1. Boil noodles in one pot; chop meat and fry in another pan; when the meat is close to cooked, add sauce or sauce ingredients; when sauce is heated and meat is cooked, put into serving bowl; when noodles are done, drain and add to same serving bowl. Mix and serve. Notice that I just described spaghetti, among other things.

2. Stir-fry: Start cooking rice (I use a steamer); put oil into bottom of frying pan; chop fresh veggies and add to frying pan, hardest first, softest last; when veggies are nearly cooked, chop meat if it isn’t already ground and add to frying pan; add soy sauce, a little brown sugar, and your choice of spices (I recommend ground ginger as one of them!); when meat is cooked, put in serving bowl. Put rice in another when it’s ready. Serve with chopsticks!

3. My family’s sloppy joes recipe: no veggies, though you could add onions to good effect; ground beef; ketchup, brown sugar, and Worchestershire sauce for the sauce; serve on bread.

4. Taco stir-fry: ground beef, cooked with plenty of chili powder; canned corn, sliced canned tomatoes (at least some of the liquid goes in too), grated cheddar cheese; add corn chips to the pan shortly before it’s done, or just warm the chips and serve them in separate bowls. Serve with more grated cheese sprinkled on top, because you can’t have too much cheese!

My standard casserole recipe is another pattern:
Preheat oven. Boil noodles. Drain, and put them in a casserole dish. Add a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup, some canned or chopped soft or chopped and cooked hard veggies, and your meat: canned tuna is one favorite, chopped chicken is another. Stir it together. Put cheese on top, because you can’t have too much cheese. Bake until meat is cooked, or until the cheese is melted if you used pre-cooked meat or no meat.

Tofu can substitute for meat. Beans or rice can substitute for noodles. Pre-boiled beans can also be subbed for meat, but you have to start boiling those first (and it helps if you soak them a few hours first).