Are you tired of the same old fast-food meal options when working or traveling? Try making your own delicious, irresistibly simple pack-and-go meals for work or play.
Keep reading to discover four easy meal ideas you can make ahead or grab and go from your refrigerator to your lunch bag. Can it really be that easy?
Simple Chicken? It’s All In The Planning
The key to pack-and-go meals is in the prepping. But don’t fret it is not that difficult. You can easily add a few items to your normal shopping list to make this quick and easy.
I recommend using glass oven and microwave-safe food storage containers. For food that does not need reheating, you can use a zip-seal bag in your preferred size. Keep ice packs in your freezer so you can grab one to keep your meal cold and fresh. Purchase a few small containers with a strong seal for single servings of condiments and dressings.
Make sure to have carrot and celery sticks, cleaned, and ready-to-go fruits, lettuce, and other vegetables in your refrigerator. These will add variety to your meal. Other items to have on hand are spinach wraps and sliced cheese.
Cucumber salad is easy to make and keeps for several days in your refrigerator. Slice or dice cucumbers, red onion, and tomatoes toss together with a splash of red wine vinegar and olive oil, and add chopped parsley or cilantro. This is a great side dish or garnish.
Put It Together And Go
For those days when you just don’t have any time to spare. Grab a rotisserie chicken from your local deli and repurpose it into simple pack-and-go meals. It will save you time and money.
Sliced chicken breast wraps with arugula and tomato. All you do is lay out a wrap and fill it with your ingredients roll it up and place it in a storage bag. I like to leave off the condiments but for those of you who like mayonnaise and mustard feel free to add it to the wrap first.
Just remember condiments tend to make your sandwich soggy. Toss a few carrot sticks and an individual portion of hummus in your lunch bag and you have a great easy meal.
Easy chicken chef salad. In a take-along dish place your clean lettuce in the bottom slice up a boiled egg on top, roll, 1/2 cup diced cooked chicken, 1/4 cup diced cheese and place on top of the lettuce. Add more vegetables as desired. Grab your favorite dressing but don’t put it on the salad until ready to eat. Sweet peppers make a great and colorful addition to your salad.
Chicken Salad For Lunch
Chicken salad as a wrap or served on lettuce. Here is my quick chicken salad recipe. You can use a can of white meat chicken or dice up a rotisserie chicken purchased from your local deli. The beauty of this is you can add as much or as little of an ingredient as you desire to fit your tastes. I use one tablespoon of mayonnaise with a 10-ounce can of chicken.
Drain one can of chicken breast, add mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, diced red onion, walnuts, celery, and diced red grapes or dried cranberries. Salt and pepper to taste add a bit of chopped fresh parsley and thyme for a great refreshing taste. This can be kept in the refrigerator for three days.
Chicken Marsala – Simple Recipe
If you have the luxury of having access to a microwave at your place of work or when traveling then you can easily pack your meals to go. Here is my easy marsala chicken recipe, but first you will need the chicken. If you are not into slicing and pounding thin whole raw chicken breast you can use raw chicken tender strips, the choice is yours, pound them out or cook them as is. Recipe:
Sauté on medium heat, 8 ounces of chicken seasoned with garlic, salt, and pepper in a skillet with two tablespoons of olive oil.
Remove the chicken when it is done and lightly browned on each side, and add fresh sliced mushrooms to the skillet sauté for 5 minutes before adding 1 cup of cooking marsala wine, bring to a boil, and immediately turn down the temperature and let the mushrooms simmer until the marsala reduces.
Add two tablespoons of butter to thicken. Please ensure the chicken is thoroughly cooked. Add the chicken back to the skillet turn to low and simmer for 10 minutes so the chicken absorbs the sauce. Add fresh diced garlic and parsley. Serve with a side of Brussels sprouts, broccoli or asparagus. Use steamer veggies for convenience.
Hint, if you like a thicker gravy-like consistency, whisk a tablespoon of flour in a few ounces of water until it dissolves, and then add to the skillet to thicken the marsala. If you are prepping ahead meals remember reheating chicken in a microwave can make the meat rubbery tasting. For this reason, I recommend dishes with sauce or gravy to keep the chicken from drying out.
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