Tesco is extending its prepared produce range with the addition of lines including what it claims are the UK's first-ever mushroom and beetroot burgers.
The supermarket giant reported that sales of prepared fruit and vegetable lines have rocketed over the past two years, with sales of spiralised vegetables such as courgette or carrot spaghetti rising 40 per cent, edamame bean sales sales doubling, organic prepared salads up 90 per cent and fruit snacks such as melon and mango fingers rising 400 per cent.
Tesco is expanding its range to capitalise on the trend, with the addition of mushroom burgers, beetroot burgers, potato wedges with katsu dip and crunchy quinoa, and a fajita mix with peppers and onions.
Prepared produce buyer Elizabeth Hall said:“These tempting new fresh fruit and veg foods are not only offering shoppers a far wider choice in healthy, nutritious meals but are also helping tackle food waste through greater crop utilisation.
“For growing numbers of shoppers the fruit and veg aisle is now the first destination they will head to, to find innovative and delicious new meals if they are pressed for time and looking for fresh food they can cook quickly.
“Until about five years ago the main prepared fruit and veg items were stir fry mixes, sides like roasting trays of vegetables, and fruit snack packs.These have been so popular that we began to expand the range in order to further help customers who are short on time but still want to experience the joy of cooking fresh food.”
Hall said prepared produce packs were allowing growers and suppliers to use more crops such as cauliflower, carrots, swede, broccoli and butternut squash.
Tesco now sells more than 400 fresh, healthy ready meals, snacks and side dishes in its fresh produce aisle, with prepared food sales increasing by 10 per cent in the last two years.
Hall added: “It’s not only time-pressed shoppers that we are catering for with these new fresh ready meals and snacks. Healthy foods such as butternut fusilli and butternut lasagne sheets are meeting the needs of customers wanting to cut down on carbs and look after themselves through simple alternatives.”
