Does he bake cookies?
I typically Sous Vide a ton of protein (usually chicken) every weekend and use that as a basis for two lunch options over the week…it’s less complicated than it sounds; I’ll just, for example, do an adobo finish on some and an Italian finish on the others (on the grill or in cast iron depending on my mood). Roast a few veggies, make a bunch of quinoa in the Instant Pot, and my wife and I are sorted for the week.
I really like sous vide for chicken breast especially — it’s way convenient and comes out super tender every time. And, you can do a big batch and process it to pasteurization (check out Baldwin’s sous vide time/temp tables for details) so if you’re not sure how much you’ll need, you can leave half of it sealed on the fridge and then be 10 mins away from a week’s worth of prepped meals later on, without worry for food safety.
Looks nice. Those containers look good too.
Old thread, but I’ll contribute my experiences, especially since I have the same challenges with eating chicken that is hard to get excited about and get down often.
Here are some ideas:
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if you can access ground chicken, that can be an excellent alternative to eating large pieces of chicken breast. You usually have the choice of just plain “ground chicken” or ground chicken breast. You can go for the latter if you want the same macro profile — basically, very little fat. I can’t say what the reasons are, but maybe it’s just the size/surface area/ease of shoveling ground chicken into your mouth that is a heck of a lot easier than eating large pieces of chicken breast. This is a staple in our household for most of our meals each week. The process for me is using an instapot to saute some onions & bell peppers. I take them out. I put 2 lb of ground chicken in the pot, saute, and once it’s about 80% done, I add back in the veggies to let them finish together. This is very little prep, easy process, and no big mess. You can do this easily with prep/clean-up/cooking/etc. in about 40 minutes. If you double the batch (use only 1/2 the veggies and repeat the saute process individually for 2 lb of ground chicken each time), you then have 4 lb of ground chicken that will last for many meals and you’re now down just 60 minutes. My seasoning for the chicken as it sautes is salt/pepper/turmeric/paprika/cayenne +some taco seasoning (Patagonia brand) +some additional aji pepper blend (Patagonia brand)
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I’m also a grilling fan and this is also extremely easy. I buy chicken breasts or “tenders” and transfer from store-brought packaging to your own gallon-size zip-lock bag. Season with same items mentioned above, close bag, massage the chicken and flip it around the bag to get it nicely coated and evenly distributed with the seasonings added. Let it rest for about 30-60 minutes while your grill gets to temperature. Here’s the thing — no matter how deliciously you season and grill these breasts/tenders, it’s still not easy to eat. It’s still a big piece of chicken and I don’t find it that great. Sure, when it’s all hot & tasty, it’s fun. In terms of meal prep, it’s not. Here’s something that sounds silly but it may be same principle as above for ground chicken — cut the breasts that you grilled (after it’s cooled) into 1/4" to 1/2" cubes. Now, using these cubes in your individual meals that you prep I find way easier to eat and appetizing then larger pieces. It also opens up other possibilities like throwing this on salads in the summer. Or, throw them in a soup like right now in winter that really hits the spot. Again, cubing it goes a long way for me. Maybe that’ll work for you, too.
The above two methods have made chicken breast turn from a really tedious/unappetizing experience into something that we actually look forward to in our meals now. And, doing it the way I do it above, I tend to repeat the process a couple of times a week and because it’s such little time commitment and effort, it’s no problem. So, you don’t have to hunker down for a few hours and do all of this in one go, if you don’t want to. You can just find 40 mins here or an hour there and easily make up a bunch of meals easily.
I will 4th the Big Green Egg. I just always cook extra of whatever we are having for dinner for the next day…or I cook my lunch at work…usually a protein and veggies…but I eat a big bowl of homemade meuslix that gives me 16g of fiber, so I don’t lose out on the carbs. We are pretty simple formula w/lean protein, veg, complex carb for dinner kind of people…with “lean” being up the beholder. Will use pork tenderloin, or skinless chicken thighs, flank steak, salmon, etc., but mainly chicken breast. I usually always make a sauce/relish/salsa to compliment the dish…but instead of 4 portions, I’ll make 6, then have leftovers for the next day and don’t have to take a ton of time prepping on the weekends.
I’d stumble upon a breakthrough that could help end the obesity epidemic in America…Thanks to a new discovery from a team of scientists at the Salk Institute in San Diego…That can “turn up” your metabolism on command.its not a quick fix but it helped me personally and hope it helps for you…i take it after meals and its called carbofix…i would love to hear if anyone else had good results with it…