system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
eli5: How do “instant” versions of foods (instant oatmeal, coffee, rice, etc.) exist? Why are they not the standard since they’re so efficient?
gpt
Instant items are typically precooked and then dehydrated versions of food.  While they are easy to prepare for a meal, they often taste not quite as good and have less nutritional value than fresh counterparts.  They also require a certain level of processing to make, which is often more effort for a large company to provide than just local farmers selling potatoes to grocery stores over boxes of potato flakes, etc.