The empty-fridge weeks taught you how to stretch rice. Resourceful people are made in lean kitchens.

Going without is not a lesson anyone should have to take, and it does leave things behind. Working out how to make a small amount cover several days requires planning, timing and a steadiness under pressure that is genuinely hard to teach. You learned it because you had to, which does not make the weeks good.

Give yourself credit for practical knowledge most people your age are only now picking up. Use it, and let it be a skill rather than a memory of scarcity. And where support exists, take it.