Do Americans in that situation serve much pasta? Pasta is generally cheap, stores well and cooks quickly. You can serve it with pesto out of a jar, butter/oil/pepper, or various other tomato-based jar sauces if short of time.

I have children so can empathise with anyone short of time and trying to accommodate juvenile palates, but pasta with some sauce options is one of our fallbacks - the two youngest like pesto. Rice is another (trivial in a rice cooker).