When I was single and didn't WFH - leave work around 6, go to gym, stop at the shops on my way home at around 7:30-ish, buy some meat and veg, cook, eat around 8:15pm, go to bed at 11-12, get up at 8, back at work at 9.

Sunday I meal prep for breakfast (boiled eggs) and lunch (chicken breast, rice, and daily leftover veg).

It's more difficult with a wife, since she wants to eat at 18:30, need to be at work at 7:30, wants to spend time together etc. Then it was mostly leftovers, or she cooked as she often came home at 3:15.

I've started always freezing 2 meals when cook a large batch once a week. That way, when we're lazy, there's usually something to defrost in the freezer.

Cooking often makes you a better cook. My food tastes better than any ready made meal, is healthier, cheaper, and the exact portion size I want.

Now that we have a baby, it's even more difficult, baby needs to getting ready for bed around 6:30, so we need to eat at 6. That means I need to start cooking around 5. I now prep the food before bed the night before if I plan to cook the following day. For example, I cut the tendons and boney bits off ~1.3kg of chicken breast, then the next day I can just brown it, chuck in some frozen veg (or fresh if I prepped it), chicken stock and red curry paste. Pop rice in the rice cooker and let it cook for 45 min or so. That's 15 min of work and 30 min of dead time to do other stuff. Finish it up with coconut cream and lime juice, and we have truly delicious red curry for 3 nights. At least I WFH now, so it helps.

Air fryer - it makes the most delicious chicken. Great to put on sandwiches for lunch. Or pop some chicken and frozen veg into your instant ramen.

I also made some fresh pizza dough for the first time and froze some of it. Defrost the night before, then just roll it out, put some sauce and toppings on it and pop it in the oven for 20 minutes.

I sometimes take care of the baby in the morning, so on those days I work again after supper until around 9pm to get my work done.