M&M Food Market redefines homemade for busy families
M&M Food Market is aiming to change perceptions that “homemade” must mean made from scratch.
In its new “Homemade-ish” campaign, the frozen-food retailer highlights a better, a more convenient way to put real food on the table, as families juggle busy schedules and face pressure for perfection at mealtimes.
A new Ipsos survey commissioned by M&M Food Market found that 91% of Canadian parents feel stress balancing cooking homemade meals with other responsibilities, and 72% of mothers feel judged by others if they don’t meet traditional expectations, such as cooking meals from scratch or flawlessly handling household duties.
“The survey gave us a deeper understanding of both the emotional and practical pressures surrounding mealtime and parenting in general: the guilt that can surface when time is limited, the desire to break out of repetitive routines, and the stress of trying to keep everyone satisfied,” says Tammy Sadinsky, vice-president of marketing and innovation at M&M Food Market.
“We wanted to reframe M&M Food Market as being the smart option that allows you to feed your family real food made with quality ingredients. It’s a smart and convenient shortcut—and even a modern life hack, without cutting corners. M&M Food Market allows families to reclaim time, reduce stress and feel good about the choices they’re making.”
To relate to millennial parents, M&M enlisted Canadian comedian and busy mom, Jessi Cruickshank, as the face of the Homemade-ish campaign. On March 23—the first day back from March Break—Cruickshank handed out 1,000 M&M Food Market lasagnas to parents on their evening commute through Toronto’s Union Station. The idea was to bring much-needed relief to families as they dove back into their weekday routines.
The campaign also aims to change the narrative about frozen meals, which Sadinsky says have traditionally been perceived as a compromise. “By positioning convenience as confidence, we highlight that choosing easier solutions isn’t about doing less, but rather is a smarter way to solve their dinnertime pain points,” she says.
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“The Homemade-ish campaign showcases our frozen prepared meals as high‑quality, dependable options that remove the friction from mealtime, where you are still involved in the prep, just with a little help from M&M. It shifts the focus from guilt or compromise to empowerment—allowing people to feel proud, not apologetic, about choosing convenient.”
The integrated campaign runs across TV, out-of-home, radio, social media, in‑store and e-commerce in English Canada. The launch piece is a 60-second spot that follows a busy mom making dinner on a chaotic night. She serves prepared meals from M&M but makes them her own by adding extra ingredients and browning the cheese to her liking.
“It harnesses the power of adding your own touch to our prepared meals such as sprinkling a little parsley on the lasagna or adding a scoop of ice cream to our Apple Blossoms,” says Sadinsky. “It delivers the message with humble humour and clever scripting.”
Looking ahead, Sadinsky says the campaign is a key step in M&M Food Market’s long‑term strategy to position the brand as the go‑to solution for stress‑free mealtimes.
“Long term, our goal is to create a consistent brand narrative: that we understand the realities of busy households and are committed to making mealtime easier, more joyful and more manageable,” she says. “This campaign lays the foundation for that by reshaping perceptions of our prepared and frozen offerings and elevating convenience to an empowering choice rather than a fallback.”
Checkout the Homemade-ish spot below.