Weight-management medications are already reshaping how people eat, and supermarkets are moving quickly. From high-end to the more budget-conscious retailers, a new wave of ‘GLP-1-friendly’ and nutrient-dense ready meals has landed, promising smaller portions, higher protein and more nutrition for reduced appetites.
But beyond the buzzwords and bold on-pack claims, do these meals genuinely move the ready meals category forward?
At Hot Pickle Innovation Lab, we work with food and drink clients to explore real-world opportunities and test future-focused concepts through cultural and category insight, prototyping and live consumer testing – and part of that work regularly involves evaluating how new products perform in practice.
For this review, we compared a selection of GLP-1 and nutrient-dense meals from Morrisons and M&S alongside standard own-label ready meals and lower-calorie counterparts, scoring each out of 10 on visual appeal, taste, texture, ingredients and on-pack nutrition, and price/value. The results led to some interesting ‘takeaways’…
Cleaner labels, broader ingredients
The most immediate difference was ingredient quality. These newer meals move decisively away from the old ‘meat in sauce with rice’ formula. Instead, they lean into a more contemporary mix of whole grains, pulses, nuts and seeds alongside animal proteins - boosting protein and fibre in the process.
Ingredient lists felt notably cleaner too. Compared with many standard ready meals – which often rely on thickeners, gelling agents or maltodextrin and frequently score red for fat, saturates and salt - the GLP-1 and nutrient-dense options were much closer to recognisable, minimally processed food.
Better eating, less indulgence
From an eating perspective, these new products are simply more interesting than the average ready meal. Less gloopy, less oily and more texturally varied, with layered flavours rather than blunt saltiness. They taste - and feel - healthier.
That said, these are not Friday-night comfort food substitutes. They feel more at home as a functional lunch or a lighter evening meal, which may work well for reduced appetites, but the jury is open as to whether they have broader appeal.
Premium quality, premium price
M&S’s nutrient-dense range – notably the Romesco Chicken and the 35 Plants salad – stood out most consistently for balance and flavour. But that quality comes at a cost - at close to twice the price per gram of a standard ready meal. The chicken (400g) comes in at £7 while the salad (280g) is £5.75 on Ocado.
The Applied Nutrition GLP-1-friendly spaghetti and meatballs (available from Morrison’s) wasn’t far behind on eating experience but still carried a clear premium versus conventional equivalents. Still, it was priced lower than Sparks - 250g pack for £3.75.
This raises the big commercial question: How much more are shoppers willing to pay for better nutrition in an everyday ready meal?
A missed opportunity on format
One weakness across the category is format. Most products are plastic-packaged and microwave-only. That feels increasingly out of step with how consumers want to eat, as flexibility, pan/oven/air fryer options and sustainability credentials rise up the agenda. A rethink on packaging and format could materially strengthen the proposition.
There’s also a practical challenge: with shorter, simpler ingredient lists and fewer stabilisers doing the heavy lifting, these meals rely much more on the inherent quality and freshness of their components to deliver flavour and texture. Even the most efficient grocery supply chains may struggle to maintain that consistently, suggesting this style of product might ultimately perform better as frozen ready meals or through meal-kit or deli-style formats where quality can be better preserved.
It’s still early days, so this is food for thought at this stage, but we’re likely to see the format played with as supermarkets find their feet with this new category.
Beyond GLP-1
What these products do prove is that it is possible to create ready meals that are less processed, more nutritionally diverse and genuinely satisfying – without leaning on excess fat, salt or sugar.
The challenge now is scale. To make this approach work beyond a premium, health-led niche, brands will need to unlock better accessibility on price, format and broad-based appeal.
GLP-1 may have been the catalyst, but the opportunity is much bigger: Reimagining ready meals that work harder nutritionally, taste like real food and fit modern eating habits. On that front, this feels like genuine progress - even if it’s not quite the finished dish yet!
