It can take a while, especially when you are trying new things. I do pre-prepare a lot of things, but not all the sort of all-in-on batch cooking on the weekend. More cutting up vegies for a few days in advance. I do also make things like stews in larger quanties when I am making them so I often just have to prepare side dishes and not the full meal.

I plan meals in advance and have a basic template I follow so I don’t have to start from scratch - nothing fancy, for example lunches are basically a repeat of toastie, sandwich, soup, sandwich & I just have to work out which specific type for each day. I write it on a whiteboard on my kitchen wall, which is directly in front of where I do food preparation. So I don’t have to remember what is coming up & what I need to do, it is right in front of me. Then for example if I am cutting up a salad to go with dinner, I will look at the board and see I have two more salads planned in future, so I will get out two containers plus the plate for dinner, and fill them all at the same time.