Agreed completely. Buy a rice cooker with a steamer tray, hell, issue one with EBT, they're cheap and you'll pay it back in volumes. Niggerproof rice and steamed veg, one button press away, all the time. Mix with whatever protein they want, instant dish. Can add pretty much anything to it, costs almost nothing, and stores well for meal prep, work and school lunches, reheats well, whole nine yards. Shits fucking magical. If you can make instant ramen, you can work a rice cooker.
Genuinely fucking good idea, forces them to engage with the local community too. Fresh veg and baked goods, plus there's usually local sweets that are 10x better than the processed shit. Local honey, spread on toast, I'd take that shit over a mars bar any day of the week. And if you don't know what to do with a given ingredient, my experience is the old farmers wives are always happy to list off a few dish ideas that you can make with no fancy tools or knowhow.