Don't you just hate it when someone shouts out the crossword answer just as you were about to work it out for yourself? However easy it might seem, you want to do it yourself. If they could just give you a clue rather than blurt out the answer. And that's how many of us feel when faced with the ready-made answer that is today's prepared meal.
Call it puritan work ethic throwback or catholic guilt trip, either way it would be nice to be involved. Early instant cake mixes from the US failed because UK housewives felt they were cheating by just adding water. So manufacturers played along and re-engineered the mix so that it needed the addition of an egg--a raw egg that needed cracking and mixing. Well my my! That's cooking isn't it? So 1950s mums felt validated and the mixes sold like, well.....Hot cakes.
In this altogether more self-confident age we are quite happy to slap a frozen pizza in the microwave one night and then entertain a friend another night with Gordon Ramsay's baked sea bass and lemon couscous. So one of the challenges of the product development team is: at what point to step back and get the customer involved in his or her own dining experience? It sounds trite, but I don't want the same uniform slam- -pause-- ping experience every night.
It would be a mistake to try and segment the market too rigidly. The harassed trainee solicitor working late and getting home to an empty flat may welcome a rapid caramelised onion and goats cheese tartlet that's ready in ten minutes and drowned with generous slugs of shiraz and Alan Sugar on TV. But come the week-end he may want to impress his soulmate....well ok.... his mum with a pièce de résistance crafted from the finest ingredients, lovingly lavished with a Marsala jus or even Bisto gravy. The point is; we need a say in our own meal but we also need creative, expert help to point us in the right direction. Anyone for burgers and McCain's?
Good point, if the recent Dolmio brand extensions are anything to go by then the ready-made recipe base idea is growing rapidly.
The challenge is to get the kids up to speed on culinary skills so that they can mix and match. Why not have a "cook for your mum night" once a month. Then the schools could get involved. OK, start with a ready meal, then experiment with fresh ingredients.
I agree,the ready-made recepie base form of cookery is what most people are doing nowadays - especially busy people on the go. I think unless you are cooking something out of a cookbook or a well known family recipe most people will use mix and match ingredients rather than cook from scratch - especially with dishes involving sauces. A lot of people will make lasagne, or spag bol, or a curry with fresh veg and meat but will use a ready made sauce ... it's less faff and you don't have to worry about whether you've added the right amount of salt or spice... the base is done for you-you just have to add your own ideas to it to liven it up a little, but saying that i think its a shame that in doing this on a regular basis the art of real cookery will partially get lost along the way.