Ready-made meals are flying off the shelves or whizzing around South Africa's neighbourhoods as more consumers indulge their taste for convenience. Just shy of 50% of South African consumers believe shopping is a chore, according to a recent Nielsen global retail growth strategy report.This has opened up the space for niche entrepreneurs to deliver ready-made meals or easy-to-make meals, with ingredients in measured proportions, straight to consumers' doors.An indication of the growth is the 10% rise in the sale of frozen prepared meals in the past year. South Africa's frozen meals market is worth R1.7-billion.story_article_left1The Nielsen report says consumers want convenience and speed plus quality prepared-meal options or in-store dining experiences, and the offering can be a key differentiator for where consumers decide to shop.Half of the respondents in the Nielsen survey said they made use of prepared-food services.Suppliers such as Daily Dish and My Chef said business was booming.For Cape Town asset manager Mich Nieuwoudt, spending R810 for four days a week on Daily Dish allows his family to expand the range of meals they eat."This allows us to expand our repertoire. If you cook for yourself you get stuck in a rut with menus."As a working couple, it takes time to look at recipes and then someone has to go buy the ingredients."Our repertoires are expanded, we get delicious food. There is no wastage and we aren't concerned with what to eat."For us it's 100% cost-effective. We used to buy a lot of stuff that we didn't use. Instead of my wife going to buy groceries, she could rather take the kids to the park," he said.Nieuwoudt said he received a menu every week and ordered four days of dinners for himself and his wife, Francisca.A box is delivered weekly with menus, ingredients and recipes.He said one of the dishes he recently prepared was a Thai melon salad that required half a teaspoon of fish sauce - which came in a sachet in the food box."If I had bought a bottle of fish sauce I would probably not have used it many times and would have to throw it out because it would have expired," said Nieuwoudt.Johannesburg pensioners Cindy and Chris Lindemann said having a meal supplier was like "having Christmas every week".For the past year they have spent R660 for four dinners a week."I used to make home-made meals, which became predictable and bland. I'm not a great fan of thinking every day of what to cook and then having to go out and buy the ingredients," said Cindy.Diane de Villiers, co-founder of Daily Dish, said sales had doubled in the past year.mini_story_image_vright1"Busy people often don't have time to plan meals and shop for healthy ingredients and end up taking less healthy short-cuts like instant supermarket meals. Or they cook a small repertoire of meals over and over."She said their popular choices were family meals and a Banting Box.It cost R870 a week to feed four people, she said.Jenni Jackson of My Chef said business kept growing. The company serves about 400 households a week."Our customers have extremely busy lifestyles and don't have the time to still prepare the meals every week day. We now focus on the ready-to-heat meals and the easy oven bakes, as these are quick and easy to prepare, giving families more time to spend together."Tanya Nicolson of The Cookhouse, a KwaZulu-Natal business providing frozen ready-made meals, said business was growing steadily."We package our meals to pop into a home freezer," she said.Major retail stores were reluctant to quantify the demand for ready-to-eat meals but confirmed it was a growing trend.Woolworths said it had seen an increase in sales of ready meals, both fresh and frozen.Checkers has introduced two new ranges of "home replacement" meals in the p ast two months, and these were proving popular.David North, Pick n Pay's group executive for strategy and communications, said customers with busy lives wanted convenience."But they also want to eat fresh, tasty and nutritious meals. Sales of ready-to-eat meals are growing well," he said.pillayt@sundaytimes.co.za..