It is interesting to see the American context where food is so cheap. In my country eating out, even fast food, is the privilege. For me there's no cheaper option than cooking at home, by a wide margin. It does take some planing. But I would go broke in a week if I ate a whole work week straight of fast food. It would be over half of my monthly income. Just one week of lunch only. So for me there's no option, I have to cook at home or I would starve.

I cook almost every meal, and I eat mostly things based on beans and rice.

I also don't really enjoy cooking, so I streamline. I prep several days at once, and put everything in containers for when I need it. I keep the frying pan on the stove, and toss everything in when the rice cooker is done... It's very low effort, but endlessly versatile between veggies, spices, and cooking methods.

You have to wait like 20 minutes to let the rice cook, but then it's less than 5 minutes of effort for most meals, then if you immediately rinse everything down you don't need to completely wash it every time

It's also extremely cheap, the only thing I know of that's cheaper would be bulk top ramen. I use a $20 rice cooker and a frying pan... My food expenses are about $25-35 a week, and I like to pick up fresh veggies and other things to vary it up. That's like 3 meals, maybe 4 at a fast food place these days.

Cooking isn't privilege in any way. It's normal. It doesn't have to be fancy, it's just basic preparation of food humans have done since we discovered fire.

If you're so exhausted you can't care for your own basic needs, that's not lack of privilege, that's exploitation