it’s an up-charged box of ingredients that you can buy separately in probably that same aisle for much cheaper.

Yeah, this product is an awful choice for the budget conscious.

Pasta is like $1.20/lb. There are many different ways to dress up pasta with other ingredients, whether saucy or cheesy or creamy or oily or even relatively dry seasoning. You can add a cheap protein source. You can add vegetables. In many forms, pasta is still a one-pan dish that can be made in about 20 minutes, where you prep ingredients as the water boils. Or you can put in a lot of effort (all-day sauces, hand-pounded pesto, etc.).

My favorite low effort, cheap and nutritionally complete meal is boiling a package of pasta, dumping in a can of beans, dumping in a can of premade chili, and shredding a bunch of cheddar over it. The macros are good, even for athletes, it’s cheap, and it’s easy.

As you mention, rice is between $1 to $2 per pound, based on quantity and type. There are a ton of options around that, too.