Fast food, in the original sense
A meal that is ready soon and still tastes like you seasoned it. Not a compromise bowl of sad noodles, and not a "quick" recipe that hid forty minutes of chopping in the preamble.
Build flavour while the pan is hot
You do not have a four-hour marinade. You have heat, salt, and something sharp at the end. Brown the meat or the mushrooms properly instead of stirring them into a crowd. Add garlic late so it does not go bitter. Finish with lemon, vinegar, yoghurt, soy, or a spoon of the chilli oil you already own.
A sauce can be three things. Yoghurt and garlic. Tomato, butter, salt. Soy, lime, a pinch of sugar. Ask for one sauce, not a drizzle of five.
Lunch is allowed to be dinner's leftover
The fastest tasty meal is often yesterday's, with an egg or a handful of greens. If you are planning, say you want lunches from the dinners rather than a separate roster of grain bowls you will not assemble at 8am.
If lunch has to be made in the morning, keep it to food that is fine cold or takes one pan: a tortilla, a noodle salad, cheese and something crisp. A generated bento with eight components is a hobby.
Read the time twice
"Quick" sometimes means the cooking is quick and the prep is a second job. Ask for minimal chopping, or for vegetables that can go in whole and be cut in the pan. Frozen spinach, tinned beans and pre-cooked rice are legitimate ingredients. Anyone who disagrees is not cooking at 7pm on a Wednesday.
Clean-up counts. One bowl to season, one pan to cook, one plate to eat. If the method needs more, it is not this kind of meal.
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