I'm going to agree with you on the effort vs reward on cooking, especially when cooking for one.
The time investment for a balanced meal for 4 is only slightly more than the time investment for a balanced meal for 1. This results in a high time cost per person when cooking for one.
However, I've gone a slightly different way than powdered meal replacement. I've signed up for two different prepared meals (one gives me lunch, the other dinner) that cuts the lunch to "microwave some fairly good food for 2m" and the dinner is "put this raw food in these aluminum trays, scan the barcode, come back in 13 to 20 minutes.
It competes fairly well with going out to eat and while more expensive than other instant dinners, tastes better and has more variety.
The time investment for a balanced meal for 4 is only slightly more than the time investment for a balanced meal for 1. This results in a high time cost per person when cooking for one.
However, I've gone a slightly different way than powdered meal replacement. I've signed up for two different prepared meals (one gives me lunch, the other dinner) that cuts the lunch to "microwave some fairly good food for 2m" and the dinner is "put this raw food in these aluminum trays, scan the barcode, come back in 13 to 20 minutes.
It competes fairly well with going out to eat and while more expensive than other instant dinners, tastes better and has more variety.