Life: Too long for additives, too short for homecookin'

The answer is home cooking. When I make lasagna, bread or anything else myself, it doesn't have so many questionable ingredients.

But who has the time? You work 40 hours a week if you're lucky and have a ton of other things to do. I work nights. I can't exactly come home at 10:30 and start making an intricate meal. My day-shift husband will be asleep before the food is out of the oven.

That's why I love Sourcebooks. They're re-issuing Deborah Taylor-Hough's "Frozen Assets" and "Frozen Assets Lite & Easy."

These "Cook for a day, eat for a month" books are a great entry in the OAMC tradition - Once-a-month-cooking, to you newbies. Now, I don't actually once-a-month it, but you could if you wanted to. Instead, these books give you recipes groupings you can make in a few hours or a day. They all go into the freezer and come out as convenience foods.

Instead of popping Stouffer's lasagna terror in the oven (check the ingredients and fat, you'll get what I mean), you can pop your own lasagna in with no prep work.

You cut the questionable ingredients and cut food waste. How does it cut food waste? The books group recipes that use similar ingredients so you don't buy a big pack of celery and only use one stalk. There's little food waste. You can also freeze the meals in single servings, many times, cutting waste, too.

There's actually a LOT of food waste in landfills. And it doesn't degrade like you'd think because it isn't exposed to air and light and water.

And, you can use organic for anything you wish in these recipes. Your own organic frozen lasagna is going to be MUCH cheaper than a convenience, organic frozen meal.

So OAMC recipes (you can find a lot online by searching OAMC) put safer food in your mouth, use organic, cut waste in landfills and save money. And, thanks to Sourcebooks, you can get your hands on a new copy of these books if you can't find one of the trade paperbacks.

I have both books and LOVE them. They're really great for referring to with your garden. Ever have 15 eggplants ripen at the same time? Hit the veggie section of the "Lite & Easy" book and you can whip up great, filling eggplant-based meals and get them frozen. No waste, and you get to enjoy your own garden's bounty into the coming months.

Yum.