“The ready meals category represents the most difficult category in UK convenience foods.” So said Greencore, one of the leaders in such products, in its recent annual report. According to statistics, the UK chilled ready meals market contracted 3.6 per cent by value in 2008.

It is a remarkable turnround after years of rapid, sometimes double-digit, percentage increases. Since Marks and Spencer sold its first chilli con carne chilled ready meal in the late 1970s, many large food producers have seen the segment as a source of growth in a mature market.