Cook very large or numerous portions. Use what you need for 1 meal, freeze the rest to save for future meals. Based on how much your family eats in that first meal, divide up the remaining amount into that sized portions when freezing. Warm up the frozen food in the oven (still may take an hour, but you can do other things during that time).
Frozen vegetables are pretty cheap and easy to warm up quickly in the microwave or an air fryer. They may not be as good for you as fresh produce, but that can be a reasonable tradeoff based on the season and free time.
Chest freezers are reasonably cheap to buy (new or used) and cheap to operate, assuming you have the physical space and an open electrical outlet. They don't consume much electricity, mine uses about 75W for the compressor (when it's running, which is less than 50% of the time) and about 250W for the defrost heaters (which seem to turn on for about 15 minutes roughly once per day.
One extra thing to consider is preparing something that can transform easily into many dishes.
We cook a "big meal" every weekend (now in winter time is chickpea+meat stew - "cocido madrileño"). It takes around 1 hour to make, but the time is not proportional to the quantity. So we make enough for 3-4 meals for my family of 3 on a big pot.
The nice thing about this stew in particular is that you can reserve the liquid, meat and chickpeas in separate containers in the fridge. The liquid is a very good base broth for soups (heat up, add some noodles, done in minutes).
The meat can be consumed cold, or can be the meaty base of other things (croquettes). We can also rebuild the dish by adding broth, chickpeas and meat into a plate and microwaving it (again, minutes). Or we can add some rice and have a "paella de cocido" (that takes a bit longer, around 25 minutes).
You have to adapt this idea to whatever is available to you in your area and your personal tastes. Perhaps you can prepare a big batch of mexican food, to eat in tacos/wraps/with salad. Or some curry base that can double up as a soup.
Cook very large or numerous portions. Use what you need for 1 meal, freeze the rest to save for future meals. Based on how much your family eats in that first meal, divide up the remaining amount into that sized portions when freezing. Warm up the frozen food in the oven (still may take an hour, but you can do other things during that time).
Frozen vegetables are pretty cheap and easy to warm up quickly in the microwave or an air fryer. They may not be as good for you as fresh produce, but that can be a reasonable tradeoff based on the season and free time.
Chest freezers are reasonably cheap to buy (new or used) and cheap to operate, assuming you have the physical space and an open electrical outlet. They don't consume much electricity, mine uses about 75W for the compressor (when it's running, which is less than 50% of the time) and about 250W for the defrost heaters (which seem to turn on for about 15 minutes roughly once per day.
Yes, batch cooking!
One extra thing to consider is preparing something that can transform easily into many dishes.
We cook a "big meal" every weekend (now in winter time is chickpea+meat stew - "cocido madrileño"). It takes around 1 hour to make, but the time is not proportional to the quantity. So we make enough for 3-4 meals for my family of 3 on a big pot.
The nice thing about this stew in particular is that you can reserve the liquid, meat and chickpeas in separate containers in the fridge. The liquid is a very good base broth for soups (heat up, add some noodles, done in minutes).
The meat can be consumed cold, or can be the meaty base of other things (croquettes). We can also rebuild the dish by adding broth, chickpeas and meat into a plate and microwaving it (again, minutes). Or we can add some rice and have a "paella de cocido" (that takes a bit longer, around 25 minutes).
You have to adapt this idea to whatever is available to you in your area and your personal tastes. Perhaps you can prepare a big batch of mexican food, to eat in tacos/wraps/with salad. Or some curry base that can double up as a soup.