This is a list of instant foods. In contemporary times, instant foods can be defined as foods that provide convenience to consumers and assists in reducing "the time of preparation/cooking and drudgery", whereby no more than five minutes of time is required from the time of food preparation to the food being consumed. Some instant foods include food products that involve the dissolving of a powder in hot water, or the dilution of a concentrated stock solution, such as occurs with condensed soup. The category of "ultra-instant food" comprises instant foods that require less than one minute of time to prepare, such as instant tea. Some instant foods are prepared using freeze-drying.
Instant foods
Instant baby food – dehydrated baby food was produced by Gerber and Heinz in the 1980s. Dehydrated baby food products produced by both companies consisted of dehydrated food flakes. The Gerber product never came into 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.
Dried sauce mixes – a mass-produced range of products Knorr is a brand of mass-produced sauce mixes.
Instant tofu powder – introduced and produced circa 1966 by Japan Protein Industry, 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.
Beverages
Awake – a short-lived artificial orange juice formulated by General Foods Corporation and introduced in 1964. It was a predecessor to Tang.
Powdered milk – 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.
Tang – a fruit-flavored drink that was originally formulated by General Foods Corporation food scientist William A. Mitchell in 1957. It was first marketed in powdered form in 1959. The Tang brand is owned by Mondelēz International.
Field ration – 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.
