> Preparing and cooking fresh food requires much, much more effort than prepared packaged foods. Microwavable or similarly low/zero-prep food products.
Microwaving corn on the cob is pretty much as low effort as it gets.
Someone has to remove the husk, de-hair it first, and chop it to size, not to mention dress it with butter or etc. Each single one. Compare that to the amount of effort it takes to microwave a 20lb bag of creamed corn that is already dressed, and ready to be scooped onto a plate.
Go inside a small kitchen at 4pm or so and watch the amount of effort it takes to even chop onions in preparation for dinner service.
No you don't. You take the whole thing, with the husk on, and microwave it. Then you give it to the kid, and they pull the husk off, eat it, and throw the husk and cob into the compost bucket.
If you are worried about healthy meals, you probably don't put butter on it at all.