Busy moms

 Last week I was approached about doing meal prep for a friend. I thought why not, I know my way around a kitchen and in a professional kitchen prep is the name of the game. 

 My sister was on one of those weight loss programs and lost about 85 pounds in a year. She told me the secret is food prep. Prepping your meals for the week so you are not tempted to just surrender to whatever is convenient when you get home from work.

 When beginning a food prep lifestyle one of the first things to think about is focus on what you want and don’t overwhelm yourself in this area. For most people the first couple of times they spend way too much time on it and get frustrated and give up. 

 Planning is the key. Pick about four recipes that you want to prep and dedicate the bulk of your time working on those four. 

 I was given bags of groceries and a general outline of what this person wanted for the week. You can add other things you may not think of such as snacks or healthy treats.

 Try to organize the day before and make sure you have everything at hand, and you are not running back and forth to the store. Once you begin, the first thing on your list should be whatever you are going to put in the oven after it is preheated. Then move on to stove top, instapot, crockpot or in my case the sous vide machine. I was able to prepare about 18 meals for one person in 3 hours.

 If breakfast is your week point during the week, start with some type of casserole that you can heat in the microwave later. If you find yourself eating out all week for lunch, I would suggest investing in a vacuum seal system. They keep food great for a couple of weeks and go straight from sous vide machine and can be reheated in a couple of minutes later. I have found no better way to cook chicken that you want to eat later and not be dried out or chewy.

 Sharon has lectured me on the heating of food in plastic and she has a point there, but it is just easier to store in the fridge when it is vac packed and flat in separate areas of the refrigerator. Here is a quick guide for cooking chicken this way. 

 Start my seasoning your chicken breast with salt and pepper. I add some olive oil to mine and placed it in a Ziplock or seal a meal bag. Heat your water to 140 degrees. Remove 90 percent of all the air from the Ziplock by placing it in water just up to the point of the seal then sealing it. The water will push all the air out. Place your breast in the water for 1.5 hours. This will not over cook the chicken at all. Remove from water. If you are going to eat it right away, then remove from bag, pat dry any extra moisture on it. Sear the breast in a pan with butter or oil for 15 seconds on each side and it will be ready to eat. 

 If you are meal prepping, place chicken in a ice bath with water for one hour then place in your fridge. This will be good for 8 days and when you want to eat it, heat in microwave for 1 minute or heat in pan as before.