Healthy Choice Lunch Steamers to restart single-serve meals

The recession took the steam out of single-serve frozen sales: 5.5 million more unemployed than a year ago gave office microwaves a rest; people at home ate leftovers instead.

This led to a 13.3% drop in carried-lunch occasions for frozen single-serve meals this past year, and a 7.1% drop in in-home lunch occasions¹.

To re-energize this majority segment of frozen meals, retailers won't have to wait for a full economic recovery and the return of old buying habits. The insights-driven innovations that shape the imminent July launch of ConAgra Foods' Healthy Choice Lunch Steamers will refocus consumers. Why? The line of eight single-serve flavors brings together the fresh, simplified tastes, product variety and heating convenience that consumers want.

Its unique steaming platform reinvents the way frozen meals are heated. "Frozen meals typically have sauce on top of the vegetables, starch and protein, and that becomes the flavor of everything," explains John Plaso, vice president-business development, ConAgra Foods. "By contrast, Healthy Choice Lunch Steamers has sauce in a steam-vented tray at the bottom. When heated, it moisturizes and cooks the food above it within the package. Vibrant ingredients remain separate and retain their own tastes. Vegetables are brighter and crisper, and protein quality is better."

Added benefits:

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Shorter ingredients statements vs. other frozen brands reflect simplified, fresh tasting, closer-to-the-source, less-processed meal components. Easy, quick, neat heating. No need to cut film or stir food. Ready to eat in 4 to 4.5 minutes. Vertical packaging has rounded, cutout edges that allow consumers to view the food inside. Packages are also 25% more space-efficient at the shelf, showing five across rather than four, and billboarding effectively for better presentation. The line brings steam freshness to lunch in lunch-priced portions, and produces sales that are incremental to the dinner-themed Healthy Choice Café Steamers brand.

The flavors of Healthy Choice Lunch Steamers are: Sesame Glazed Chicken, Chicken Romano Fresca, Garlic & Herb Shrimp, Lemon Herb Chicken, Honey Balsamic Chicken, Roasted Chicken Verde, Portabella Parmesan Risotto, and Rosemary Chicken & Sweet Potatoes.

"Our steam technology and freshness will draw new users to single-serve frozen without cannibalizing other segments," adds Plaso. "The line should effectively re-engage shoppers who are value-driven, yet are spending more in other categories of the store and elsewhere in the frozen aisle."

¹NPD NET data for the period ended Feb. 9

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Healthy Choice Redefines Healthy Lunch

Healthy Choice Lunch Steamers offer steam-cooked freshness and simplicity with fewer and better ingredients—prepared in one easy step—with no poking or stirring. When Healthy Choice Lunch Steamers breakthrough on shelves, lunch will never be the same.

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Total Frozen Meals

Frozen Single Serve Meals is 67% of Total Frozen Meals¹.

• Growing Frozen Single Serve Meals is key to driving Total Frozen Meals
•Increasing household penetration and buy rates for the lunch occasion will drive Single Serve Meals growth.

¹ Source: IRI Panel Data 52 w/e Sep 2009 Fz D/E shoppers All Outlets; IRI Scan 52 w/e Dec 2009 FDMx

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