There are days when a bowl of chili or a steaming plate of spaghetti sounds nice, but the chopping involved doesn’t. Here’s a secret: the start of both a nice red sauce and a good bowl of chili are remarkably similar. You can do a whole bunch of chopping on a single day and cook up enough of two different dishes to eat a couple times during the week and stow some in the freezer for another week. The following amounts will make about six to eight servings of each chili and spaghetti sauce, depending on who you are feeding and how much they eat.

Chop 1 large onion, two to three large peeled carrots, and about half a bunch of celery (including the leaves). You should end up with about a cup and a half to two cups of each vegetable. The pieces of each vegetable should be of a similar size. If you like garlic, mince two to three large cloves of garlic.

In a large dutch oven or big pot, heat a couple tablespoons of canola oil on medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add the garlic and give it a quick stir — no more than about 30 seconds — then add in the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for about three or four minutes until soft and translucent. Add the carrots and celery and continue cooking until soft.

Add about four finely chopped fresh roma tomatoes, and two large cans of crushed or diced tomatoes. Italian San Marzano tomatoes are especially flavorful. Throw in a pinch of salt or two and a couple grinds of pepper. Let this sit on medium-low heat and cook while you:

Brown one to two pounds of lean ground beef or turkey in a tablespoon of oil. You can skip this if you don’t like meat. You can do half and half. You can just do a little meat, or really um, beef it up. You could use soy crumbles, ground pork or veal, too. Whatever makes you happy. I usually use beef or buffalo (grass fed, organic) and/or ground white meat turkey (Heidi’s Hens organic — find it frozen at natural food stores like PCC).

Turn off the heat and take half the meat out of the pan and transfer it to a pot big enough for half the sauce plus beans and meat.

Put the transferred meat into this pot with a half teaspoon of cumin, a half teaspoon of chili powder and a couple sprinkles of cayenne pepper. Stir this together and add in about two cups of cooked beans — kidney, black, or white or a combination. You can use canned (this is about two small or one large can); if you are, include some of the liquid. If you’ve soaked and cooked dried beans, just add some additional water if you think the end result is too think. Add half of the sauce you have simmering on the stove. Let this all meld together over low heat until heated through. Then taste and adjust seasonings (cayenne and salt). Serve it up with chopped cilantro and some shredded cheese on top. Freeze half of it for another time.

Take the rest of the meat and put it back on the heat with about a quarter teaspoon of crushed fennel seed, when heated through, add to the remaining sauce. Stir in a half teaspoon each of dried oregano and basil, or a couple teaspoons of fresh, finely chopped. Add in two jars of slightly drained marinated artichoke heart quarters (I like the fire roasted ones) and about a cup or two of good red wine. Let this simmer and cook down so it’s not so soupy. Taste occasionally and adjust to taste, adding salt, pepper, or even a little red pepper flake if you like. Serve over pasta with some nice fresh Parmesan. Freeze the rest for another day.

You’ve chopped once, cooked for maybe an hour, and have at least four meals for your effort.