Not so fast: Meal kits blur the line between take-out and bake-in. (Manufacturing Operations: HMR).

What do an overheating economy and a stone-cold oven have in common?

Twelve-hour workdays, for one.

It may be a coincidence, but the home meal replacement (HMR) -- the white-collar equivalent of meals on wheels -- may have peaked about the same time the Dow first flirted with 11,000. Consider that the phrase "home meal replacement" appeared just once in the Lexis-Nexis database of newspapers in 1993 before ascending to 1,498 mentions in 1997 and then dropping to 504 by 2000. Now chart the Dow's ups and downs over the same period and you begin to get the picture.

Which begs the question: Did the HMR herald a sea change in America's dining habits or will it be remembered as the blip-like byproduct of a feverish economy?

The answer may be both.

Media mentions, of course, are just one means of charting a cultural phenomenon, and it may be that the HMR has simply been nudged from newsprint by fresher fare. On the other hand, while industry forecasts once put the HMR on track to surpass $170 billion in sales by 2005, a new study by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) suggests that post-9/11 consumers have begun reacquainting themselves with their oven dials -- or at least their microwaves. The study, which surveyed 2,000 adults nationwide, showed that the number of consumers preparing home-cooked meals three times a week jumped to 85 percent during the first quarter of 2002 (from 74 percent during the same period in 2001), while the number of fast food, take-out and home-delivery meals they purchased declined by as much as 6 percent. The study also indicates that low-price -- seemingly the only thing that HMRs don't deliver -- is becoming a stronger priority among consumers.

What hasn't changed is the desire for convenience. Indeed, FMI found that nearly half the meals cooked in American homes each week were prepared in 30 minutes or less, courtesy of pre-packaged meal kits and other "speed-scratch" products that merge the most desirable features of the HMR (taste, convenience) with those of more traditional meals (taste, economy).

The trend hasn't escaped the notice of major food companies. In fact, the number of meal kit product introductions jumped 45 percent in the last two years alone -- from 76 to 110 -- as Kraft, Campbell Soup Co., Tyson Foods and others either tested the waters or waded deeper into them.