Life cycle costs and environmental impacts of production and consumption of ready and home-made meals

Consumption of ready-made meals is growing rapidly and yet little is known about their economic and environmental impacts. This paper focuses on the economic aspects to estimate the life cycle costs, value added and consumer costs of ready-made meals, in comparison with the equivalent meals prepared at home. Their life cycle environmental impacts are also considered. A typical roast dinner is considered, consisting of chicken, vegetables and tomato sauce. Different production and consumption choices are evaluated, including sourcing of ingredients, chilled or frozen supply chains and types of appliance used by the consumer to prepare the meal. The estimated life cycle costs of the ready-made meal range from £0.61–£0.92 per meal and for the home-made from £0.68–£1.12. The lowest life cycle costs are found for the chilled ready-made meal heated in a microwave, 11% below the costs of the best home-made option. The life cycle costs of the frozen meal are similar to the best home-made option. The chilled ready-made meal has the highest value added (£2.01) compared to the frozen (£1.22) and the home-made meal (£0.44). However, from the consumer perspective, the cheapest option is the home-made meal (£1.17) while the chilled ready-made option is most expensive (£2.61). If the meal options are compared on both the life cycle costs and environmental impacts, the home-made meal is the best option overall. These findings can be used to inform both producers and consumers on how their choices influence costs and environmental impacts of food. The authors are grateful to BECAS Chile and UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, EPSRC (grant no. EP/K011820) for funding this research.