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Just the basics
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this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2023
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I somewhat agree but your time scale is way off.
At least in the US, it's been exactly this way for at least the last 20-30 years. 20 years ago was 2003, if you showed me this photo and told me it was from the turn of the millennium I wouldn't bat an eye. The 90s was crazy with all these fast brands and snacks. Everyone's freezer was filled with totinos pizza rolls.
Arguably longer to be honest. I can't remember a time where frozen microwave junk food didn't dominate the grocery stores and TV advertising. I wouldn't hesitate to believe an argument that it's been like this since the early 70s but assume it happened sometime in the 80s when the stay-at-home housewife transitioned to the career-focused woman.
As an European student, my freezer is also filled with pizza rolls and other junk food. But that's only because my fridge is filled with fresh produce and my cupboards have lots of dry ingredients. Cooking simple dishes from common ingredients is easy and quick once you got a couple of go-tos and the freezer is only for "guilty pleasure" snacks. That cart looks like my snack run. Many ads show "quick and easy" meals here too, but luckily I learned (in school) how to cook on my own, quickly and easily despite my schedule
Many people are not that privileged. Adding onto that: Building up a spice rack and knowing what and how takes work. If youre already in the processed food trap learning how to cook not only takes time but also seems useless because you can spend just 1 dollar more and you save the time
I can't speak for everyone but, in the US, I would imagine students especially cooking with fresh ingredients is pretty rare, especially guys. Personally I didn't start doing that myself until I was married and really only because my wife enjoyed cooking. Since kids I can't imagine being on the processed food train - most people I know didn't start cooking at home when they had kids.
I'm a big proponent of the "cooking is way easier than you think" camp but you'd be surprised how little some people have in their pantry and cabinets. There's folks that don't even own a baking dish, anything more than a 12" frying pan is probably a big ask depending who you're talking to. Spices? I knew kids in college that didn't even own table salt and pepper shakers... if I said the word turmeric I'd get a funny look.
My time perception is off and additionally i do not live in the US. The steady and very aggressive push towards highly processed foods that are "quick and easy" never really came to Europe.
But i have a lot of US Based Customers that i talk to a lot and in recent years the topic of time scarcity has almost gotten to be a daily occurrnce.