Free Meal Prep: Oops Chicken Stir Fry

Ingredients:

• 1 package of boneless, skinless chicken breast. shoot for one that's 4.5-5lbs to account for loss of mass during the cooking process as we want about 8oz of chicken per portion for 8 portions.

• 1 package of shredded carrots

• 1 24oz container of mushrooms, sliced (they cost the same as the whole mushrooms)

• 3-6 bell peppers. I use only green here but you can use whatever color(s) you like

• 1 white onion

• 1 cup of teriyaki sauce

• 8tbsp(1/2 cup) of Bacchan's Japanese Barbecue Sauce, original flavor

• 2-8tsp of red pepper flakes depending on how hot you like things.

• 4tbsp olive oil

• 2 packages of flat noodles for a total of 12 nests of noodles. OR a single 6-pack of top ramen with all the flavor packets tossed out.

• 4 1-gallon bags to marinate chicken in

Preparation:

• Divvy up chicken into 4 portions and then dice it all into small cubes, putting each portion into its own plastic bag. To each bag add 1/4 cup of teriyaki sauce, 2Tbsp of Bacchan's, and 1/2tsp to 2tsp of red pepper flakes depending on your spice tolerance. massage through the outside of the bag to mix and allow to marinate in the fridge for 4-6 hours.

• Thinly slice onions and cut bell peppers into thin strips like you'd get as a pizza topping. Divvy up onions, bell peppers, shredded carrots, and mushrooms into 4 portions to correspond with each bag of chicken. (note: I have tried doing this a few times now with both the veggies in the bag with the chicken as it marinates and with veggies on the side while the chicken marinates. As far as I can tell it makes no meaningful difference; do it however you like)

• Once chicken has had time to marinate, combine veggies into bag if you have not already, fill a stockpot very full with water and set to high heat, and get a high-walled saucepan on the stove next to it. Wait for the water in the stockpot to get to a rolling boil before turning on the heat for the saucepan.

• Set the saucepan to high heat and once the saucepan is hot enough to where a droplet of water with either dance across it or instantly vaporize upon contact, add in a tablespoon of olive oil to the saucepan, place 3 nests of flat noodles (or a brick and a half of top ramen) into the stockpot. Add one bag of chicken and veggies into the saucepan and stir constantly while noodles cook (3 minutes).

• Once noodles are cooked, use a kitchen spider to scoop the noodles right out of the stockpot and into the saucepan, letting the starchy water that's coming off the noodles to go into the saucepan with them. Stir constantly for another 3 minutes or until the noodles have taken on the color of the chicken and sauce. Divvy up the contents of the saucepan into 2 large containers and set aside.

• repeat the last two steps for the other bags of chicken and remaining noodles, yields 8 dinner sized portions (optionally, if you divvy up the contents of the saucepan into three portions, that will yield 12 lunch-sized portions for two thirds of the nutritional value of the dinner portion)

• allow to cool until no longer steaming and then cover and place in the fridge. after 4-6 hour have passed in the fridge and portions are cool to the touch, transfer all the portions you do not intend to eat in the next 48 hours to the freezer. When you take one portion out of the fridge to eat, take another out of the freezer and put into the fridge to thaw.

(Approximate) Nutrition Face:

• Calories: 801

• Fat: 15 grams

• Saturated Fat: 2 grams

• Cholesterol: 5mg

• Carbs: 90 Grams

• Sugars: 16 grams

• Fiber: 8 Grams

• Protein: 66 Grams

• Sodium: 2005mg

Notes on Nutritional info: subbing out the teriyaki for the low-sodium variant knocks off like 700mg of sodium per portion and as far as I could tell has a nonexistent effect on the taste. You could theoretically sub out the teriyaki for coconut aminos to knock the sodium content of this even lower but I can't attest to how that'd affect the flavor as I haven't tried it yet myself. If you want to divvy up the saucepans into 3 lunch-sized portions instead of 2 dinner-sized portions just multiply the nutrition facts by 0.66.

Here's my ingredient breakdown: