Ready-Meal Packaging: Picture Imperfect

These comparisons show that packs for prepared meals don’t always provide a realistic image of the food inside.

Kate Bertrand Connolly, Freelance Writer

June 18, 2024

Photography often does the heavy lifting on food packaging, providing an image of how inviting the plated product will be when served. But how closely do on-pack photos convey the reality of the product?

CHOICE Australia, a consumer advocacy group, shows a sometimes striking gap between the two in this short YouTube video, “Supermarket Ready Meals: Packaging vs. Reality.”

The video features several retail brands of prepared meals, with a view of the unopened package beside a shot of the opened tray full of food. The 20 comparisons range from quite similar, for the pesto chicken, to profoundly different — and unappetizing — for the creamy butter chicken.

About the Author

Kate Bertrand Connolly

Freelance Writer

Kate Bertrand Connolly has been covering innovations, trends, and technologies in packaging, branding, and business since 1981.

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