Victoria, very definitely it's a sign of the times. I agree -- it's wonderful to realize you can eat real cheese and real mayonnaise. Now try finding it !!! (I wasn't looking for alternate stores, actually; I meant the post to be about the change in times and wondered if this was a USA phenomenon, or has the rest of the world turned to prepacakged as well.)

The trend to packaged food isn't really new, it's just that the percentage of real food has decreased. When I was a child, my aunt baked cakes "from scratch" -- and, I'm told, the children in my class wouldn't eat them at birthday parties because they were too dry. Voila! Cake mixes with pudding in them. And by the time I was in high school making a cake "from scratch" meant using a cake mix. (not in my home, but in many others)