Plant-based ready meals more available and affordable in supermarkets

In their latest snapshot of ten supermarkets, Eating Better has found that there is increased choice and affordability for plant-based ready meals in the UK.

This has been their largest ever survey of 2743 ready meals, which shows significant progress by supermarkets to offer more climate-friendly options. Moreover, in seven out of ten supermarkets, plant-based meals are cheaper than meat, making it more affordable to eat healthier and sustainably.

Key findings from the survey

• Plant-based is the fastest growing category - up 92% since 2018 survey.
• There’s been a 50% increase in plant-based and vegetarian meals since 2018, with the survey showing that one in five ready meals are now plant-based or vegetarian.
• Plant-based and vegetarian meals are now the cheapest ready meal options at most retailers.
• Four supermarkets have greatly increased their plant-based range – Aldi by 175% (now a quarter of its ready meals range) and Tesco by 103%, while the Co-op and Morrisons are both up by more than 60%.
• 62% of the vegetarian meals we surveyed contain cheese, down a third in three years.
• The number of meals with meat as the main ingredient has dropped by 9% since 2018, although 70% of the ready meals surveyed contain meat.
• Three retailers have made significant reductions with their meat options over the last three years – Aldi by 15%, the Co-op by 14% and Tesco by 12%.

Simon Billing, Executive Director at Eating Better said

Retailers influence how and what we eat and have a responsibility to help us make healthy and sustainable food choices. 

Climate-friendly food needs to be mainstream and shouldn’t cost more, so it’s good to see progress on choice and affordability.  

Now, we need the same drive on meat options, to make up no more than 50% of the ready-meals ranges at all retailers.

Read full results from Eating Better's Ready Meal survey.