Melbourne

It started out hard, then got easier with experience, but became hard again over the last 18 months as I became increasingly burnt out and sapped of energy (not to mention my appetite dropped a lot).

Frozen veg is a lifesaver. Tinned beans, as well as any premade stir fry sauces (which you can make once at home). Ginger garlic paste as mentioned in yesterday's thread. Makes all the difference between "ugh what a fiddly job this will take forever" to "okay I can do this quick" and actually getting into a flow.

An air fryer has hugely expanded options as I don't like using an oven (fiddly, takes too long to heat up) but it makes cooking a frozen crumbed fish or whatever a nice quick meal.

But yeah, the biggest thing that has helped my whole life is meal prep/bulk cooking. Fuck weekday cooking (usually). Whenever I do have the energy I'll power through and make enough to last a while, freeze anything I can't eat in the week, and thank myself when cooking is hard but there's something ready to go. When I'm tired or can't concentrate I don't mind eating the same thing for days on end.

(Anything that can be eaten with rice is much more versatile and worth cooking in bulk and freezing - mainly if you use a rice cooker.)