The prepared meals market is facing challenging times, with retail sales dropping by 2% year on year in 2014 to £5.2 billion. That consumers started to eat out less in response to squeezed real incomes was positive news for the category in the early part of the recession, however, the growing popularity of scratch cooking is now cancelling out this benefit. Indeed three in 10 adults are cooking from scratch more than they were a year ago. The market is also likely to come under increasing pressure as people start to spend more on dining out as consumer spending gathers momentum. The clement weather in 2014 – this being the warmest year on record – also had a negative impact on the market, with the soup category particularly affected.

The horsemeat contamination scare of early 2013 continues to tarnish the market. Almost four in 10 (37%) people who eat prepared meals are concerned that these may contain ingredients that they are not aware of, while only a third trust that more checks are performed when sourcing meat for prepared meals compared to several years ago.

The high-profile sugar debate has also had an impact and 30% of users think that prepared meals contain too much sugar.

Prepared meals include meals where all the preparation has been done by the manufacturer and the meal just requires heating or cooking by conventional or microwave oven, crock pot, wok, etc. This includes:

Chilled, frozen and shelf-stable 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 consumer may, but need not, add items such as vegetables, pasta or rice, such as single ethnic dishes like chicken tikka.

Ready-to-cook foods are chilled foods 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.

Pies and pasties with pastry sold through retail channels. Mintel’s definition of a pie and pasty is a product that comprises pastry with a filling, be that meat or vegetable. The list includes but is not limited to pork pies, sausage rolls, pasties, slices, chicken pies, quiche etc. Pies can be sold hot ready to eat, cold ready to eat, chilled ready to cook/heat or frozen ready to cook/heat or canned. Products that are bought as snacks from outlets such as supermarkets, bakers and convenience stores and consumed on the go are included. Products sold through foodservice outlets (eg pubs, cafés) are excluded.

Soup includes wet ambient soup (for example, canned) either in a ready-to-heat or condensed format. It also includes wet chilled soup and dried soup such as packet or instant cup soups.

Pizza includes both frozen and chilled products sold through the grocery retail channel. The report covers main meal and individually sized pizzas, slices, French bread pizza and mini pizzas. Pizzas sold through foodservice outlets such as restaurants and takeaways are excluded.

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Market sizes at constant 2014 prices are devised using Mintel’s food deflator. Value figures throughout this report are at retail selling prices (rsp) unless otherwise stated.