A really nice home-cooked meal takes a lot of time, before and after, not gonna argue that, but cooking a hot meal covers a lot of different things.
I'm not trying to attack you here either,
@wink , it's just your post is as good as any use to make a point. As a society, we've collectively forgotten how to feed ourselves. It's like our concept of food is upside down.
Hot, healthy food
isn't always expensive. A ¾ pound bag of frozen vegetables costs a dollar at WalMart and it takes a few minutes in a microwave oven. (If that sounds bland then dress it up with some tomato sauce and sprinkle some salt and pepper on top... still quick and cheap.) The same size bag of potato chips (party size bag) costs $3.50, even more if you buy the variety pack of lots of small bags. Be honest, which is more commonly seen in the checkout line?
Cold food or snacks? A 2lb bunch of half a dozen nice, big bananas comes out to less than a dollar (at WalMart prices). The same number of off-brand twinkies costs about five bucks. Pretty easy choice which one to pack in kids' lunches or to tell them to eat when they say they're hungry but it's not dinner time yet.
Thirsty? 12oz. cans of off-brand coke aren't too bad a $3 for a dozen, even cheaper by the 2L bottle, but drinking tap water (ew, gross) is practically free and it won't make your bones weak like drinking two of those cans every single day will. And whatever happened to 10oz cans and 8?
I'll give you that some overweight people really do have bad genes, some people stay naturally skinny because they feel full as soon as they eat two bites (or so it seems).
But for the bulk of the fat people in this country (pardon the pun) they're that way because of choices- a lot of bad choices. A lot of the same people will claim they have joint problems that makes it difficult to exercise. They gave themselves bad bones and joints from those same bad choices.
Frozen vegetables, fresh fruit, and water sounds terrible compared to riding in comfort in an electric scooter, with a convenient basket to carry a personal diabetes kit... choosing to go for a walk instead of watching the latest episode of the damn tiger king... or having way more trouble breathing than you rightfully should, laying in a hospital bed and sick with a bad case of the covid, because your diaphragm has to do twice the work with every breath you take because it's doing dead lifts on your big belly.
Choices.
Thanks for letting me rant.