On The Go Grocery Stores Hope Ready-Made Meals Will Recapture Sales Lost To Restaurants

Abby Hand knows what it means to have no time to make dinner. The Valley resident runs two adult homes and has to find quick and easy ways to feed her residents.

So, all too often, she finds herself at Rosauers buying the store’s already prepared Grab ‘N’ Go meals.

“It’s less expensive to buy it here than for us to cook it for them,” she said. “It’s quick and it gives my girls who are cooking a day off.”

That’s something Ginny Cogle wouldn’t mind.

The Valley resident was shopping at Albertson’s and stood awestruck in front of the Quick Fixin’ Meals display.

“That looks so fresh,” she said, pointing to the chicken fajitas. “With the way my husband and I eat at night, that price is right.”

Albertson’s sells pre-made meals, from pot roast with mashed potatoes to stuffed shells for $2.50 an entree.

Rosauers and Albertson’s have been serving up homestyle meals for customers on the run for a couple of months. “It’s kind of the buzz word around the industry right now,” said Bill Haraldson, Rosauers executive vice president.

Across the nation, more and more people are eating out and stores are trying to recapture those sales, said Haraldson. “We need to rekindle in the shopper’s mind that ‘Yes, I can go to the grocery store for a meal,“‘he said.

With restaurants like Boston Market taking a bite out of their sales, the grocery stores are trying to win back lost sales.

Both stores said they’re targeting people with little or no time to make nutritious, filling meals for themselves or their families.

Rosauers’ Grab ‘N’ Go program is primarily targeted at two-income households where no one thinks of what to have for dinner until it’s time to eat, said Haraldson.

Grab ‘N’ Go features several chicken dishes - lemon-pepper, barbeque, garlic-pepper - as well as meatloaf and turkey dishes.

“Their chicken pot pies look so good,” said Hand. Shoppers also can choose side dishes such as mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and baked beans.

Enough food to feed a family of four sells for $9.95. Soon, the store will offer prime rib dinners which will sell for $12.95.

At Albertson’s, the response to the Quick Fixin’ program has been positive, said store spokeswoman Jenny Enochson.

In addition to the premade meals, each Albertson’s store has a display with a featured recipe and all the ingredients needed to prepare each meal, Enochson said.

Cogle kept eyeing those chicken fajitas, walking back and forth in front of the display before she picked one up. “It’s easy to fix and quick,” she said. “That’s the key.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo