EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Supervalu Inc. is launching a new line of meal solutions to meet consumer demand for convenient, time-saving options at their local grocery stores, the company said. New Quick & Easy Meals will be available to more than 3,000 independent grocery stores nationwide served by Supervalu’s wholesale business.

Supervalu’s Quick & Easy Meals fall into three categories: Ready to Enjoy, Heat & Eat and Prepare at Home.

The Ready to Enjoy meals are fully prepared, ready-to-eat, grab-and-go solutions. The line features more than 500 items, including hot-and-ready offerings in the store deli and a variety of sandwiches, salads and pre-cut fruits and vegetables. The Ready to Enjoy line also includes fresh fruit bowls, yogurt cups, veggie cups to go, macaroni and cheese, and chicken wings.

Supervalu’s Heat & Eat meals line consists of more than 40 varieties of assembled heat-and-eat meals. Available in the deli area, options include chicken alfredo, burrito bowls and Swedish meatballs.

The Prepare at Home offerings are meal kit options with ingredients already chopped, sliced, and measured, including pre-seasoned and pre-portioned meats. The meal kits may be prepared in less than 15 minutes and include such varieties as bourbon peppercorn steak tips, teriyaki chicken stir fry, chicken marsala, Thai coconut chicken, ready-to-bake meatloaf, marinated chicken breast, salmon with asparagus and microwavable chicken fajita mix.

Anne Dament, senior vice-president of retail, merchandising and marketing for Supervalu

“While we have long provided meal solutions for busy shoppers, our new Quick & Easy Meals program will now make it even easier for our customers to find a variety of fresh, fast, delicious and reasonably priced meals to meet their needs on any particular day,” said Anne Dament, senior vice president of retail, merchandising and marketing for Supervalu. “Today’s consumers are seeking changes, impacting where they spend their food dollars. Originally, a grocery store only needed to have the components to make the meal. Now, we need to have the full solution available to time-starved customers at our stores or delivered to their homes, whether it’s ready to eat, heat and eat, or prepare at home.”

Supervalu first announced its plan to enter the meal solution category in July. At that time, the company said it developed many of the Quick & Easy recipes in its test kitchens before refining them in retail stores.