In November 1985, General Foods was acquired by Philip Morris Companies (now Altria) for $5.6 billion, the largest non-oil acquisition at the time.

Post was inspired by the diet there to start his food company (and become a rival to the Kellogg brothers, who sold their own breakfast cereals).

[citation needed] By far the most important acquisition in 1929 was of the frozen-food company owned by Clarence Birdseye,[4] called "General Seafood Corporation".

In 1924, with backing from three investors, he formed the "General Seafoods Company" in Gloucester, Massachusetts to produce frozen haddock fillets packed in plain cardboard boxes.

[citation needed] The founder's daughter, Marjorie Merriweather Post, was the first to become excited about the prospects for the frozen foods business.

In 1926, she had put into port at Gloucester on her yacht, Sea Cloud, and was served a luncheon meal which, she learned to her amazement, had been frozen six months before.

Housewives quickly realized that keeping packages of frozen food in the icebox could mean fresher meals and fewer trips to the market.

[6][citation needed] The company published a cookbook in 1932 called the General Foods Cook Book dedicated "To the American homemaker".

The book includes photographs (among which is "General Foods offers over twenty famous products for your well-stocked pantry shelf") and a subject index.