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.

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.

I was in a long distance relationship that didn’t work out… this is going back about 9 years so I have a long perspective of it now.

Long story short I was in a short but emotionally intense fling with a girl who lived across the country. We had originally met in real life on a friends trip together (as we had mutual friends) and did a couple trips back and forth to see each other in person, spending every other night apart on the phone / video chat. She broke up with me after becoming interested in a guy back home, from what I heard from mutual friends.

It really hurt, I was crushed and didn’t know what to do with my time anymore. We had developed this routine that was now torn away from me and I just wanted to drown my sorrows. I ended up just going out to bars and clubs most nights to keep myself entertained. About a month later I joined the online dating pool and went on a few dozen dates trying to recapture the connection.

I found something far better though, with someone I learned I related too far more personally and hobby wise, she became my wife and we have a beautiful toddler at home i’m struggling to get to take naps by himself.

Everything about the other girl is a distant memory, I forget her names most times it pops into my head - and that’s going back years now. I still remember some lessons I learned from that relationship though.

That’s all to say, life moves on and that’s not just a sappy saying. You honestly will recover and be a better person for it.