9 of the most popular ready meals you'll remember if you grew up in the 70s, 80s or 90s

• Ready meals were particularly popular in the 70s, 80s and 90s
• They were loved for their convenience, even if the contents didn’t always match the picture on the packet
• From boil-in-the-bag stews to tinned sausage rolls, how many of these do you remember?

The ready meal dates back to the 1950s, with an American company named Swanson credited as its founding father.

Left with a glut of post-Thanksgiving meat in 1953, it decided to make up turkey dinners with all the trimmings and package them in aluminium trays ready to pop in the oven and heat up.

They proved a big hit, and other companies wanted a slice of the action.

The ready meal’s popularity grew as more women started working and people started spending longer in the office.

Its rise was helped by freezers becoming more common and by the introduction of microwaves, speeding things up even more.

In the UK, M&S was one of the first firms to popularise chilled, rather than frozen, ready meals, starting with the chicken kiev in 1979.

How many of these nostalgic ready meals, which were popular in the 70s, 80s and 90s, do you remember, and is your favourite among them?

Vesta curries

For many people growing up in the 70s, a Vesta ready meal was their first taste of curry or Asian cuisine of any kind.

Vesta’s marketing sought to capitalise on this sense of the exotic, urging diners to ‘Come on a Vesta Package Tour’ by sampling its ready meals from around the globe.

As well as beef curry and rice, you could try paella, from Spain, beef risotto, from Italy, and chicken supreme, from France.

While the dishes may not have been the most authentic, designed as they were for a British palate, most diners didn’t know any better back then.

As one person recalled how ‘we thought we were terribly grand’, while another said the Vesta meals ‘were marvellous, and so different’.

One of the most popular Vesta meals was the chow mein with crispy noodles, which were fried in the pan before being put on top.

Many people have fond memories of the ‘gorgeous’ noodles, though one person recalled how ‘many a time my mum would almost burn them, they only took seconds’.

Birds Eye Brunchies

Not everyone remembers these from the 70s and 80s, but those who do recall how they were much tastier than they sound.

The sausage, eggs and onion croquettes coated in crispy golden breadcrumbs were part of Birds Eye’s range of so-called ‘freezer-pleezers’, which also included ‘cheesies’ and ‘chicklets’.

Findus Crispy Pancakes

A trailblazer of the ready meal world, Findus Crispy Pancakes were launched in 1958.

The frozen pancakes, with a variety of fillings including cheese, were a favourite among children and students during the 70s and 80s.

They were discontinued in 2016 before being relaunched a few years later by Birds Eye.

Birds Eye boil-in-the-bag meals

Boil-in-the-bag meals were a staple of convenience cooking in the 70s and 80s.

Cod in a butter or parsley sauce was perhaps the classic example, but Birds Eye’s range also included liver with onion and gravy, and chicken and mushroom casserole, among other dishes.

Heating them up was always the easy part. It was getting them out of the bag without scalding your fingers or getting the sauce all over yourself that could be tricky.

They were a handy kitchen standby, but most people recall how they were not the most inspiring meals when it came to flavour or texture.

Smedley sausage rolls

These were more of a ready snack than a ready meal.

The idea of sausage rolls in a tin might not appeal to modern tastes, but those who remember them say they were ‘absolutely gorgeous’.

All you had to do was take them out of the tin, place them on a tray, baste them and cook them for 20 minutes.

McCain Micro Pizza

These mini pizzas, which took just seconds to heat up in the microwave, were popular in the 90s.

They may not have been fit for a true pizza aficionado, but for others they were ‘the best’, even if people recall how the pizza always stuck to the cardboard and would burn the roof of your mouth if you tried to eat it straight away.

Chicken wings, chips and pizza pockets were among the other popular McCain microwave meals of the era.

Arctic roll

This is perhaps the most nostalgic dessert going.

More than 25 miles of Arctic roll - consisting of vanilla ice cream and raspberry jam in a soft sponge case, were sold each month in the UK at the peak of its popularity.

The frozen dessert was discontinued by Birds Eye in 1997, after the public went cold on the sweet treat, only to bring it back in the late noughties as people rediscovered their appetite for the Arctic roll.

Lunch Bucket

These meals in a plastic tub were heavily promoted in the 80s in an attempt to get people to ditch the sandwich in favour of a hot lunch.

They came in 15 varieties, including lasagne and beef stew.

They didn’t look the most appealing, but those who tried them said they were surprisingly good, especially the mac ‘n’ cheese.

Cheese and Tomato Pot Noodles

Pot Noodles and Super Noodles both hit the shelves in the 70s and are still among the UK’s most popular convenience foods today, especially with students.

But how many people remember one of the original Pot Noodles flavours, cheese and tomato?

It famously came with a sachet of tomato ketchup and was a bit of a Marmite product.

Some people loved the intense aroma and taste, while others said it was like sniffing a pair of smelly socks.

It didn’t last long the first time around but made a comeback many years later in Pot Noodle’s ‘Lost the Pot’ range.

What was your favourite ready meal growing up? For more nostalgic nosh, check out our look back at the desserts we loved in the 70s, 80s and 90s.