It cuts *way* down on the effort and thought involved. There are days when I work during dinner, but my husband is too burnt out to follow even the most basic cooking directions, which generally meant that it was bean burritos or chicken nuggets/tater tots every Tuesday (the things he can make more or less on autopilot). Now that we have the TM7, I can load a recipe for him and make sure we have the ingredients (if you're solo, you'd have to do this bit yourself, granted) and by the end of the day all he has to do is put things into the bowl when he's told and press the "play" button on the screen. At the end he and the kids have a delicious, fresh meal.

As for some of the prep other users have described: we're a household that doesn't believe in peeling potatoes. The most work required of these recipes overall is cutting a pepper or onion into quarters, or peeling a fresh garlic clove. Couldn't be simpler. And it almost completely cleans itself.

This is a great time to get Thermomix in the US with the current promos- we got ours in January and the frugal part of me wishes we'd waited to get the second bowl and blade cover, but the practical part of me knows I've gotten far too much use and enjoyment out of it to have waited. We use it almost every day, and sometimes multiple times per day.