Resource created by M&S Archive.
This resource is intended to provide an overview of the development of M&S convenience food, using selected images from the M&S Archive collection. The overall aim of the M&S Convenience Food resource is to show changes in food products, and how this might link to wider social history.
Curriculum Links
- KS2 & 3 Art & Design
- KS2 & 3 Design & Technology (Cooking and Nutrition)
- KS3 Citizenship
- KS3 Geography
Learning Objectives
- to read independently to support their learning
- about the development and impact of convenience foods
- to appreciate the change in availability of different foods over 50 years
- about food packaging
Discussion and Activity Ideas
KS2/3 Art & Design
- Look at the Percy Pig Sweet packaging and decide what customer age it is aimed at.
- What do you think of the image, colours and fonts that are used? Could you suggest alternative ones?
- Think of your favourite sweet or chocolate bar and design your own new packaging for it.
- Create a range of adverts across different media to promote your new packaging.
- Create a range of adverts across different media to promote your new packaging.
KS2 & 3 Design Technology: Food and Nutrition
- Why does the phrase ‘pure fruit juice’ appear on Percy Pig packaging?
- Why is it important that we don't eat too many fatty foods or foods with lots of sugar or salt?
- Pupils can conduct market research into convenience foods and design their own convenience food product. They should spend time collecting data, find out which meals are most popular, and identifying any trends within the data. This data can be represented as charts and graphs.
- Pupils work in groups to develop a marketing campaign for their food product, then pitch their campaigns to a panel of judges.
- Pupils work in groups to develop a marketing campaign for their food product, then pitch their campaigns to a panel of judges.
KS3 Citizenship
- In 1985 it was still quite unusual to be able to buy ready meal dishes from different cultures e.g. Chinese or Asian. Find out how many foods from different countries are enjoyed by people in the class.
KS3 Geography
- Where does the food used in the school canteen come from?
- Plot the routes on a map and calculate the food miles travelled by each item.
- Choose some popular meals and work out the total food miles for each.
- What can your school do to decrease their food miles?
- List the pros and cons of convenience foods. You could consider:
- Is the packaging easily recyclable?
- Are convenience foods higher in food miles than meals made using separate ingredients?
- Find out more about how M&S is addressing these issues.