All of this preparation can be easily done in about an hour’s time. Now, get out a large crock pot

In the next 15 minutes, you can slice mushrooms, chop a couple of onions, pour in a couple large jars of spaghetti sauce and the meat. It cooks itself! Your 30 minute cooking plan has produced 4 nights of ready to eat meals, and 12 more requiring just minutes of effort to serve. Sixteen nights in all. Another example here, let say that an hour and 15 minutes is all you want to deal with today. Season the remaining ground beef reserved for the meatloaf with thyme and parsley (or whatever) and stick it in the frig. Cook and freeze. It’s as easy as that. Twenty nights of eating for under two hours effort, with maybe fifteen minutes work each night, getting it to the table.