Stay-at-home consumers push ready-to-eat sales; segment may double in 2 yrs

As safety and hygiene gains importance in the Covid-19, ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat segments, be it instant noodles, pasta, snacks, frozen foods, or do-it-yourself meals, are flying off the shelves

Arya Bose has been making frequent trips to her neighbourhood store, but her favourite brand of pasta and frozen foods is simply not available. The proprietor of the outlet has just one response to give her: Stock out.

As safety and hygiene gains importance in the Covid-19 pandemic, ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat segments, be it instant noodles, pasta, snacks, frozen foods, or do-it-yourself meals, are flying off the shelves.

A report by consultancy firm Red Seer says the ready-to-cook category, which is pegged at Rs 2,100 crore in size, will double in about four years. But analysts and food company executives