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

[–] Nobsi@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

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

[–] rivingtondown@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

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.