I'm in an extremely HCOL area and the prices aren't that bad. Weekend meal 4 servings was <$15, three dishes + rice mix and match, including ribs, eggs, fresh veg (tomatoes, imported gai lan cuz I missed the stuff), etc. I am shopping discounts a lot but there's always something on sale which brings down the cost. Didn't take long to cook either. Gai lan took 90s to cook, eggs and tomatoes were around 5min, and the ribs were braised for an hour while I was doing other stuff. Meanwhile, the portions for something like Hello Fresh seem awful price-wise and they never have what I like.

Could it be the stuff you bought were all premade? That tends to rack up the price. I avoid the hot aisles unless its close to closing and there's steep discounts on everything.

Uhh... I mean I'm a fish. "Blub blub".