I love cook. I love preparing a delicious meal for my family. We're foster parents and currently have two under three, and I know they're too young to really appreciate it, but I love preparing colorful, delicious meals for them.
One thing that really helps me at the store is a list. I have a wiki set up on our home server where I track menus for the weak and recipes for those meals. I also keep a copy of the grocery list. I print that out, scratch out anything we already have on hand, and take that to the store. Makes it all really simple and easy.
Once you have a dozen or two meals that the kids will eat and the parents enjoy, you can mix and match those and also rotate in some new ones to try. But you'll always have that base, so when that hectic week happens, at least meals won't be an issue.