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I've expressed this before but I miss simpler meals as the norm. We've been chronically overpacking the pipeline with enormous supplies of not-particularly-protein-dense lasagne, fried rice etc. which we then have to eat for days and days. It blocks rotation of healthy variety and fresher staples. I feel subtly pressured to overeat while the monomeal is still fresh enough to not have to be made sad by freezing or wasted outright as discard. The economy of cooking large supplies of protein all at once, doesn't fully translate to cooking a large supply of a complex casserole recipe. The quantities we produce at one time translate to unaccounted burdens of oven mess, having to clean more stages of storage, occupying more fridge/freezer space, and overeating. There are probably other significant downsides that just aren't on the tip of my brain at the moment.

Of course, if I'm making poor portioning choices, that's ultimately nobody's fault but mine. No one is holding me down, twisting my arm, and saying "how dare you only eat 800 calories worth of lasagne, you march right back to the kitchen and top your plate up to 1200 calories right now mister". So I do also have to claim responsibility for becoming more intentional and assertive about making the time to balance out prepared dishes with daily fresh veg. Overeating (or more specifically "overcalorie-ing") is a problem with very obvious, well-mapped, and not even particularly burdensome solutions. Measured portions of the calorie-dense stuff, balance calorie-dense stuff with fiber-and-antioxidant-dense stuff.

The "daily baseline rotation of simpler meals" alternative to the strategy of epic productions of time-and-equipment-intensive, not-particularly-protein dense casseroles:
1. A protein of course. Pre-cooked meat portions easily, stores well, rotate pre-portioned for variety.
2. Vegetables! salad, lightly steamed/roasted, bean stew. (Not "buttercheese with a little broccoli")
3. Optional measured portion of carb: maybe sandwich bread, rice bowl, pasta, tater.

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