Oh man, what a question.

Depends on the day.

Last night, for example, I made a simple bacon stacked grilled cheese. The hardest part of that was the pickles, but I made them a month or longer ago, so it doesn't really count. Total time was about 15 minutes, because I like to let the bacon fry on a low-med temp for a while.

If I have the time, I like to take a couple hours to rock out. Last Sunday we didn't have much to do, so we made chicken satay, lettuce wrap fresh rolls, and spicy green beans. Lots of prep for that, even though the cooking itself is straight forward and quick, so the total time was probably 1.5-2 hours. Likewise when I feel like making a bolognese, even extra when I feel like making the tomato paste from scratch. However, the longest meals are when I break the smoker out. Then we're talking 6-10 hours of beer drinking and messing with the fire (I consider electric smokers to be sacrilegious).

I don't find any of that stressful. It's one of my favorite ways to spend an evening. Then again, I don't have kids, so it's not out of the question to spend a bit of time doing it the old fashion way. I'm not a great chef, but I've gotten to the point where there aren't many times I'm at a restaurant and think that I couldn't do a better version of what I'm eating at home (although at most restaurants that's a low bar). My favorite places are ones where I couldn't even come close.