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Consumer ReportsReady MealsUK
£2,195 (Excl.Tax)
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Description
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-eat food market size: The retail value of ready meals saw steady growth, and is estimated at £3,783 million in 2023.
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.
Additional Features Included with Your Purchase
- Interactive Databook: Each Databook is provided as an interactive website where you can deep dive into our consumer research data on your chosen topic so you can draw your own conclusions.
- Consumer Confidence Tracker: Our Trackers paint the picture of the economic confidence and major concerns of up to 40 different demographics, tracking changes in attitudes over time.
- Custom PowerPoints: Incorporate our consumer research data into your own work so you can win over your clients and stakeholders. Select insights from your report to create a custom presentation that is ready to download in minutes.
- Different Digital Formats: PDF for conveniently sharing with your team, PowerPoint for quickly including in your presentations.
- Mintel’s Clients Portal: Our portal provides instant access to actionable analysis, podcasts, and trend pieces relevant to your industry that are published almost daily, as well as our annual Global Consumer Trends. You can also browse our extensive catalogue of market research reports.
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
Table of Contents
- Key issues covered in this Report
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
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
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
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
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
Description Table of Contents
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About the report
This market report provides in-depth analysis and insight supported by a range of data. At the same time, introductory and top-level content is provided to give you an overview of the issues covered.
Market
Mintel provides a range of market information, frequently through the category level, including market size and forecasting, complete with market drivers that illustrate the forces that shape a category or market.
Consumer
Mintel’s proprietary consumer research provides our analysts with the attitudinal and behavioral data used to provide valuable insight to topical issues.
Brand/Company
Mintel provides overviews of the top brands and manufacturers, and uses consumer research to explore attitudes and reactions to brands, as well as insight into what will resonate with consumers.
Data
Market reports provide appendices of data to support the research and insight produced. Our databooks* are easily manipulated and downloadable to support your research needs and covers factors from consumer attitudes to market forecasts.
*databooks not available with UK B2B Industry reports.
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Please Note: This is a sample report. All of the figures, graphs, and tables have been redacted. Our reports are available to download in PDF and PPT formats.
£2,195
“While incomes feel squeezed in 2022, ready meals/ready-to-cook foods can offer an affordable alternative to eating out. Making healthy ingredients visible will help the category respond to the predicted long-term focus on health, whilst interest in shelf-stable, vegetable-based ready meals points to an opportunity for the segment to tap into...
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£2,195
“During the COVID-19 pandemic demand for ready meals has been hit by people doing more cooking from scratch. Offering quick meals is still important though, and NPD should focus on both better-for-you options that tap interest in healthy eating, as well as meals that are attractive as a nice treat...
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£2,195
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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£2,195
“The market was hit in 2020, but the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in 2021 will see busier lifestyles return, making the convenience of these meal solutions more attractive once again. Consumer interest in freshly-made ready meals, and the view of these foods as combatting food waste, hold potential for the...
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£495
Ready Meals (inc pizza) in UK by Mintel Market Sizes provides you with annual year-end market size data, most recently updated in 2019. This comprises packaged frozen, chilled and shelf stable pizzas and other ready meals. Market sizes are based on sales through all retail outlets and direct to consumer....
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