"Imagine spending one hour in the kitchen to only feed yourself one time. That would be peak insanity to me today."
YMMV. For me, spending time cooking is a great way to take a break from my computer and spend time away from a screen. And like showering, the process of cooking is now mechanical enough that it allows me to focus on broader tangents in whatever I'm working on and set myself up for the next session of coding/building stuff, and now with a full tummy.
I life in a country where fresh produce is readily (and cheaply) available, so I find things like weeklong mealprep (especially, pre-chopping veggies for the week), and eating microwaved food from the freezer ridiculous, both from a taste as well as a health perspective.
Honestly, I think the trick is to have a set of a 12-15 recipes that you can fall back to, and once you have a hang of it, it's easy to create interesting variations with your food! Of course, YMMV
"Much of it (not all) is science and engineering. You can robotically produce incredible meals. And I argue you should" - This I agree with 100% with you on!