Accepting that’s is ok to sometimes eat a frozen meal has been absolutely instrumental in helping me reduce eating out.
I got caught in the trap of perfect, trying to make tasty, healthy, low-cost meals, and then giving up when I couldn’t just do that every day with no experience.
When I went back to college with a toddler and a baby on the way. I started feeling really bad about how I was feeding my kid. I'd do stuff like chicken nuggets with some frozen veggies on the side for example. I told someone about this and they were like "no you're feeding your kid really well. They're getting most of their food groups in every meal and getting consistent meals"
Frozen veggies are said to be just as nutritious or sometimes even better than fresh, because they are flash frozen right after harvest and don't have time to deteriorate. They're almost certainly better than canned veggies anyway.
If you're looking for a fun Youtube channel to folliw, check out Sorted Food. They do a lot of silly food challenge videos, but a lot of them have some really good lessons for the average know-nothing cook.
Like I have fresh sour dough bread I made this morning. I then like to use said bread to spoon in store bought curries, pasta sauces, peanut butter, and jelly. Or sometimes I'll use it as bread for a frozen fish patty to make a sandwich. I also have a big things of rice and beans I made that I will sometimes just plop into a tortilla and call a meal.
just pointing out that the russian supermarkets have these for like $2-$3 per pound, basically ravioli. you can dump a serving into a pot of boiling water and then you're done in a couple of minutes. can top with pasta sauce or even ranch dressing. feeds a while family for the cost of a single fast food meal.