Convenient Meals

[Anchor Lead]

In this hot weather, cooking by the kitchen stove can be brutal. These days, convenient ready-to-eat meals, mainly consumed by younger people, are becoming popular even among middle aged folks.

[Pkg]

Jeong Seon-yeong is an office worker in her 30s and a mother of two children aged 4 and 6. She hurriedly made dinner after coming from work. Stir fried rice with shrimp and beef and radish soup are both ready to be served. They only need to be heated. The working mom is usually busy but especially in the hot weather like these days, she resorts to convenient options like this. Ready to eat meals were mainly consumed by one-person households or dual income families. But nowadays, people in their 50s and older who used to cherish home cooked meals also enjoy store bought dishes. They don't need to buy all the ingredients separately but rather can purchase a ready made packaged meal. The least amount of preparation is required as various veggies and seasoning are conveniently bagged in individual portions. All that needs to be done to make bean paste stew is just some chopping and boiling. In particular, half-cooked meals are becoming popular among middle aged consumers. Those in their 40s to 50s account for over 60% of the consumer group. Industry watchers believe that older people generally don't like instant food but they still want to enjoy convenience in cooking. The domestic market for half-cooked or ready to serve meals has doubled in size in just 5 years to worth over 4 trillion won.