Meal Prep - Roasted Chicken 5 Ways
Do you ever feel like planning healthy meals is hard? Preparing meals ahead of time is great in theory. We all want to and know our lives will be easier because of it, but after a while, it can start to feel repetitive.
If you've ever looked on Pinterest and found a week of meals that are exactly the same and thought "Who wants that?!" then this video is for you.
In this video, I'm going to show you how to cook once on Sunday and create 5 healthy and simple lunches that are easy to assemble. These meals are grab and go when it's lunchtime during the week so you don't have to waste money on convenience food or sacrifice your health.
Watch as I show you how to make Simple Roasted Chicken Breast 5 Ways for a fresh new meal each day of the week!
Right below this video is an extensive shopping and ingredients list. It may seem daunting. But keep in mind you may have most of this on hand. If not, once you purchase you will have enough to last you for a good while.
All this food will stretch very far!
Shopping List
3 large chicken breasts
1 cucumber
Green beans
2 bell peppers
Celery
Romaine lettuce
Mixed nuts
Cream cheese
Olives
Cheese cubes
Hummus*
Ranch dressing*
Hot sauce*
Peppadew peppers
Tarragon
Parsley
Cilantro
Dill
Rosemary
1 lime
1 lemon
Radishes
Cauliflower rice*
*store bought if needed
Ingredients for preparing chicken
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp of coarse sea salt
1 tsp of black pepper
Notes
You don’t have to buy all the herbs. Choose what you like and what seems fresh to you.
If this is your first time doing meal prep, then consider buying as much store bought as you can and then work your way up to preparing it at home.
Equipment
big baking sheet for the chicken
parchment paper
Large chef’s knife
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Cover a big baking sheet with parchment paper
Slice chicken in half lengthwise to reduce cooking time if your chicken breasts are on the thicker side
Sprinkle chicken with olive oil, salt, and pepper
These will take 10-15 minutes to cook and the chicken should be 165 degrees when it’s done
Remove from the oven and let cool so you can handle it
Dice or slice chicken breast into cubes or strips
Now you’re ready to assemble your lunches!
Prepping the rest of the ingredients for your lunches
While the chicken is cooking, you can begin to prep all your ingredients salad bar style.
Grab a few containers for each ingredient. You may not use all that you chop up for each lunch box. Have some storage containers ready for each veggie. When you’re done assembling the boxes you can pop what’s left over in the fridge.
Chop up the cucumbers, celery, and bell peppers into bite-sized portions
Set aside a few lettuce leaves; we'll use those later. Slice the lettuce into salad strips
Place the green beans in a steamer basket in a medium pot, boil for about a minute. Be careful not to overcook the beans. You want them al dente.
Ingredients for ranch dressing
1/2 cup of mayo
1/2 cup of sour cream or greek yogurt
Enough buttermilk to thin dressing to the consistency you like
Chopped tarragon, parsley, garlic, and dill
Salt and pepper
To make the ranch dressing
Combine sour cream and mayonnaise in a bowl; mix until smooth, then add enough buttermilk to thin
Salt and pepper to taste
Store in a jar for up to 2 weeks
Supplies for packing lunches
Glad, Rubbermaid, or Tupperware
Ziplock bags
Bento boxes
Mason jars
Date stickers
Small salad condiment cups
Now that you have all of your ingredients neatly displayed on your assembly line, you can start to build your lunches for the week.
Grab your to-go container of choice and begin. These are meal ideas that work for me. Feel free to put your own spin on it. Swap out one thing for another and make it your own.
For Monday:
Lettuce wraps with chicken, olives, hot sauce, lime, nuts and cheese
For Tuesday:
Cauliflower rice, topped with chicken, green beans, and lime
For Wednesday:
Chicken salad with green beans, peppadew peppers stuffed with cream cheese, and bell pepper slices
For Thursday:
Chicken on a bed of cauliflower rice, hummus, peppers, celery, olives, cheese, and lemon
For Friday:
Chicken salad, with cucumbers, olives, nuts, radishes
For all your leftovers, you can put everything into containers for nibbling, quick dinners, or more lunches for the whole family.
If you have kids, you can double or triple the recipe and send them with healthy packed lunches as well!
This may seem like a lot, especially if you’re just getting started. But as I said before, don’t hesitate to use store-bought ingredients to make everything easier for you.
Make it work for you! Mix up the ingredients list, use things you already have on hand at home and treat it as an experiment.
The more you do this, the easier it will get!