Cooking-at-home drives Tesco’s global ingredient sales

07 Aug 2023 --- The sales of ingredients and meal kits at Tesco have shown a continuous upward trend since last year, the supermarket has revealed. This can be attributed to the customer’s preference for cooking at home over takeaways and experimenting with international flavors while saving money.

Indian curry ingredients’ sales are at the top with an increase of 33%, closely followed by Chinese meals at 32%. Pan-Asian products for making Korean, Japanese or Thai meals are also up by 15%. Caribbean meal kits and ingredients are also witnessing a high 14% rise over the last year.

“We have seen a significant trend for customers looking to save money by cooking for themselves, rather than eating out as much. And they are being more adventurous in the kind of meals they are cooking at home,” says Abigail Wilkinson, Tesco category buying manager for cooking ingredients and global cuisine.

Consumers experiment with flavors
The surge in sales of spice pastes to cook authentic Thai cuisines such as Thai green curries, pad thai noodles and massaman curries is “fuelling” the trend for pan-Asian cooking at home.

According to Tesco, its customers are experimenting with meal kits to make Donburi rice bowls and Yakisoba noodles from Japan and Bibimbap, a rice dish from Korea.

“Shoppers are buying more ingredients or kits to make popular classics like curry or Chinese stir fry, but we’ve also seen them branching out into cuisines such as Japanese, Thai or Korean,” states Wilkinson.

Tesco's customers are experimenting with meal kits to make Bibimbap, a rice dish from Korea. (Image credit: Tesco).“We are trying to expand our offering to meet this demand and to inspire home cooks with new ingredients and kits to help them to feel confident in making something new and delicious.”

Last year, Food Ingredients First reported the rising of regional spices and unusual combinations among consumers. 

To cater to the cooking-at-home trend and strong demand for global ingredients, Tesco has extended its range of World Foods in existing stores by 35% and introduced these displays in 8% more stores. The retailer promotes the category by offering almost 2,000 products at a 20% discount for customers with a club card until August 8.

Tesco claims its customers have been stocking up on basmati rice for Indian cooking in the last few weeks following the India rice export ban. It also points toward record sales of Tesco chapatti flour, the flatbread eaten with curry.

In a bid to encourage its customers to continue experimenting with global cuisine, Tesco has been offering in-aisle displays in recent months featuring Middle Eastern, Latin American, Japanese & Korean foods. The current theme highlights Caribbean food and features products from celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott.

Earlier this year, Tesco and ten other UK businesses’ wrote an open letter that demanded clearer rules on food labeling following two Pret a Manger customers’ deaths from allergic reactions.

By Insha Naureen