Launched: January 2018
Manufacturer: Itsu

With demand for Eastern flavours hotter than ever, Itsu has revamped its rice noodle cups to offer “more recognisable and popular flavour options”. The four-strong range of cups (rsp: £1.75/pot) now include flavours such as chilli miso and katsu, with double the amount of noodles and less than 230 calories per pot. The brand has also added two udon noodle pots and two miso soup sachets to its instant hot snacks grocery range.

Launched: January 2018
Manufacturer: Quorn
Quorn has added two new ready meals including an oriental stir fry (rsp: £2.79/400g). The brand is investing £14m in marketing in 2018 – its biggest ever spend and the biggest spend the meat-free category has ever seen – spearheaded by a 50-week TV campaign following a year of record sales. The stir fry is joined by a Quorn Jambalaya.

Launched: October 2017
Manufacturer: Kraft Heinz
Aromatic noodles with seared chicken and crunchy vegetables (rsp: £2.79/400g) is one dish in the WeightWatchers from Heinz’s new Balance frozen range, which brings together eight of the brand’s bestselling recipes. The range is designed to stand out from the core offering with health claims clearly emblazoned.

Launched: February 2018
Manufacturer: Mr Lee’s
Zen Garden Vegetables and Dragon Fire Vegetables are two new vegan flavours joining instant noodle brand Mr Lee’s lineup (rsp: £2.99/1 cup). The brand uses freeze-dried ingredients, which it says makes the noodles fresher, tastier and healthier by locking in nutrients and flavours better than traditional dehydration can achieve.

● Ready meal brands are getting battered by own label. Value has dipped 1.6%, a loss of £8.4m, and volumes have sunk 8%. Own label is up 8% on volumes up 6.4% – growth worth £220.1m. 

● There were big losses for frozen brands such as Bisto, down 32.1%, and WeightWatchers, down 8.7%. Conversely, own label’s share of frozen ready meals shot up 16.8% to reach 51.4% thanks to an increase in shoppers as well as growing trip frequency and basket size.

● Both brands and own label are playing the premium card in frozen NPD to drive value up. 

● Brands are still outgrowing retailer lines in chilled, albeit from a much smaller base.

Source: Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 6 November 2017