Can you spend 10 extra minutes and earn an extra $10?

This mode of thinking is interesting, but it's usually overrated as a way of deciding on time value. Most people have a job that takes some time and pays some money, but they can't arbitrarily work a little longer for a little more money as they desire.

This isn't to say your time value might not be high enough to justify not cooking... but it's usually a complex calculus, that involves assessing what you would actually do instead of cooking (for many people, that might just be zoning out in front of the football game), and figuring out the expected future value of it (eg spending the time reading a book may provide you with future intellectual or financial wealth). But then you also have to factor in the human growth from cooking: maybe you'll be a happier person if you cook more frequently.

This is quite a web, but I guess that's the point in my opinion. Annual salary divided by minutes worked in a year feels like a slam dunk way to make these decisions, but it's really not rich enough.

If you strictly want to maximize your money, you're probably making the best choice for yourself.

For many of us, time with family, friends, hobbies, is a relaxing and physically/mentally/emotionally healthy thing to engage in, rather than trying to exploit every waking hour for income.

Except that, in reality, no one is paying you for that 10 minutes. This is a nonsense claim I see thrown around here all of the time. If no one is willing to hand you a check for every spare minute you have then no, your time is absolutely *not" worth that money.

Taking on contract work is a non-trivial time investment. I can't just work for ten minutes whenever I want to pay for takeout, I will have deadlines to meet, which means less time with my family. I've done it, no thanks.