Several years ago, a friend of mine introduced me to the term “desperation chicken.”
That’s the pre-cooked/roasted whole chicken that you pick up at from the deli counter at the grocery store, because it’s already 7:30 p.m. and there is no way in Hollandaise sauce you are going to go home and make a whole dinner from scratch.
Undoubtedly my friend — who is truly a connoisseur of “you opened it, you made it” cooking — would agree with the 55% of consumers recently surveyed by Technomic who believe that “retailer-prepared foods have greatly improved over the past three years.”
Technomic’s report, which was released today, also found that:
- More than 80% of those surveyed reported buying at least one prepared meal from a retailer (supermarket) in a typical month
- More than four in ten (41%) purchase four or more retailer meals per month
- Convenience was cited by 86% as the reason for buying more meal solutions from supermarkets
- Three out of five consumers (62%) who report purchasing more supermarket-prepared meals than a year ago are doing so at the expense of fast-food restaurants
It’s worth noting that this study was conducted in the U.S. and so may not reflect the habits and preferences of Canadian consumers. According to NPD Group‘s NET Canada survey, only 2% of all Canadian meals are of the ready-to-eat variety, purchased from a grocery store and eaten at home. As shown in the 2008 edition of CRFA’s Foodservice Facts, the vast majority of meals in Canada (67%) are prepared and eaten at home, and only one in ten meals is eaten at a restaurant, or purchased from a restaurant and eaten at home:
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