“As we highlight within Mintel’s The Impact of COVID-19 on Food and Drink – UK, June 2020 one of the key features of the COVID-19 outbreak has been greater levels of in-home cooking, born from both a necessity, due to lower out-of-home food and drink consumption, and from a leisure angle allowed from more time spent at home.

However within that there is also the need for consumers to keep meal choices fresh and exciting, and for families in particular that can be challenging. Indeed as highlighted by Mintel’s Children’s Eating Habits – UK, June 2020 some 67% of children aged 7-15 say they like to try meals they haven’t tried before and 86% say they like to try at home meals they have had elsewhere, such as restaurants.

Food/recipe boxes were a small but rapidly growing part of the grocery sector prior to COVID-19, with some 5% of online grocery shoppers shopping with a food/recipe box provider in 2019 (see: Online Grocery Retailing – UK, March 2020). However this need for variation and excitement is why we have seen food/recipe boxes do particularly well since the outbreak, with the easy to follow instructions and variation allowing for a quick and convenient scratch cooking experience and allowing some at home cooks to overcome skills gaps.

This latest launch from Morrisons taps into all of those areas and importantly, given the current climate, is also value-aware with unlike other boxes full-sized packs of ingredients given so leftovers can be used in other dishes.”