When my parents were alive, I think they tried meals on wheels, but almost immediately stopped as they didn't like the food at all. After that, my brother bought them a few meals-forget what company, but they were frozen meals that were delivered. Not that cheap either but at least there was a choice.

I think with so many people with allergies and also personal preferences, there has to be a choice these days.

I suspect some of it is a change in attitude. You only have to look at eg catering at weddings in the past where maybe there were 2 meals that alternated and people accepted what they were given.

These days, every invitation carries a spot to list food no-no's. When my son married, every second person put something on there. Most of those people had no allergy. My son didn't mind people with allergies writing something but was amazed at how many people put down a list of what they disliked eg "don't want beef, fish" etc

So I think these days there is a sense of entitlement to more choice that  maybe wasn't there in the past. And when you consider that people are paying for the meals, that is fair enough.