Ultimate meal prep plan: Three chicken dinners in 35 minutes

With a total preparation time of 35 minutes and all under $5 a serve, these meal prep dinners are a dinnertime saviour for the time-poor and budget-conscious.

Meal prepping is an easy way to save money, time and effort in the kitchen.

That’s why we’ve created this simple meal prep recipe plan for when hectic weeknights get the better of you.

Each meal feeds a family of four if served with a side dish, and the entire plan could save you hours of cooking time midweek. So let’s get started…

On-pot chicken.

Chicken meal prep plan

First, pull out your slow cooker and make the base recipe

Freeze and save one-pot big-batch chicken

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 4 hours 30 minutes

Cost: $36

When the chicken has stopped steaming, transfer to three shallow storage containers ( the more shallow the dish the faster it will cool). Seal and place in the fridge to cool completely and then transfer to the freezer.

Next, prepare the flavour bases for these three dinners and freeze like above.

Creamy goulash chicken.

Creamy goulash chicken

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Cost: $7

Creamy bacon and mushroom chicken.

Creamy bacon and mushroom chicken

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Cost: $7

Mexican chilli chicken with beans .

Mexican-chilli-chicken-beans

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 5 minutes

Cost: $6.60

Then, when you want to eat it, pull out one batch of the chicken and one flavour base from the freezer, defrost, heat and eat with your choice of side! How simple is that?

Meal prep tips

Defrosting tips: To defrost the chicken and the sauces, transfer them to the fridge the day before you need them. Always place cooked meat on a higher shelf than raw meat and vegetables. Alternately, you can use the defrost setting on a microwave.

Each meal feeds a family of four if served with a side dish, and the entire plan could save you hours of cooking time midweek.

Shopping tips

• Stock up on vegetables like broccoli when on special. If not, bought frozen vegetables are a great option as they are picked and frozen within a few hours, holding their nutrients and can sometimes be cheaper than buying, cooking and freezing yourself!
• Buying bacon from the deli is often more economical than in a packet. Always check the per kg price of both (even if packaged bacon is on special).
• When buying mushrooms, it cheaper to buy them loose than pre-packaged.
• While it’s handy to have precooked pouches of brown rice in the cupboard, it’s cheaper to cook and freeze your own. Also, the ready-cooked ones often have vegetable oil mixed with the rice to stop it drying out.

See more:

Time-saving meal hacks everyone should know about

Make-ahead meals for the whole month

Meet Australia’s biggest freeze-ahead cook

For more recipe ideas, go to taste.com.au or check out the Taste Test Kitchen now.

Originally published as Ultimate meal prep plan: Three chicken dinners in 35 minutes