$376.23

You miss a lot when you skip supper, including a visit from the Companion - the One-Who-Brings-Bread.

$376.23

Keep this dollar amount in mind. $376.23. We'll get back to it.

But first, consider this scenario: You're on the way home from the office, tired and stressed. You're hungry, but you know that the refrigerator at home is as empty as your stomach.

If you are like most Americans, where are you going to stop for food for the evening meal?

Not the grocery store.

Not McDonald's.

Where then? A gas station. You'll pull up to a gas station, fill the tank with a high-octane premium gasoline, run inside and grab some fresh panini, a three-cheese pesto and double espressos, and take off for home.

You're part of a swelling demographic group of Americans who dislike fast food, but don't have time to cook up an elaborate home meal. You've discovered the joy of not cooking, and are snapping up what the food industry calls HMRs, Home-Meal Replacements, a growing $100 billion-a-year phenomenon.

Check it out. For example, if you're driving on Interstate 680 in San Ramon, California,...