This is a list of instant foods. Instant foods are
convenience food
Convenience food, also called tertiary processed food, is food that is commercially prepared (often through processing) to optimise ease of consumption. Such food is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily p ...
s which require minimal preparation, typically just adding water or milk. Some authors define "instant" food as requiring less than five minutes of preparation and "ultra-instant food" as requiring less than one minute. Instant foods are often
dehydrated
In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...
,
freeze-dried
Freeze drying, also known as lyophilization or cryodesiccation, is a low temperature dehydration process that involves freezing the product and lowering pressure, removing the ice by sublimation. This is in contrast to dehydration by most conve ...
, or condensed.
Instant foods
* Instant
baby food
Baby food is any soft easily consumed food other than breastmilk or infant formula that is made specifically for human babies between four and six months and two years old. The food comes in many varieties and flavors that are purchased ready-ma ...
Heinz
The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the co ...
in the 1980s. Dehydrated baby food products produced by both companies consisted of dehydrated food flakes. The Gerber product never came to fruition as a widely used product; it was only test-run in Omaha, Nebraska, for around eight to nine months, and consumer adoption was not sufficient for the product to go into mass production.
**
Pablum
Pablum is a processed cereal for infants originally marketed and co-created by the Mead Johnson Company in 1931. The product was developed at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, to combat infant malnutrition.
The tradem ...
Condensed soup
Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingre ...
*
Powdered eggs
A powdered egg is a fully dehydrated egg. Most powdered eggs are made using spray drying in the same way that powdered milk is made. The major advantages of powdered eggs over fresh eggs are the reduced weight per volume of whole egg equivalen ...
* Instant
gravy
Gravy is a sauce often made from the juices of meats that run naturally during cooking and often thickened with wheat flour or corn starch for added texture. The gravy may be further coloured and flavoured with gravy salt (a simple mix of sa ...
–
Bisto
Bisto is a popular and well-known brand of gravy and other food products in the United Kingdom and Ireland, currently owned by Premier Foods.
History
The first Bisto product, in 1908, was a meat-flavoured gravy powder which rapidly became a best ...
is a brand of powdered instant gravy that has been produced and consumed in Great Britain since 1908.
* Instant mashed potatoes
** Smash – a brand of Instant mashed potatoes in the United Kingdom
*
Instant noodle
Instant noodles, or instant ramen, is a type of food consisting of noodles sold in a precooked and dried block with flavoring powder and/or seasoning oil. The dried noodle block was originally created by flash frying cooked noodles, and this is ...
List of instant noodle brands
This is a list of instant noodle brands. Instant noodles are a dried or precooked noodle block, usually sold with a packet of flavoring powder and/or seasoning oil. Dried noodles are usually eaten after being cooked or soaked in boiling water, ...
* Instant
oatmeal
Oatmeal is a preparation of oats that have been de-husked, steamed, and flattened, or a coarse flour of hulled oat grains (groats) that have either been milled (ground) or steel-cut. Ground oats are also called white oats. Steel-cut oats a ...
porridge
Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, ...
– an example is Cream of Wheat brand, which includes an instant variety in its product line
* Instant rice
** Minute Rice – an instant rice brand
* Instant
curry
A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included.
There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in trad ...
tofu
Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super f ...
powder – introduced and produced circa 1966 by Japan Protein Industry (''Nihon Tanpaku Kogyo''), it was used at that time as a time-saver for the production of tofu. Later in 1973, a brand of instant tofu powder named ''Hausu Hontôfu'' was produced and marketed to consumers by the Hausu Foods Company.
File:Mixed Bird's Custard.jpg, Mixed Bird's Custard
File:CupSoupChicken.jpg, A prepared chicken & vegetable cup-a-soup
File:Maruchan Akai Kitsune instant udon.jpg, An opened cup of an
instant noodle
Instant noodles, or instant ramen, is a type of food consisting of noodles sold in a precooked and dried block with flavoring powder and/or seasoning oil. The dried noodle block was originally created by flash frying cooked noodles, and this is ...
brand that is packaged with dehydrated fried
tofu
Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super f ...
File:Pure dried whole eggs from the United States of America.jpg, A box of U.S.-made
powdered eggs
A powdered egg is a fully dehydrated egg. Most powdered eggs are made using spray drying in the same way that powdered milk is made. The major advantages of powdered eggs over fresh eggs are the reduced weight per volume of whole egg equivalen ...
, prepared using whole dried eggs
Beverages
*
Awake
Wakefulness is a daily recurring brain state and state of consciousness in which an individual is conscious and engages in coherent cognitive and behavioral responses to the external world.
Being awake is the opposite of being asleep, in which m ...
– a short-lived artificial orange juice formulated by General Foods Corporation and introduced in 1964. It was a predecessor to Tang.
*
Instant breakfast
Instant breakfast typically refers to breakfast food products that are manufactured in a powdered form, which are generally prepared with the addition of milk and then consumed as a drink.Chocolate beverages
**
Hot chocolate
Hot chocolate, also known as hot cocoa or drinking chocolate, is a heated drink consisting of shaved chocolate, melted chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and usually a sweetener like whipped cream or marshmallows. Hot chocolate ...
***
Swiss Miss
Swiss Miss is a brand name for cocoa powder and pudding products invented by Charles Sanna (1917–2019) and sold by American food company Conagra Brands.
History
In the 1950s, the company sold its original hot cocoa
Hot chocolate, also ...
– hot chocolate
** Milo – can be prepared cold or hot
**
Nesquik
Nesquik is a brand of food products made by Swiss company Nestlé. In 1948, Nestlé launched a drink mix for chocolate-flavored milk called Nestlé Quik in the United States; this was released in Europe during the 1950s as ''Nesquik''.
Since ...
**
Ovaltine
Ovaltine (also known by its original name Ovomaltine) is a brand of milk flavoring product made with malt extract (except in the blue packaging in the United States), sugar (except in Switzerland), and whey. Some flavors also have cocoa. Ovalt ...
*
Instant coffee
Instant coffee is a beverage derived from brewed coffee beans that enables people to quickly prepare hot coffee by adding hot water or milk to coffee solids in powdered or crystallized form and stirring. Instant coffee solids (also called sol ...
*
Drink mix
A drink mix is a processed-food product, designed to mix usually with water to produce a beverage resembling fruit juice or soda in flavor. Another type of drink mix is represented by products that are mixed into milk. It is traditionally made i ...
*
Freeze-dried
Freeze drying, also known as lyophilization or cryodesiccation, is a low temperature dehydration process that involves freezing the product and lowering pressure, removing the ice by sublimation. This is in contrast to dehydration by most conve ...
fruit juice
Juice is a drink made from the extraction or pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat or seafood, such a ...
s
*
Powdered milk
Powdered milk, also called milk powder, dried milk, or dry milk, is a manufactured dairy product made by evaporating milk to dryness. One purpose of drying milk is to preserve it; milk powder has a far longer shelf life than liquid milk and do ...
– in a 1986 session in Moscow, Russia, the International Dairy Federation defined instant skim milk powder as qualifying for the term "instant" when no more than fifteen seconds are required for all lumps to disappear when the powder is mixed with water and stirred.
** Coconut milk powder
*
Tang
Tang or TANG most often refers to:
* Tang dynasty
* Tang (drink mix)
Tang or TANG may also refer to:
Chinese states and dynasties
* Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) ...
– a fruit-flavored drink that was originally formulated by General Foods Corporation food scientistWilliam A. Mitchell in 1957. It was first marketed in powdered form in 1959. The Tang brand is owned by
Mondelēz International
Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American multinational confectionery, food, holding and beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an annual revenue of about $26 billion and operates i ...
.
*
Instant tea
Instant tea is a powder in which water is added, in order to reconstitute it into a cup of tea. The earliest form of instant tea was developed in the United Kingdom in 1885. A patent was granted for a paste made of concentrated tea extract, suga ...
** Instant milk tea – a mass-produced instant powder
File:Starbucks instant coffee.jpg, A cup of Starbucks
Instant coffee
Instant coffee is a beverage derived from brewed coffee beans that enables people to quickly prepare hot coffee by adding hot water or milk to coffee solids in powdered or crystallized form and stirring. Instant coffee solids (also called sol ...
File:Ovaltine in can.jpg,
Ovaltine
Ovaltine (also known by its original name Ovomaltine) is a brand of milk flavoring product made with malt extract (except in the blue packaging in the United States), sugar (except in Switzerland), and whey. Some flavors also have cocoa. Ovalt ...
in the can
File:PowderedMilk.jpg,
Powdered milk
Powdered milk, also called milk powder, dried milk, or dry milk, is a manufactured dairy product made by evaporating milk to dryness. One purpose of drying milk is to preserve it; milk powder has a far longer shelf life than liquid milk and do ...
File:Prepared Tang.jpg, Prepared
Tang
Tang or TANG most often refers to:
* Tang dynasty
* Tang (drink mix)
Tang or TANG may also refer to:
Chinese states and dynasties
* Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) ...
Rations
*
Field ration
A field ration (combat ration, ration pack, or food packet) is a type of prepackaged or canned military ration. Field rations are distinguished from garrison rations by virtue of being designed for minimal preparation in the field, as well ...
– a field ration, combat ration or ration pack is a canned or pre-packaged meal, easily prepared and eaten, transported by military troops on the battlefield.
** Humanitarian daily ration
**
Individual Meal Pack
The Individual Meal Pack or IMP is one type of field ration used by the Canadian Forces. The IMP is designed so that a continuous diet provides all the nutrition needed to sustain a service-person in the field. The IMP meets Canada's nutrition r ...
Canned food
Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although ...
*
Convenience food
Convenience food, also called tertiary processed food, is food that is commercially prepared (often through processing) to optimise ease of consumption. Such food is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily p ...
Dried fruit
Dried fruit is fruit from which the majority of the original water content has been removed either naturally, through sun drying, or through the use of specialized dryers or dehydrators. Dried fruit has a long tradition of use dating back to th ...
**
List of dried foods
This is a list of dried foods. Food drying is a method of food preservation that works by removing water from the food, which inhibits the growth of bacteria and has been practiced worldwide since ancient times to preserve food. Where or when d ...
*
Frozen food
Freezing food preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved grains and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing food slows decompositi ...
Instant hot water dispenser
An instant hot water dispenser or boiling water tap is an appliance that dispenses water at about (near-boiling). There are hot-only and hot and cool water models, and the water may be filtered as well as heated. Instant hot water dispensers be ...
Fast food
Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredie ...
List of smoked foods
This is a list of smoked foods. Smoking is the process of flavoring, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. Foods have been smoked by humans throughout history. Meats and f ...
*
Snack food
A snack is a small portion of food generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home.
Traditionally, snacks are ...
Food Network
Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...