I would have started earlier. Slicing the beef and onions and measuring out lots of little amounts of sauce ingredientstook some time. But the end result was more than worth the trouble. I added a can of sliced water chestnuts, just because we like them. I will definitely make this again! We get the Costco already cooked sticky rice that heats in the microwave for 90 seconds and split it between the 2 of us, and we have a nice amount of leftovers for another meal.