Convenience meals across Europe
Consumption of convenience meals across the four TGI Europa countries – Britain, France, Germany, and Spain – has increased steadily over the past five years. Britain and Germany have seen the biggest increases in penetration. In the latter country, the proportion of adults (aged 15+) who eat convenience meals has risen from 43% in 2003 to 48% today.
As a result Germany is by some distance the biggest market for this type of product, followed by Britain with a penetration of 40%. In France and Spain penetration is much lower at less than 25%. Only two million French adults eat convenience meals at least once a week, compared to almost ten million Germans.
In Britain and Germany the most popular type of convenience meal is the ‘just add boiling water’ variety – used by over one-quarter of Germans and one-fifth of Britons. The most popular type in France, by contrast, is the chilled salad – used by 10% of French adults. In Spain the most popular variety is that which requires cooking for a few minutes.
Overall consumption of convenience meals is skewed toward the younger age groups, with 15-24s being over 50% more likely than the average to consume these products.
