On Wednesday, Kraft officially introduced Homebake 425°/:30, the company’s new line of frozen meals. The line has 15 items: five mains, five starchy sides, and five vegetables. Each needs to be cooked in the oven for 30 minutes on 425-degree heat. The idea is that you can mix and match the sides, throw them all in the oven at once, and be ready to eat in just half an hour. Homebake items are already available at retailers like Kroger and Walmart in the Midwest.
Even as unit sales have slipped, high prices have led to a 9.3% sales jump for frozen meals in US retail in the year through April 23, according to data from Circana, which tracks sales and was previously known as IRI and NPD. In that time, frozen food prices jumped 16.3%, well above recent annual trends for grocery prices as a whole. With Homebake, however, Kraft will have to win people over even as it bucks certain trends.