The Oxo range focuses on batch cooking styles. It consists of Chicken In Red Wine with Boulangère Potatoes; Beef & Pancetta Ragu; Beef Bourguignon with Dauphinoise Potato; Creamy White Wine Chicken with Garlic Mash Potato; Dijon Chicken with Rice and Minced Lamb Lancashire Hotpot.
It is one of the first frozen ready meal launches from Pilgrim’s Food Masters since it was rebranded from Kerry Group’s UK and Irish consumer meats and meals business, following its acquisition by Pilgrim’s Pride in June.
Bisto NPD
The Oxo launch coincides with a major brand refresh for Pilgrim’s Food Masters’ Bisto and Sharwood’s frozen ready meals. Both ranges have been transformed through NPD, recipe reformulation to improve flavour and nutritional value, and a packaging revamp.
Bisto has made the move into meat-free for the first time with the introduction of four new products: meat-free Cottage Pie, Spaghetti Bolognese, Lasagne and Chicken Hotpot in Sainsbury’s, Ocado and Heron Foods outlets.
Elsewhere, all 24 of the existing Bisto stock keeping units (SKUs) feature new and improved recipes, and across the range there is 10% less salt.
Sharwoods launches
Sharwood’s has added five new meals to its line up: Chicken Katsu and Kung Po Chicken; low fat variants of its existing Chicken Tikka Masala and Chicken Korma meals; and a Low Sugar Sweet & Sour Chicken. Throughout its 11 existing SKUs, saturated fat has been reduced by 22% and calories by 11%.
“Frozen ready meals provide a real lifeline to shoppers who are looking for delicious, convenient meals – either those without the time to cook every day, or those who are no longer able to – and they are a great way of locking in flavour & nutrients, without needing to use preservatives," said Andrea Flemming, senior category manager at Pilgrim’s Food Masters.
"The category continues to attract new consumers who are drawn to the benefits of frozen meals; namely value for money, great taste and a reduction in wastage.
“The Bisto and Sharwood’s ranges have a very loyal consumer base and the changes this year across both brands reflect their changing tastes, needs and shopping habits. For example, our core Bisto shoppers are very engaged with the meat-free movement and see it as the number one driver to better health, so this trusted brand can help to enable behaviour change among consumers who want to reduce meat intake more frequently by giving them a helping hand in doing so.”
