During a busy day, it usually seems easier to just buy lunch than to cook something, but this can easily be fixed by preparing all meals on Sunday to have them ready to grab and go throughout the week. This can reduce the amount of money spent on groceries and eating out all by sacrificing thirty minutes a week. To further reduce the time spent cooking, make sure to complete all preparations before beginning to cook. This will allow you to just monitor the food while it cooks. At this rate, the whole process can take less than thirty minutes of cooking to meal prep for the week. To mix it up a bit, you can add variety by cooking rice and quinoa.
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Yields: 4-6 meals
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups of jasmine rice
- 2 ¾ cups of water, more if necessary
- 2 pounds of boneless chicken breasts
- Goya chicken seasoning (or usual seasoning spices)
- 2 teaspoons of olive oil
- 2 medium broccoli bunches
- 8 whole carrots or 2 cups of baby carrots
Steps:
- Begin by cooking the rice: Place water in a saucepan and allow it to boil, then pour in the rice with a pinch of salt (water can be substituted with chicken or vegetable broth).
- Bring it to a simmer on low heat for 15 minutes until rice is tender and all the water is absorbed.
- Remove rice from heat and let it sit covered for 5 minutes.
- For the chicken, begin by seasoning it with Goya or the seasoning of your choice.
- Heat a bit of oil in a skillet or pan over medium heat.
- Cook the chicken in the pan for 5-6 minutes on one side without moving it, flip and cook the other side for 5-6 minutes; keep the pan covered the entire time.
- Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before cutting to let the juices absorb.
- For the veggies, start by boiling water in a medium pot.
- Cut the broccoli into florets.
- Peel the carrots, cut off the ends and cut horizontally to make small circles.
- When the water boils, place the broccoli and carrots in a steamer basket, then place it in the pot of boiling water.
- Cover and let them steam for about 5-8 minutes until tender.
- Start checking tenderness with a fork after 5 minutes to avoid them overcooking into mush.
- Remove the broccoli and carrots from the steamer and place them onto a serving plate.
- Portion out your servings into 5 Tupperware containers and keep refrigerated.
- Enjoy!
