> Making lunch and cleaning up shouldn't take more than a few minutes

Let's hear your cooking tips, then. Preferrably no "microwave the plastic box contents you got from the grocery store", that doesn't count as real food, for nutrients quality nor taste.

Bread takes about 10 minutes, leave it to rest, then bake it. And several loaves can be done at the same time. If you have a bread maker then that's even less work. Pasta just takes a boiling pan. Rice, a pan or a rice cooker. Starches largely cook themselves.

Vegetables/fruit take a minute or two to chop and pan-fry / prep as you like.

Protein can be as simple as a poached chicken breast, roasts again just stick them in an oven. Beans in a pressure cooker, that's also pretty automatic too.

Cooking's as time-consuming as you make it.

And then these can be batched-up / prepped as a morning chore; I find it takes less time than cleaning the house. I don't batch as I like the break in the day of another activity. It's less time than a commute.

YouTube is packed full of easy, tasty recipes if looking for somewhere to start.

> Bread takes about 10 minutes

I've been using the newbie friendly NYT no knead bread[1] for years, and it's that easy. The only gotcha is that you have to prepare it the night before, but that isn't really a big deal in practice. Bread is surprisingly difficult to ruin, and fresh daily bread has been a huge boon for me in these new WFH times.

I highly recommend it.

[1] https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/11376-no-knead-bread

Making a sandwich takes about 5 minutes. So does a salad. Or just make 2x the servings of whatever you were going to make for dinner and save half for lunch the next day. Or meal prep and make a weeks worth of lunches in about an hour on Sunday. All of those can be at least as healthy as whatever the cafeteria is making, and take a minimal amount of time.

had to spend a few months back in the states to take care of my cat. The instant pit is a godsend! throw in some frozen veggies and a whole chicken -> enough chicken soup to feed two people for 2 days. Beans + 1-2 ham bones -> a 5 days worth of beans for less than $8.

Here's one: Get some shelled shrimp/prawns. Mix mayo + ketchup, lemon juice, paprika + tabasco to make a sauce and pour over the shellfish

Shred lettuce, slice avocado and serve with some chunky bread rolls. Shouldn't take more than 5 minutes, 1 bowl and a plate.

Another: mix a stock cube/gel with 1 pint water and put in a pot on the heat. Throw in some dried rice noodles, sliced salad onions, chopped pepper.

Cook for 3 minutes and you have a delicious noodle soup. Add chicken or protein for extra fun.