Princes has launched a range of ambient ready meals boasting an 18-month shelf life.

The four-strong line-up comprises chilli con carne, chicken curry and chicken supreme, (all with rice in a separate compartment), plus beef in red wine with potato. The products are rolling out to Tesco now, priced £1.79 for a 320g pack.

Although ambient products offered many advantages over chilled, such as a reduced storage costs and a lower risk of wastage, observers have suggested consumers may be wary of the quality of ready meals boasting such long shelf lives.

Princes said it did not believe the long shelf life would deter consumers, although it admitted it had an ongoing job to do in communicating the benefits of ambient products.

This would be an integral message in its support for the meals, which will include promotions, taste-guarantee on-pack activity and above-the-line advertising later in the year, it said. However, the key selling point would be convenience. The longer shelf life would give people - particularly single-person households - the chance to stock up, it said.

“We are combining our brand strength in the ambient sector with NPD that can drive frequency of purchase and incremental growth,” added marketing director Neil Brownbill.

The Princes launch follows the rollout of the Bistro Express ambient ready meal range by Enterprise Brands a year ago. The meals, which have a 12-month shelf-life, were recently listed by Nisa Retail and are now in 350 Nisa stores.

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