After a long, busy Tuesday, I staggered into my kitchen and ravenously searched the cupboards for a can of soup. Visions 
of my ideal meal-a brilliant still-life of vegetables fresh from the farmers’ market-faded in the face of my gnawing hunger. No meditative chopping, stirring, and composing that night. Sure, I felt guilty for not cooking a meal from scratch, but I figured it was better for my mental health to grab that can and hope for the best.I know what’s good for the planet and my health, and generally speaking, truckloads of frozen dinners moving across the country are not. But it’s not always practical-or even healthy-to toil over a cutting board: Sometimes it’s just plain stressful. And so I wondered if it wasn’t reasonable to round out my culinary repertoire with a few packaged foods. To find out, I made several basic meals three different ways to see how mainstream supermarket brands, organic convenience foods, and the real thing-home cooking-would stack up on busy nights.
When I cook my own meals, I feel physically and emotionally nourished by the smells and flavors, but at the end of a long day those meals don’t always leave me as relaxed as an easy dinner might. Instead, I realized, on the busiest of days I can choose high-quality packaged foods, toss in a diced fresh vegetable or some robust spices, and create meals I can feel good about. The three charts that follow chronicle my quest for healthy, quick, flavorful meals.
