Baby Boomers and Seniors Turn to Ready-to-Eat Meals for Cost Savings

Grocers and other food retailers can win the spending of older consumers by offering low-cost ready-to-eat meal options.

By the Numbers

According to data from the latest edition of PYMNTS’ Connected Dining study, “Connected Dining: Ready-to-Eat Meals Are Eating Restaurants’ Lunch,” which drew from an April survey of more than 2,300 U.S. consumers, baby boomers and seniors were the least likely of all generations to have purchased a ready-to-eat meal in the last month, with only 39% having done so compared to 57% of consumers overall.

Yet, for the share of older consumers who did purchase prepared meals, price was a key motivator, especially as restaurant prices skyrocket, forcing them to seek alternatives. Twenty-one percent of baby boomers and seniors were nearly twice as likely as any generation to state that they have been purchasing more ready-to-eat meals because they have become cheaper relative to other alternatives.

Similarly, these consumers and Generation X consumers were more likely than their younger counterparts to report turning to ready-to-eat meals because they were cutting down costs.

The Data in Action

Noting this demand, discount retailers such as Dollar General and Dollar Tree have been looking to grow their frozen food selections.

Dollar General CEO Jeff Owen shared on the company’s last earnings call in March that the retailer has placed a “focus on driving continued sales growth” in frozen and refrigerated foods and that it is “pleased with the performance” so far.

Dollar Tree CEO Rick Dreiling shared on an earnings call Thursday (May 25) that the availability of frozen foods has had a dramatic effect on the amount that consumers purchase per trip.

“We have aggressively expanded our product assortment at Dollar Tree stores with $3, $4 and $5 frozen and refrigerated products, adding 3,500 stores last year alone on this initiative,” Dreiling said. “Both our Dollar Tree Plus and our multi-price frozen assortments drive incremental sales, with average ticket more than doubling at stores that we have added this expanded offering.”