This week’s gallery is dominated by new products seeking to capitalise on changing consumer habits as a result of COVID-19, such as frozen foods and healthy ready meals.
Getty/Alphaspirit
This week’s gallery is dominated by new products seeking to capitalise on changing consumer habits as a result of COVID-19, such as frozen foods and healthy ready meals.
Getty/Alphaspirit
Marks & Spencer stores in the UK have introduced itsu’s ‘brilliant’broth’ into its stir fry deal.
Available in two flavours (chicken and classic ramen), The range of Japanese-inspired broths will breathe new life into Asian cooking at home, said itsu.
CEO and founder of itsu Julian Metcalfe said: “Our brilliant’broth represents months and months of intense development and unwavering commitment to creating the highest quality products. This new addition to our expanding grocery range uses authentic ingredients sourced from Japan – broths of this quality would usually take hours to recreate at home”.
itsu’s ‘brilliant’broth’ are now available in 420 M&S stores nationwide (RRP £2.00 and as part of the £6 stir fry meal deal).
From October the new “Chicken Breast Salad with Pear and Sherry” will join German brand Homann's existing Premium Range with a light recipe and high-quality ingredients such as tender chicken breast, juicy pear pieces and fine sherry.
The line extension goes hand in hand with an elegant design adaptation of the packaging of the Homann Premium On-Bread Salads - including "Prawn Cocktail with Amontillado Sherry", "Smoked Salmon Salad à la Tartare Sauce" and "Roast Beef Salad with Truffle". The white and gold limited edition will be available from autumn 2020 every year from October to March.
Richmond Sausages, a part of Kerry Foods, is to launch Frozen Ready Meals, branching into the sector for the first time. The new range, launching in a 1.4kg format and serving four (with a RRP of £4), will include two family mealtime favourites: Sausage and Tomato Pasta and Sausage Casserole. Richmond Frozen Ready Meals will be launching this month into UK supermarket Iceland, followed by a further roll out across Grocery.
Richmond said the launch of the frozen meals aims to tap into changing consumer habits as a result of COVID-19, with 103m more at-home evening meal occasions per week, up 23% compared to last year, according to Kantar. It added the frozen category is booming, now worth £6.7bn and growing at 6.1% year on year. Victoria Southern, Category & Marketing Director, at Kerry Foods said: “We know the frozen category is booming and as consumers’ lives get busier, convenience has become key. Because of this, we’re confident our new range will be a hit.”
Online healthy food retailer MuscleFood has teamed up with renowned Caribbean chef Levi Roots to launch his first range of balanced ready meals in the UK.
The range features four tasty Caribbean dishes created by Levi, all under 500 calories and full of flavour.
The Caribbean Salmon Recipe Kit and Reggae Reggae Jerk Chicken Recipe Kit, both £5.00, provide ingredients and recipes for the dishes, encouraging customers to put a bit of music in their food.
The Caribana Chicken Pot and Sunshine Chicken Pot, both £3.99, are pre-prepared meals where customers need to only heat before they eat.
All of the products are nutritionally balanced, high in protein and have low sugar, along with the iconic Caribbean flavour.
Levi shot to fame when he received investment on Dragons Den for his Reggae Reggae Sauce and has since gone on to develop his own Caribbean inspired range including soft drinks, desserts and snacks.
Talking about the partnership Levi said: “During lockdown I’ve really looked at my diet and health in general and am very conscious about keeping my new healthy lifestyle, which is exactly what MuscleFood encourages their customers to do.”
UK-based snacks company Small Giants has launched bite-sized savoury crackers made with cricket flour. The founders of the new brand say the snacks are a great way to eat insects without the yuck-factor and are sustainable source of protein.
Small Giant Crackers are made with 15% cricket flour which brings an umami taste, a protein punch and a boost of Vitamin B12. Other ingredients are 100% natural - extra virgin olive oil and wheat flour give fibre, texture and the distinctive crunchiness. The oven-baked snacks come in three flavours: Tomato & Oregano, Turmeric & Smoked Paprika and Rosemary & Thyme.
Small Giants launches in October 2020 and initially be available online via www.smallgiants.com and on Amazon.
The brand’s founder Francesco Majno Francesco said: “Small Giant Crackers are the best way to try insects for the first time... and fall in love with them! While people are starting to understand the reasons to include edible insects in their diet, they may be put off by the yuck-factor, but once people try our revolutionary snacks they love the taste and the taboo is broken!
“As attitudes towards edible insects are changing, we want to bring excitement, innovation and new consumers to the savoury snacks market which has seen little change in recent years. We’ve created a planet-positive insect-enriched snack that tastes great and offers a genuine alternative to those wanting to cut their consumption of animal-based foods and find an alternative source of protein.”
Birds Eye is adding to its range of Steamfresh products, with the launch of new Vibrant Vegetable Mix in the UK. Included inside the convenient pyramid steaming pouches will be crunchy sugar snap peas and yellow carrot batons, with a sweet chilli seasoning. The new launch comes as the frozen vegetable category is currently growing at +10%, according to Neilson.
Jess Ali, Senior Marketing Manager Vegetables at Birds Eye, said: “Shoppers are increasingly conscious of how they can support their health with more nutritious eating, but without compromising on great taste and texture. We hope the combination of sweet chilli seasoning and crunch from the mini corn and sugar snap peas will help inject some colour and flavour to mealtimes, without the inconvenience and hassle of cooking from scratch."