20+ meals in 3 1/2 hours

So my post from yesterday motivated me to make some meals "assembly" style.

I chose chicken as a base, because the hand-trimmed chicken was on sale at Albertsons. I LOVE the hand-trimmed chicken. Before this discovery, I spent many hours chopping off all the gunk from the boneless, skinless chicken breasts: the tendons, fat, thick icky parts, etc. Last year I did a cost comparison. I bought chicken breasts for $1.89/lb. After I trimmed all the gunk off, I re-weighed them, figured out the cost, and realized it was nearly exactly the same as I would pay for the sale priced hand-trimmed chicken (2.99/lb.). So I quickly ditched buying the bargain breasts and now wait until this particular chicken is on sale.

My plan was to choose four recipes*, shop for the ingredients, set out on the counter all the supplies/ingredients, do a little prep work, and then...fill the bags assembly style!

Here are the plans, complete with step by step instructions and recipes. The first two are pretty much complete, while the last is more like a "Meal Starter"....there is a bit more work to do when it's time to cook them. But most of the work will be ready in the bag!

RECIPES

Cajun Curry Chicken (CCC)

Mix the ingredients in a baking dish. Add the chicken pieces, and mix so they are all covered by the sauce.

1/3 C honey
3 TB water
3 TB Dijon mustard
2 TB margarine
2 tsp Cajun seasoning
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts.

Bake uncovered at 350 for about 30 minutes. I often place red, green, and yellow peppers in the dish as it cooks. Serve chicken and sauce over hot cooked rice.

Note: This sauce freezes well. If you like REALLY spicy foods, you can add up to 1 more tsp of Cajun seasoning and up to 1 more tsp of curry powder.

Grilled Herbed Chicken (San Francisco Encore) (GHC)

8 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

Marinade:
½ C olive oil
½ C lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 C chopped fresh parsley
1 TB rosemary, fresh & chopped
1 TB tarragon, fresh & chopped
1 TB sage, fresh & chopped
1 TB oregano, fresh & chopped
1 TB chives, fresh & chopped

Marinate at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight. While grilling, brush frequently with the marinade.


Kung Pao Chicken (KPC)

Small Bowl:
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
2 TB sherry
2 TB soy sauce
1 TB white wine vinegar
3 TB water

Medium Bowl:
½ tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 TB cornstarch
1 TB sherry
1 TB canola oil

Chop: 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Place them in the medium bowl and let sit until ready.

Have ready in 3 small bowls:
4-6 chile peppers
½ C peanuts

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp crushed garlic

2 whole green onions, chopped
Chopped stir fry veggies (peppers, carrots, peas, baby corn, etc.)

Heat wok. Add 1 TB canola oil.
Add peppers & peanuts. Remove promptly.
Add 2 TB oil.
Add garlic & ginger. Stir.
Add chicken mixture until opaque.
Add peppers, peanuts, green onions, & any other stir fry veggies.
Add small bowl of sauce.
Cook until mixture thickens.


1. SET OUT ON THE COUNTER

All measuring cups & spoons

Pantry:

• honey
• olive oil
• garlic
• cornstarch
• sherry
• white wine vinegar
• canola oil

Spices:

• cajun seasoning
• curry powder
• pepper
• salt
• white pepper

Refrigerator:

• soy sauce
• Dijon mustard
• lemon juice
• margarine
• fresh parsley
• fresh Tarragon

Herb Garden:

• fresh chives
• fresh oregano
• fresh sage
• fresh rosemary

2. PREP WORK

CCC

• 1 clove garlic, minced

GHC

• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/4 C chopped fresh parsley
• 1 TB rosemary, fresh & chopped
• 1 TB tarragon, fresh & chopped
• 1 TB sage, fresh & chopped
• 1 TB oregano, fresh & chopped
• 1 TB chives, fresh & chopped

Chicken: The Kung Pao Chicken takes about 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts per recipe. The other marinades make enough to season/coat 6-8 boneless, skinless breasts per recipe. When I prep my chicken breasts, I actually slice the breast in half, length-wise, so they are a little thinner. This way they tend to cook a little quicker, whether it's in the oven or on the grill.

To figure out how many chicken breasts you'll need, plan on 6-8 for each marinade recipe, and 3 for each Kung Pao Chicken recipe.

Tonight I made 3 CCC (18 thin breasts), 3 GHC (20 thin breasts), and 3 KPC (3 breasts chopped into bite sized pieces) recipes. This took a total of 21 skinless, boneless, chicken breast halves from the store.


3. FILL THE BUCKETS

Wanting to be like the meal assembly stores, I wanted to drop my freezer bags into buckets. I looked around my home, and couldn't find anything practical. So I searched the aisles at the big store (nameless because I hate shopping there, but you can find nearly everything...) with no luck. I found some glass, stainless steel, & ceramic canisters, but they were pretty pricey. As I was leaving the store, I saw a huge display of Sunny D drinks in plastic jugs. The jugs would be PERFECT, I thought. And, at only $2 a bottle, it was a steal. The "juice" inside was an added bonus. The jugs were going to be used immediately, so I poured two of them into my neighbor's juice containers, and one into my own. (The fourth is still full as I just used three today.) After discarding the liquid inside, I cut them up and came up with this:

I lined the buckets with zip-loc style bags. I'd recommend using freezer bags (they are heavier and better for freezing) unless you'll be vacuum sealing them in the end.

Then, one recipe at a time, I simply started adding the ingredients to the buckets. THIS was the fun part! Plop, plop, plop...within minutes I had three meals...then six...and more! COOL!! There were a couple times when I lost track of how many teaspoons I'd added. That was when the handy-dandy kitchen scale came in handy. I simply weighed the buckets, and if the one in question was a little low, I added more.

Grilled Herbed Chicken (San Francisco Encore)
½ C olive oil
½ C lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 C chopped fresh parsley
1 TB rosemary, fresh & chopped
1 TB tarragon, fresh & chopped
1 TB sage, fresh & chopped
1 TB oregano, fresh & chopped
1 TB chives, fresh & chopped
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Cajun Curry Chicken
1/3 C honey
3 TB water
3 TB Dijon mustard
2 TB margarine
2 tsp Cajun seasoning
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Kung Pao Chicken

Quart bag 1:
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
2 TB sherry
2 TB soy sauce
1 TB white wine vinegar
3 TB water
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Quart bag 2:
½ tsp salt
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 TB cornstarch
1 TB sherry
1 TB canola oil
chopped chicken from 3 breast halves

(Because the KPC is in two smaller bags, I placed quart sized bags into plastic containers that I had on hand. The two smaller bags went into a larger bag to keep them together. There are still some steps to follow when making the dish, but this prep work will really make the rest much easier.)
Soon after I had 11 bags of meals ready for the freezer. Each bag will provide 2 meals for our small family, plus some leftovers for lunches. I started at 2:30 (getting out all the ingredients) and was cleaned up by 6 p.m. In fact, we had friends over for dinner and we were ready for them!

*Originally this post included a fourth recipe, "Chicken with Gloppy Marinade." The "20+" meal total includes the meals from this recipe. While it is a yummy dish, it wasn't a good freezer meal. The sauce came out way too salty, and the texture just wasn't right.