Food companies at the largest consumer products conference of the year highlighted their plans to market more frozen meals and ready meals to cash-strapped consumers, but said that any large-scale reduction in product prices was unlikely.

Speaking to investors at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York, some of the nations largest food companies emphasized the benefits they are seeing from consumers eating at home. While their businesses are for the most part holding up well, the large packaged-food companies were far more cautious than just a year ago, acknowledging the pressures that are coming from cheaper retail brands and from weaker consumer spending.

Ahead of the conference, some analysts had speculated that cereal giant General Mills Inc. (GIS) might raise its guidance for the year. The company instead stuck to its previous forecast, saying only that it was on track for a good year in 2009 and that margins would expand in its fiscal fourth quarter as commodity prices decline.

Speaking to reporters, General Mills executives said they weren't planning to roll back prices, partly because the company has been raising prices at a much slower pace than commodity inflation. "We never priced to the peak," said Ian Friendly, the company's chief operating officer for its U.S. retail business.

General Mills is instead focused on driving growth in brands like its Savorings appetizers and its easy-to-make meals such as Hamburger Helper.

Like General Mills, ConAgra Foods Inc. (CAG) reaffirmed its fiscal 2009 earnings guidance of slightly above $1.50 a share. The company highlighted its efforts to redevelop its Banquet frozen meals brand to help drive sales among consumers on the lookout for a bargain. The Banquet meals sell for a suggested retail price of $1 each. To keep the price at those levels even as commodity prices rose, the company reworked the product, changing components to keep the price the same.

Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT) said it expects volume in the first quarter to fall as much as 5%. In an interview, Chief Executive Irene Rosenfeld said that some of the decline was caused by recent price increases. But the company said it expects volume to improve for the rest of 2009. It has recently cut some prices for its cheese products, but Rosenfeld said she is in general comfortable with where its prices currently stand.

Along a similar vein, Sara Lee Corp. (SLE) Chief Executive Brenda Barnes said the company wasn't planning any wide "rollback of prices." The company has been pushing frozen meals such as its Jimmy Dean breakfast bowls. Consumers likely will see fewer price increases from the food industry gong forward. Sara Lee also said that given where commodities currently are it doesn't expect major price increases for the rest of the fiscal year.

Consumers weren't the only ones being frugal this year. The recession was reflected not only in company comments, but also in attendance at the annual conference, which gathers together Wall Street analysts and investors from across the country. Registration fell to 485 this year from 600 a year ago.

-By Anjali Cordeiro, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2408; anjali.cordeiro@dowjones.com