[GoldenRacer]

There's also the convenience issue. If you work multiple low skill jobs just to make ends meet, you might not have the time to turn fresh produce into a meal. If you're trying to limit yourself to foods that require limited/no preparation and are cheap, you do end up getting a lot of unhealthy options that fill that niche.

You can get around this. I've personally spent years of my life eating just rice and beans with a bag of frozen vegetables. You can get a really low priced rice cooker ($20-30) that you can spend <1 minute setting up (it'll steam the veggies while it cooks the rice) and then let it run while you're in the shower or doing something else. In the end you get a reasonably health albeit bland meal with less time spent prepping than actually eating. I get why it starts to make sense to just grab a $5 burrito at taco bell as a meal when you're rushing to your second job though.