Which Nations Munch on Ready-Made Meals?

In a survey of 26 countries carried out by Statista Consumer Insights over the course of 2025, the United States showed the highest frozen food usage. Half of all queried Americans said they regularly used frozen foods. This number stood at 48 percent in Australia, 45 percent in the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden and 43 percent in Germany and South Africa.

As Europe is not far behind in frozen food use, the lowest European results in the survey came out of Switzerland at 34 percent and Finland at 32 percent. Frozen food use was much lower in developing countries in Asia and Latin America. In India, only 18 percent said they bought frozen products regularly, compared to 19 percent in Indonesia, 24 percent in Vietnam and 28 percent in Thailand. Usage was somewhat higher, however, in the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia. In Colombia, usage was even lower at just 16 percent reaching for frozen food on the regular, while this stood at 20 percent in Brazil.

While frozen food can be unhealthy, this doesn't necessarily have to be the case, for example when purchasing frozen fruit or vegetables. Ready-made meals are more likely to be detrimental to health. In the United States, 29 percent said they regularly consumed these meals. A nation more fond of ready-to-serve foods was Finland at 33 percent of respondents confirming frequent use. At the same time, the nation used frozen foods less. More fans of ready-made meals could be found in South Africa, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Poland and Australia (27-28 percent citing regular use).