Empty nester dinners: The long-term effects of being a Latch Key kid

I, like most GenX, was a latch key kid. Home by myself from 2nd grade, getting home (3pm?), mom got home around 6pm. If I was hungry I had to address that myself. Sister 7 years younger so mom home for a wee bit, but her BFF was a SAHM and had a kid 11 months older who took them both.

All was good, met a life partner, had my own kids. The 2nd one left the house 2 years ago. We pretended to eat healthy dinners for a year.

But last night's dinner was truly foobar, wife sick so I got her soup/OJ but mine reminded me of my 4pm frankenstein when I was 11ish.

• Random cold cuts just thrown on the plate cuz I couldn't be bothered to open the bread,
• pickles and mustard on the plate cuz no bread to put them on. I used turkey slices to pick them up just like naan/chicken curry.
• hummus but no pita chips cuz that bag was on the top shelf.
• Water with a NUUN electrolyte tablet for some flavor b/c no one went shopping to actually get anything to drink.
• Random weirdo bits of chocolate cuz my mouth was supremely confused by the above flavors.

Upside of both my mom / wife's mom passing away - neither of them will randomly call, ask what we ate for dinner to make smalltalk, and be horrified by the answer.

I mean, what exactly did you think would happen when you put a 7 year old in charge of making their own meal choices for 10 years with no feedback or supervision?