IT STARTED with shepherd’s pie 30 years ago, went through a lasagne and chicken kiev phase, and has now arrived at Gong Bao Chicken and Beef Rendang. Ready-made meals have transformed the nation’s eating habits.

Britons spent £1.9 billion on ready-made meals last year, twice as much as the French and Germans, four times as much as the Italians and six times as much as the Spanish. Nearly one in three British adults eats a ready-made meal more than once a week, compared with one in six in France.

Anne Bourgeois, of the market researchers Mintel, whose report yesterday charted the rise of the ready-made meal, said: “In the UK it has undergone a change of image, from being deemed unhealthy, lazy food to being repositioned as a premium, indulgent option.”

Demand for instant meals increased by 29 per cent between 1998 and 2002 across Europe as a whole, but in Britain it soared by 44 per cent.

Why has Britain become the undisputed European capital of ready-made meals, second only in the world to America? Is it just because we are lazy? Despite the best attempts of Delia, Jamie and Nigella, is it a case of “can’t cook, won’t cook”? And is it bad for us? William Loram, editor of the website readymealsinfo.com said: “It’s a case of culture. Regular cooking has disappeared first in the US and then here. In France, Germany, Spain, Italy, there is still a tradition of going home to a cooked meal.”

Convenience is definitely part of the attraction. A recent MORI poll found that 77 per cent of purchasers said they only bought them when they did not have time to cook.

Dr Susan Jebb, head of nutrition at the Medical Research Council, said: “People in the UK work the longest hours, we are very time poor, and we don’t have a strong cultural history of cooking.”

The ready-made meal boom also reflects changing social trends in Britain. More people live alone and so are less likely to be bothered to cook. And with families eating apart more often, ready-meals allow people to eat what they want when they want.

Julia Michna, head of “meal solutions” at Marks and Spencer, said: “Our customers are becoming so much more demanding. There’s pressure on time — people go out for a drink, go to the gym. People are on one diet one day, another the next, families eat at different times. And the complex- ity of life is so much greater.”

But ready meals, she said, also reflected changing tastes in food. “Britain’s multiculturalism has brought a wider range of restaurants than other European countries, and ethnic cuisines, which people are often scared of cooking from scratch, are far more popular. One quarter of chilled meals are Indian, and nearly one in five is Chinese.”

Ms Michna said that traditional British food accounted for only 18 per cent of sales.

Elizabeth Evans, a consultant nutritionist, said: “We’ve always had more Chinese and Indian takeaways and more ethnic restaurants, and just taking them home to heat up is the next step.”

Supermarkets have responded by offering an ever wider range. A Marks and Spencer team travelled through China, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia picking up recipes for the latest range. Helena Fleming, the development manager, said: “As increasing numbers of British people travel to the Far East and regularly eat out at oriental restaurants, customers are now looking for authentic Eastern foods they can enjoy at home.”

Ready-made meals have also responded to the higher expectations of the British consumer. The quality has come a long way since the Vesta curries of the 1970s. The tinned and bottled foods of the 1950s gave way to the frozen foods of the 1970s, as more people bought freezers. Now chilled foods, which offer higher quality, are the most rapidly growing market, with retailers competing to offer meals “as good as you can make at home”. Ranges such as Tesco Finest and M&S Café Culture are marketed as suitable for serving guests at dinner parties.

“Chilled foods are more aspirational and upmarket,” Ms Michna said. “People don’t expect to have a marinated lamb shank on a Wednesday night after work, but they see it and it captures their imagination.”

Britain’s highly mechanised food industry, dominated by a few large supermarkets and food manufacturers, has also played its part in developing the technology to make the revolution possible.

Kaarin Goodburn, secretary-general of the Chilled Food Association, said: “The industry has got the technology sorted out. Every product is made from fresh every day, and they are made without preservatives or heat processes that damage the quality, and have a very short shelf life. Contintentals can’t do that because they don’t have the distribution system. You have to have the system in place.”

But is it bad for us? Dr Jebb said: “They tend to be higher in fat, sugar and salt than the meals we would cook ourselves at home. Fat is cheap and it adds flavour and texture — we like the cream sauces. Most of the salt we eat is added by manufacturers — they say people like it.”

Dr Evans said: “There’s nothing sinister in it. It isn’t necessarily bad news. People can choose healthy options, or have ready-made salads.”

Ready-made meals seem here to stay. Mr Loram said: “It’s definitely ingrained. There’s a whole generation that has been brought up with ready meals. They haven’t grown up with cooking a stew, or chopping a tomato.”

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