When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 350F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.

FORBES: The Best Mother's Day Gift. Ever.

Instead, each steak is individually sealed in plastic to preserve its freshness and shipped with ice packs, arriving ready to cook or store for up to a week, without the degradation of flavor that comes from freezing.

FORBES: Ultimate Valentine's Day Dinner - With Mail Order Help

Eventually a harried housewife or a busy executive will be able to order a ready-to-eat or ready-to-cook gourmet meal for delivery by dinner time (see box).

FORBES: The Anti-Wal-Mart

There's also hard-to-find grass-fed meats, ready-to-cook organic and free-range chicken, and a well-stocked selection of just-caught seafood.

CNN: America's healthiest grocery stores

One man who has overseen Smith's rise to prominence is Durham coach Geoff Cook and he believes Smith is ready to take on the captain's role at the Riverside.

BBC: Smith confident as Durham captain

Peter Bazalgette, 58, of Endemol, who brought Big Brother to the UK and was behind hit shows Ready Steady Cook, and Ground Force, gets a knighthood for services to broadcasting.

BBC: UK

More men were having to cook for themselves and ready meal producers were on hand to make it as easy for them as possible.

BBC: The rise of the ready meal

In recent years he made guest appearances on Ready Steady Cook, Celebrity Ghost Stories and a tribute documentary to Australian "crocodile hunter" Steve Irwin.

BBC: Terry Nutkins, TV wildlife presenter, dies aged 66