I have a friend who cannot cook. Every meal is either prepared by a restaurant, take-out eaten from Styrofoam, or a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich.

I'm not kidding when I say she cannot make toast. She does not own a blender, mixer, toaster, or turkey baster. She never took home economics in high school or junior high. Maybe she should have. She's spending more than she can afford on food right now.

When we talk about home economics, we conjure up visions of the 1950s housewife in her apron putting a bird in the oven or setting the perfect table. Or we picture a teenage boy struggling with his assignments so he can be the only boy in an otherwise all-girl class.

What we do not picture is a young professional sitting at night in her condo looking at the back of the Lean Cuisine box because it's all she knows how to cook, or the pudgy law student who lives on fast food and beer.

And now, even those mainstays of the modern diet have gone up in price. Gone are the days of cooking from scratch, but are they really forgotten? In today's economy where my sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit breakfast has almost tripled in price, it may be time to rediscover the lost art of home ec.