I want to make as much as I can before the baby comes. The first kid came early and we didn’t get a chance to meal prep…it would have been a huge help.
This time I want to have some things, breakfast, sides, lunch, dinner. Where all I need to do is defrost, heat/cook, and eat.
Can you share your ideas, experience, links, etc?
Thanks in advance!
Go to Costco. Buy 10 rotisserie chickens. Shred them, and place portions of the meat in individual freezer bags. Then you have a ton of quick dinner options. Shredded chicken over bagged salad. Toss with bbq sauce and serve on a bun. Throw in a pot with a carton of broth, and handful of frozen veg and rice for a quick soup. Chicken Helper, chicken noodle casserole, chicken in pasta salad, chicken paninis, shredded chicken in a loaded baked potato, toss in a pie crust with some mixed veg and a can of cream of chicken soup for a pot pie.
This for sure. Half a chicken fits in those quart soup containers. It’s so much easier to use. If the chicken gets cold, just stick it in the oven. It’s easier to debone when the fat isn’t causing it to stick together. it takes no time to defrost either. Just stick it in some hot water and then slide it all out, and chop it up frozen.
Not sure if this is company-wide, though it makes so much sense that it should be, but my local Costco sells vacuum-sealed packages of their rotisserie chicken in a 2-pack. Usually in an end-cap refrigerator by the fresh, prepared meals like wraps and salads.
Ohh I would love this. This sounds like a stupid question, but is the chicken cut up or is the full rotisserie chicken vacuum sealed?
Mine has it too but it’s way more expensive per ounce than the whole chicken, which is understandable because the work is done for you. So it’s really just a question of which is more valuable to you- time or money?
Additional advice: if you get the whole chickens, you can use the bones to make stock (especially easy if you have an instant pot or crockpot). Freeze that, and you’ve got an easy soup base if you throw in some veggies, shredded meat, and maybe noodles or rice. You can make a bunch of soups off that frozen base in an hour or less.
Absolutely agree. When meal-prepping for the birth, if you can afford it, I would think that the time-saving would be a very valuable trade-off for having so much of the work done already. Especially if you are trying to create the most meals possible in the shortest amount of time.
Totally. Although I will say if you have close family (or really close friends) living nearby who are always like “what can I do to help?” “Let me know if you need anything!”, putting them to work shredding and portioning chicken is a good use of that goodwill.
If you buy the prepackaged rotisserie meat then you aren’t the one buying all the rotisserie chickens.
I didn’t think it was that more expensive given the yield of a whole chicken. I’m sure someone has done a full comparison on yield and waste to just meat.
And then make bone broth for mom to drink as she recovers