Wonder

Log in

Research Outline

Prepared for Gregor R. | Delivered March 22, 2021

US Prepared Meals & Frozen Food Market Size

Goals

To find the current market size of the US prepared meals/ready-to-eat meal market and the frozen food market at the grocery stores. The prepared meals segment includes players like Freshly, Factor75, etc., but excludes companies providing meal kits such as Blue Apron.

Early Findings

US Frozen Food Market

  • As per data by the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) and the Food Industry Association (FMI), the total frozen food retail sales in the United States were $65.1 billion in 2020. The same had increased by 21% YoY.
  • In 2020, frozen food sales grew in "both dollars (+21%) and units (+13.3%), with nearly all types of frozen foods seeing double-digit sales increases."
  • According to IRI, the top-three frozen food categories with the largest percentage of dollar growth in 2020 included Seafood (+35.3% YoY), Poultry (+34.7% YoY), and Appetizers (+28.9%).
  • Additionally, over the past year, nearly 42% of households that buy frozen foods have bought the same online, up from 23% in 2018. Online frozen food dollar sales increased 75% in 2020, with frozen dinners/entrees, meat, poultry, and seafood being the biggest online sellers.
  • According to Statista, ice cream was the largest frozen food category, with sales of about $1.42 billion in 2019. The frozen food sales by various product categories in 2019 were as provided in this snapshot.

US Ready-to-Eat Meals Market

  • According to Statista, the sales in the Ready-to-Eat Meals segment in the United States amount to $48.019 billion in 2021. Globally, China holds the largest market share with $126.580 billion in sales in 2021.
  • As per the definition provided by Statista [See 'Market Definition' section], the above-mentioned market includes "products that require little effort for the consumer to prepare, i.e., they only require heating up. Classic deep-frozen products based on meat, fish, or vegetables, filled pasta, frozen pizzas, and similar products fall into this segment."
  • As per Grandview Research, the US Ready Meals market, which includes frozen & chilled, dried, and canned meals, was valued at $45.8 billion in 2017.
  • On the other hand, the United States Meal Kit Market is estimated to reach $6.39 billion by 2026. As per Statista, in 2017, this specific industry was valued at $4.65 billion, representing 300% growth over the previous year.