Ready-to-cook for a very long time (4,3)
I believe the answer is:
year dot
'a very long time' is the definition.
'year dot' can be an answer for 'time' (I have seen 'earliest time' mean 'year dot' so perhaps 'time' could also mean 'year dot'). I'm not sure about the 'a very long' bit.
'ready-to-cook' is the wordplay.
'cook' indicates an anagram.
'ready'+'to'='readyto'
'readyto' anagrammed gives 'YEAR DOT'.
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for year dot that I've seen before include "Earliest known period" , "earliest time" , "Ready to (anag.)" , "A very long time ago" , "Start of time (colloq.)" .)