Tough economic times are good for frozen- meal purveyors

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Traffic to, a Web site that critiques frozen dinners, rose 10 percent in the past couple of weeks, and founder Abi Jones isn't exactly sure why.Maybe it was the reviews on HeatEatReview.com of the Smart Ones turkey dinner or the Lean Pockets meatballs and mozzarella. Or maybe turmoil in the financial markets has more people trying to spend less on food without packing peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches every day.And, maybe, it's another signal there are opportunities for food companies that can fill America's lunch pail at a reasonable price.Last year, Americans carried about 8.5 billion brown-bag lunches from home, according to market research firm NPD Group Inc. That was a new high, with more than half of those lunches eaten at a workplace.It's too early to say if recent market upheaval has accelerated the trend, but NPD vice president Harry Balzer said consumers definitely were being driven by economic issues even last year. People told researchers they were trying to cut their food costs.Food manufacturers are seeing the signs.-- Kraft Foods Chairman Irene Rosenfeld this summer reported in an earnings discussion that Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh cold cuts were "on fire," posting 21 consecutive quarters of share and volume gains while Oscar Mayer Deli Creations sandwiches were on their way to reaching the $100 million sales mark. Both, she said, were a value as compared to buying lunch out.-- H.J. Heinz Co. is reporting strong sales of Smart Ones frozen meals, although it's not clear if those are being eaten for lunch or dinner. The brand is among the fastest growing in the company, Chairman William R. Johnson told shareholders at the company's annual meeting in August.-- ConAgra Foods last week began promoting a new line of Banquet Select Recipes frozen meals selling for $1.50. The tag line for the marketing campaign is "So good for so little."That line has been under development for about a year with the goal of taking the brand beyond comfort foods such as chicken nuggets, ConAgra spokeswoman Regina DeMars said. New choices include chicken parmesan, an enchilada combo meal and pot roast.The price may help put the meals on the radar in the current environment. "Now people are looking for value in every which way," DeMars said.When it comes to packing lunch, even just taking along pieces of fruit -- something that's popular among women -- can moderate costs.NPD's research found sandwiches still dominated the nation's brown bags. Men like ham sandwiches, in particular, while children get the PB&J. Women seem less inclined to make a sandwich than they might have been in the past, Balzer said. Their lunches increasingly include bars of some sort, yogurt and frozen entrees.Meanwhile, total U.S. sales of hand-held frozen entrees, such as Hot Pockets, were up 7.4 percent in the 12 months ended in early September, while single-serve frozen dinners were basically flat, according to Information Resources Inc., a Chicago-based market research firm that tracks sales in supermarkets, drugstores and mass merchants, excluding Wal-Mart.Jones, whose Web site brings in 2,000 unique visitors per day and now features more than 500 reviews, discovered her passion for the frozen food aisle three years ago when she started working in an office. She didn't want to pack peanut butter and jelly, but, "I was tired of paying $7 for lunch," she said.She does many reviews herself, but she also has 20 regular contributors around the country with 30 more in the process of being introduced. The site carries reviews for products from more than 100 large and small brandsQuality of frozen meals varies, but overall it seems to be getting better, she said. "A year ago even, I would not have considered buying a frozen meal with fish in it." Now there are some decent options, said the Stanford, Calif., resident.E-mail Teresa F. Lindeman at tlindeman(at)post-gazette.com.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)