Will Convenience Food Conquer Credit Crunch Pressures?

Convenience foods have become a fact of life especially for consumers with demanding and hectic lifestyles. Eating out, takeaways and other convenience foods can be expensive and as the credit crunch continues to bite will customers turn away from these foods and return to traditional home cooking?

The Mirror told us recently that cash-starved Britons are turning their backs on expensive convenience foods and returning to the kitchen. They quoted a survey of 1,072 adults carried out by Morrisons which suggests 85 per cent of us are cooking at home again.

Justin King, the chief executive of Sainsbury's agrees. More recently, said the Sainsbury's boss, sales of heat-and-eat ready meals have gone into decline. Shoppers "are trading away from ready meals to buying fresh food and ingredients to save money", he said. The exception, he added, was sales of heat-and-eat Chinese and Indian meals, which are "growing strongly, replacing takeaways".

The ready meal sector within the UK suddenly finds itself fighting to maintain the dramatic growth it has seen over the last 10 years. According to research published earlier this year by Mintel, sales of ready meals, both frozen and chilled, represent 7% of all main meal occasions in the UK. Totalling a forecast market value of £2.1 billion in 2008, these statistics go some way to explaining the reputation within Europe of the UK as a country that has forgotten how to cook and is now viewed as the European capital of the ready meal.

For retailers, the battle to keep the sector growing will demand greater R&D and a continued emphasis on healthy, fresh ingredients. It is also clear that with the economy under pressure, price and value will figure strongly. M&S, for example, has been heavily promoting 2 meals for £10 - including 2 main meals, side dish, desserts and a bottle of wine.

So what's going to be on the menu for Christmas lunch in your household this year? Will you be enjoying the delicious smell of roast turkey wafting throughout the house, or nuking a Bird's Eye Roast Turkey Platter? I know which one I'd go for...