....with most households requiring two full time wage earners to get by, there's simply no time left for people to really cook.
However, for breakfast, I'm a bit more skeptical....especially when I see high school kids lined up at Starbucks in the morning for their breakfast frap....
Typically there are answers for almost every problem we face. I am one of those who can't function without that first cup of coffee. We have an automatic coffee maker which grinds beans, brews coffee, puts it in an insulated carafe. Timer makes it before I even get up. I grab the pot on the way into the kitchen.
But you are right that American life has degenerated to the place where households generally need two incomes to get by. But planning and deciding what is important goes a long way toward achieving a meaningful life even in America.
For instance, M'Lady and I are happy with a house that is warm and dry instead of trendy and costly. We have a 40 year old double wide right now. It is in excellent condition considering its age. But the cost was substantially less than a modern stick built. It gives us the ability to use what money we do have for things like kitchen tools which makes cooking much more efficient and easy.
There are web sites all over the Internet which will present meals which can be made over the weekend and give one a home-cooked meal just by reheating in the microwave all week long. There are web sites which will present recipes for meals which take 30 minutes or less to make. IMMHO, thirty minute meals probably take less time than it takes to order out or go to the fast food place and come back.
Typically, -my- breakfast is leftovers from the past couple of days dinner. I reheat in the micro-wave. Sometimes I make an omelet and use fresh veggies and some meat left over from dinner. It all depends on what dinner was.
The idea of brown bagging a lunch is no longer 'in' these days. But nearly every break room in America has a microwave. Instead of hitting the fast food place across the street, bring leftovers from home and nuke it in the break room. Not only is healthier but saves money too.
With the money you save, buy a meat slicer. Then you can buy lower quality and lower priced roasts. Put them in the crock pot and let them cook all day. What you don't eat for dinner, chill it and run it through the meat slicer across the grain. It will make excellent sandwiches that are much healthier than a gut busting burger from the fast food places.
Cooking is becoming a lost art in America because the corporations want you to believe they are your answer to a busy life. And all they are accomplishing is making you fatter and more unhealthy.