Over the last several years, much has been written about what we make for dinner. But what about how we make it? As this summer drew to a close, I fantasized about making lasagna using as many fresh, whole, local, organic and homemade ingredients as possible, including hand-rolled pasta, home-stewed tomato sauce and fresh cheeses. Plenty of outspoken locavores and DIY-ers would sing the praises of this method, claiming foods made from scratch using fresh, local, organic ingredients are not only tastier and healthier but cheaper. I couldn't help but wonder — are those claims always true?

Consider my friend Grace. She's a widowed single mom with two children, a 50-hour-a-week job and a 25-minute commute. A culinary-school graduate who worked for years as a food journalist, she loves to cook, and she's concerned about fitness, nutrition and the environment. But her budget and schedule don't allow her to shop around for local, organic tomatoes or to make cheeses and fresh pasta. With Grace in mind, I conducted an experiment. I visited three markets, comparing frozen lasagnas and the ingredients needed to make two versions of the dish at home — one using jarred sauce, dried noodles and commercial cheese; the other using homemade sauce, noodles and cheeses.

Of the wide variety of frozen lasagnas available, I sampled two popular brands — Stouffers and Amy's. It's hard to argue with the economics of Stouffer's: the
96-ounce package costs $12.99 and serves 11 people — that's just over $1 per person, provided everyone sticks to the suggested serving size. The ingredient list, while lengthy, surprisingly didn't include much that was unfamiliar or unpronounceable.

Amy's single-serving package will set you back $4.99, though the portion is larger. If organic is important to you, it may be worth the cost, since nearly every ingredient is organic. Frozen lasagna is quick — dinner can be ready in about an hour, or even less if you use a microwave. But two tasters and I found both versions unsatisfying. The Stouffers was heavy, mushy, sweet and overly salty. Amy's has a slightly better consistency and fresh, herby flavor. Nothing about either lasagnas is fresh or local, but the price, simplicity and the fact that you won't guzzle gas shopping adds to their appeal.

"Semi-homemade" lasagna walks the middle path. After two steps — cooking the pasta and making a ricotta filling — you can assemble and cook the dish in less than an hour. If you use store-brand ingredients, a pan of lasagna costs roughly $13 (organic could cost twice that). That's about the same as a pan of the frozen stuff, and the home-cooked version tastes better.

Let's talk about lasagna made from scratch. It's ideal if you're concerned about where your dinner comes from. It's not a speedy undertaking, but if you like being in the kitchen, it can be relaxing.

Making cheese requires special ingredients; all-inclusive starter kits are available online at www.cheesemaking.com or from Santa Fe Homebrew Supply. Pasta machines are great, but you don't need one to make lasagna by hand. Use a rolling pin and a knife or pizza cutter. If you continue making your own pasta and cheeses, you'll see a return on initial investments.

Homemade pasta requires two ingredients — eggs and flour — and enough noodles to make a pan of lasagna can cost as little as $0.42 ($1.22 with organic ingredients). That's cheaper than any packaged, dried version. Sure, mixing, kneading, rolling and cutting takes more time than opening a box, but this is good, crafty, hands-on fun — remember the Play-Doh Fuzzy Pumper Barber & Beauty Shop? — and fresh noodles cook in minutes.

Homemade cheese is cheap — two gallons of milk will yield 12 ounces of mozzarella and two pounds of fresh ricotta (made from organic or local milk, ricotta is a quarter of the price of store-bought organic). Fresh cheeses taste better, and you avoid additives like powdered cellulose.

Homemade sauce can have fantastic flavor, but the cheapest fresh tomatoes I found were 99 cents a pound, and the recipe I use calls for more than 3 pounds. Add to that the time required for a good sauce to develop, and anyone with a tight schedule will think twice. Starting with canned tomatoes trims cost and cooking time, but you'll still end up spending more than $5 per batch.

No matter what the pundits say, the cheapest, quickest and easiest way to eat lasagna is to buy a frozen, premade brand. But if you have time or are concerned about the origin of what you eat, I recommend totally homemade lasagna. Ingredients can cost as little as $16, less than $30 if you buy only local or organic. And depending on how you view cooking, hours of entertainment are built right in.

Laurel Gladden is a freelance writer in Santa Fe. Contact her at the.ethical.epicure@gmail.com.