America's Nine Favorite Recession Foods

The recession has led Americans to change just about every aspect of their daily lives. One of the most dramatic has been the decline in families eating out at restaurants.

For instance, sales at Olive Garden are down 1.4 percent, and Red Lobster sales have dropped 4.6 percent. LongHorn Steakhouses has seen a 5.4 percent sales drop, while Chili's is down 5.2 percent.

But people still need to eat, and that is allowing some companies to profit -- filling the void left by the empty tables at your local Applebee's (where sales there are down 3 percent).

So, what are Americans filling their stomachs with instead?

For starters, McDonald's, and maybe a frozen pizza and some Oreos washed down with Sunny Delight.

Basically, the trend is that families want easy-to-prepare foods and some comforts, and parents appear to be turning to the foods they ate in childhood.

"If you are selling stuff that people need -- not discretionary items -- you have fared pretty well through the recession," said Brian Hamilton, co-founder and chief executive officer of Sageworks, which tracks data for companies. "If you're selling things that people need and you can get them at a discount, that store's sales are doing pretty well."

Because of this, grocery stores are generally doing better than the rest of the economy, Hamilton said.

He also noted that a fancy frozen pizza might seem like a luxury purchase, but in reality it is still a few dollars cheaper than buying from your local pizza parlor.

When Kraft announced its earnings earlier this week, that was the clear message. Sales of its "convenient meals" rose 8.2 percent driven by DiGiorno frozen pizza and Oscar Mayer meats. Lunchables anyone?