MILWAUKEE – Kraft Foods Inc. reported growth in the second quarter Monday, as consumers, undeterred by price increases, abandon restaurants for less costly meals at home and the company benefits from its restructuring plan.

The nation’s largest food and beverage maker is also benefiting from price increases, saying it has raised its prices, on average, 7 percent in the most recent quarter.

While sales of Kraft’s cheese line are down, sales of other products, like Maxwell House coffee and Kool-Aid are rising. So the company is boosting its profit outlook for the rest of the year.

With more consumers eating more at home to save money, Kraft is increasing its marketing and playing up that products like Oscar Mayer deli meats and DiGiorno Pizza offer convenience and value, Chief Executive Irene Rosenfeld told The Associated Press in an interview.

“There’s no question that people are eating at home more and we really find that as people eat at home more, they’re turning to Kraft,” she said.

Prices will continue to rise next quarter to keep up with increasing commodity costs, Rosenfeld said, though she wouldn’t give examples of products or amounts.

Kraft reported a second-quarter profit increase of almost 4 percent in the April-June period on Monday, saying higher prices helped offset rising costs.

Profit rose to $732 million, or 48 cents per share in the quarter, up from $707 million, or 44 cents per share, a year earlier.

Earnings per share excluding items rose to 58 cents per share from 51 cents, Kraft said. That was above the 50 cents a share that analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected. The analysts typically exclude one-time items in their estimates.

A weak dollar and gains from an acquisition helped sales jump about 21 percent to $11.2 billion. But price increases accounted for more than 7 percent of the revenue gain.