I can walk into Chipotle, order a burrito, and be out in less than 5 minutes with a delicious meal and no clean-up (maybe 10 if there's a lineup).

It takes me much longer to cook the chicken and rice, even if the 'prep' is done, and I still have to clean up!

I have what I'd consider a healthy diet, and I've been avoiding restaurant and prepared meals throughout the pandemic, but cooking everything has been a huge time-sink.

Cook food for a couple of days and time per meal will decrease. It takes a bit of getting used to it but once you find the gist of it it really works out

As mentioned above, I cook every meal I eat these days (averaging take-out once every 6-8 weeks). Chipotle is still much faster. Cooking chicken takes a minimum of ten minutes, rice is longer, even assuming no prep time and no clean-up.

The thing is, you don't have to stare at the rice as it's cooking.

Unless you live on top of Chipotle it's very likely the time actually invested cooking will be less than traveling to Chipotle and coming home again.

And beyond that, your simply overpaying for a meal that can be made at home. It's a waste of money, you can save it and waste it on something else you couldn't just make at home.

That’s not remotely true at all.

a) Walk into Chipotle, walk out. $10, 10 minutes.

b) Prepare a list of ingredients. Go to the grocery store. Find and select those ingredients. Go home. Cook and prepare ingredients. Clean dishes and cookware. $7, 2 hours.

Is your time worth so little that you’d spend hours to save $3?

I gotta say, I laughed out loud at your "hours to save $3."

Its honestly the exact response I expect from people who eat at Chipotle.

Even if we assume you never go to the grocery store, making a specific trip to the grocery store instead of Chipotle can likely be assumed to take the same amount of traveling time. And next time you go to Chipotle, think for a moment the complexity of the ingredients your getting. Rice? It's rice. Black beans? You could buy them canned, you won't taste the difference in a bowl. Salsa? You can just buy salsa, it's a dollar or so and lasts ages in the fridge. Cheese is cheese. Lettuce is lettuce. Now all that's left is cooking some chicken breast, your choice how to do it.

If it takes you hours to cook chicken... I don't know how to help you. Perhaps Google how to bake chicken, how to pan fry chicken, how to cook chicken in an instant pot. Literally anything.

Way to miss the point. Cleaning dishes takes time. Going to the grocery takes time. That’s why people go to Chipotle.

If you are preparing in bulk then it's really 10 minutes * # meals, whereas if you cook, you could make 10 at once and the pre-prepped meals are ready in however long it takes to warm things up.

Also, many people don't live 10 minutes walking from a Chipotle. If it was a 15-20 minute drive instead of a 10 minute walk, cooking becomes obvious.

Decide what I want today : pasta, rice or a steak with mashed potatos.

Defrost some fish or meat. Do other stuff while it thawes.

Chop some vegetables, cook some water, cook & fry. 30 minutes while I do other stuff.

Pasta, rice, beans, potatos, fresh vegetables and meat & fish, I have plenty of stock. And I live really small.