The UK loves its ready meals, mainly because people have to work so long and commute so far that cooking has become a weekend leisure activity, not something you can do every day. Marks & Spencer made the ready meal respectable decades ago, but now all mainstream food retailers sell the idea of dining out at home.
Both Tesco and Carrefour manage to convince me they can deliver good taste here, though on closer inspection the French haven’t yet caved in to the concept of a one plate mish-mash; you still have to choose the ‘ingredients’ and present them properly.
Takeout: You can tell a lot about a nation by its ready meal packaging!