~ Written by Juanita Luna

I am so excited to document my meal preps for you all! Meal prepping is a BIG part of my journey to a healthier life. More often then not we face busy schedules which sometimes leads us to unmotivated, lazy dinners. I have been there, some nights I am still there, stuck in the kitchen wishing I had a quick meal to turn to.

“Fail to prepare, prepare to fail”

Meal prep can be fun but it also can be monotonous! Whether you like to do a bulk meal prep for the whole week or just prepare a few items to grab and plate later, all are effective methods. I lean heavily on the second method more than the bulk prep, but I will sometimes do a bulk if I feel like it. Like I said it’s better to have something, anything, quick in the fridge to grab that is nutritious.

As you may have guessed from the title, today’s meal prep will be done ENTIRELY made with an Instant Pot! If you don’t yet own one, I would highly recommend it. You can still follow along with your usual method of cooking these items. We are keeping this one simplistic! Which makes this great for Instant Pot newbies. So without further ado lets get started!

• One whole chicken
• Brown rice long-grain
• Fresh Vegetables of choice or Frozen

I own a 6 qt Instant pot like this one…It fits pretty large meats perfectly fine for me. The ingredients are pretty simple and basic. You will need the following:

• Brown rice long-grain
• Water/Broth (Chicken or Veggie)
• One whole chicken
• Oil (high smoke point)
• Seasonings of choice
• Veggies of choice ( Fresh or Frozen)

The chicken and Rice take around the same amount of time so you can start with either! I started with the brown rice first!

Brown Rice (30-35 Minutes)

Measure your desired amount of rice in a measuring cup. I used two cups in this tutorial. The water ratio is 1:1, simply add the same amount of water as rice, easy peasy! Combine rice and water into the instant pot, (MAKE SURE THE METAL BOWL INSERT IS IN! I have heard horror stories about people forgetting to place the cooking bowl inside and pouring liquids into the bottom of the machine, rendering it unusable!) Give it a good little stir and make sure no dry rice is clinging to the sides. Place the lid on top and turn the knob to locked, press “Manual” mode and then hold the plus button until you have reached 22 minutes. This time always produced fragrant, tender, fluffy rice every time! That’s it! Set and cook.

During this time I will usually start some seafood or veggies in the oven to roast. But due to the summer being so hot here in Texas, the oven is a rare occurrence. When the timer rings leave the machine alone, allow it to naturally pressure release. After the little silver button pops down you are good to open it up. Be careful! It will have some hot steam inside, so watch hands and fingers. Also condensation on the lid is normal! Scoop it up into a large container and store in the fridge for an easy side dish!

Chicken (30-45 Minutes)

Hit the “Saute” button on the bottom left of the machine. Let it heat up while you are prepping your chicken. Drop a tablespoon of oil into the cleaned Instant Pot. Remove the whole chicken from the package and pat dry with a couple paper towels. Empty contents inside the bird and continue to dry, aiming to soak up excess blood. Rub seasonings on the breast side first, as much or as little as you like.

Once the Instant pot reads “HOT” Place the chicken breast down. It will sizzle and squeak, this is all normal. Shake some seasonings on the birds back while it is cooking face down. I do around 5-7 minutes each side, you want it to be lightly crisped and golden.

Flip the chicken over with a pair of tongs on its back, wait 5 minutes, add about half a cup of water or broth, enough to cover the bottom of the instant pot by around a half inch or so. Add the lid and set knob to locked. Press “Cancel” and then “Manual” set to 28 minutes. (Note: This will depend on the size of the bird, don’t fret, if yours is not cooked all the way, add another 5-10 minutes cook time.) My chicken was around five pounds as a reference. The meat was left super juicy and falling off the bone! Once the timer dings, again, let it naturally pressure release, until button drops.

Once done, let rest, then debone and place in container of choice. I like to strain the leftover broth and jar it for homemade bone broth! Or you can even cook the rice in the fresh broth!

Vegetables (5-10 Minutes)

Dice, Slice, Cube, all of your veggies! I love to use this awesome stack-able steamer HERE to steam my Vegetables. The best thing about it is that you can cook multiple items at once! Don’t have a steamer no problem! Just add a little less water, enough to cover the bottom. Add veggies and place lid on top. You guessed it, press “Manual”, time, and then lock knob.

The timing on vegetables are different for each once, so when cooking together aim for similar cook times. I know that Carrots and Potatoes take longer to cook then say Broccoli. So I would play around with times. Start at around 5-8 minutes for slow cooking veggies, and 2-4 minutes for quicker ones. I personally like to “natural pressure release(NPR)” majority of the time. Whether your NPR or quick releasing (QR) make sure to take that into account for cook time. And Voila your done!

Cooling/Storing

I store each item in the fridge after a little cooling. Place into one container or meal prep containers and Refrigerate. A good idea that has helped me especially since I log in myfitnesspal is to make a note on portion sizes/measurements. So when I eat a meal I already have the info right there to input. If not using meal prep containers just grab and plate, I weigh as I’m filling my plate! Portion out desired amount and warm back up, so convenient! Don’t get caught up wondering what’s for dinner anymore!

What meal ideas would you like to see me do? Please Like and Share! Thank you.