money on
Market Size
How big is the market today and what is our 5 year forecast? Includes both best & worst case scenarios
Market Segmentation
What are the different segments within the market and how are those individual segments performing?
Consumer
Consumer behaviors
What are consumers looking for, what drives their buying habits and what are their main purchase influencers?
Demographic breakdown
From iGen & Millennials to Baby Boomers & beyond. Who is spending money and what are they spending it on?
Representative sample
We gather our data from real-world consumers, selected to accurately reflect precise global demographics
Players
Company strategy
What are the key players doing, what has been successful for them and what was their marketing spend?
Product innovation
Using data from our Global New Product Database, what products were launched and how well were they perceived?
Opportunities
What happens next, which areas are likely to experience growth and what opportunities exist within the market?
Expert analysis from a specialist in the field
Written by Alyson Parkes, a leading analyst in the Food & Drink sector, his extensive knowledge delivers in-depth commentary and analysis to highlight current trends and add expert context to the numbers.
The influx of premium launches has underpinned the strong growth in the market, while NPD in healthy ready meals has also tapped into the overarching health trend. The return of salt to media headlines, however, will ramp up pressure on companies to try to reduce the salt content of products. Proving the suitability of ready meals for children could also offer boosts for the category.
Alyson Parkes
Food & Drink Analyst
Mintel has the answers you’re looking for
What are the key challenges facing the industry and how fast are its rates of growth? Who is the consumer and what do they want? Where are the opportunities, where are the risks and what lies ahead?
This report discusses the following key topics:
Products covered in this Report
This Report examines ready meals and ready-to-cook foods.
Mintel’s market size includes products sold through the grocery
retail channel and direct to consumers including:
Chilled and frozen ready meals, including complete and part
meals, and meal centres. This includes complete meals such
as spaghetti Bolognese and curry with rice. It also includes part
meals/meal centres (including burgers in a bap/bun) to which the
consumers may, but need not, add items such as vegetables,
pasta or rice, such as single ethnic dishes like chicken tikka.
Ready-to-cook (RTC) foods are chilled food specifically
positioned as needing no further preparation on the part of the
consumer other than opening the packet and cooking the product
according to the on-pack instructions. The major grocers have
developed their own specific sub-branded ranges of such foods,
such as the Sainsbury’s Just Cook range. It should be noted
that some sectors of the trade use the terms ‘part prepared’ or
‘partially prepared foods’ – both terms are deemed to refer to
ready-to-cook foods as defined for the purpose of this Report..
‘Pies’ that have no pastry content (for example, shepherd’s pie)
and, therefore, do not conform to Mintel’s definition of a pie are
included as ready meals in this Report.
What you need to know
Estimated at £3,189 million in 2018, total sales of ready meals
and ready-to-cook foods grew by 21.3% over 2013-18, while
volumes grew by 12.2%. Ready meals are an established part
of consumers’ mealtime options, with 93% of UK adults eating
them. Of these, chilled ready meals are eaten the most often, with
families and men under 25 being core users.
The strong focus on premium launches has added value to the
market, on top of inflationary pressure. The chilled ready meal
segment has enjoyed strong growth; the focus on premium
meals appears to have helped combat some of the negative
associations that the market has previously suffered from.
Innovation in healthy ready meals that includes added/high
protein content and highlighting the limited calorie content of
meals has also supported this strong performance. However,
sizeable interest in low-salt ready meals indicates an area for
manufacturers to focus on going forward, particularly as salt has
returned to media headlines.