Easy Shredded Chicken

If you like to cook in bulk, you'll love this! You can cook up a whole batch of boneless skinless chicken breast and have it shredded and ready to throw on a salad, in soup, or season up for whatever you'd like to eat.

Use your mixer! I use my kitchenaid mixer but a hand mixer will also work. I can throw the hot cooked chicken breasts right in and the mixer shreds them up easily. The key is to do quick bursts of the mixer, don't just turn it on full blast or it'll throw the chicken right out of the bowl. If you're doing a large batch, put just a few breasts in at once, pulse it until you like the level of shredding, then dump it into a large bowl to the side and do the next few breasts. Repeat until it's all shredded.

You can cook large batches of chicken in a crock pot, but it takes hours to cook them. Still better than boiling, but not super fast.

THEN I got my Instant Pot. Hello! Now I don't even have to deal with boiling chicken anymore OR waiting on the crock pot! I can cook 5 lbs of chicken at once - I just throw it in the instant pot with some water, set it to pressure cook for 15 minutes, and walk away.

I actually keep cooked, shredded chicken in my freezer now so I can use it in recipes as needed. I even keep some seasoned with taco seasoning to use on a taco salad or in a lettuce wrap. So convenient!

Some recipes from this blog that you can make with precooked shredded chicken:

Chicken Fajita (P3)
Chicken Apple Slaw (P2)
Chicken Spinach Tomato Soup (P2)
Enchilada (just sub chicken for beef) (P2)
Chicken Soup (P2)
Chicken Chili (P2)
Chicken Salad (P3)

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Preparing Food in Advance for Phase 2 and Phase 3

Most of the recipes in this blog are for a single meal, but many can be made in larger batches and then divided up into multiples meals that will be ready to heat and eat.

Phase 2 is often one of the more challenging times since your portions and ingredients are so restricted that you are probably cooking your own food and then may also be cooking for your family.


You can go ahead and mix up a pound of ground beef into meatballs, and then either cook them all and save them to be reheated, or freeze them raw and then bake them until done for a meal.  The same goes for meatloaf.  I made a batch of chicken soup and saved enough for three more meals.  Chili would work well for that, and even the sauce for zucchini spaghetti.

One of my favorite time-savers is to portion out my meat ahead of time so I can just cook it up without having to weigh it out.

Ground beef is great because you can get a package of it and weight it out, form it into balls or patties and freeze it for later use.  Then take out a couple at a time and put them in the fridge to thaw so they're redy to go when you're ready to cook.

I have also cooked a roast, then shredded it up while still hot so the fat separates easily, and portioned it into containers for individual meals.  The same idea works well for chicken breasts.

I have a hard time getting motivated to make myself a salad - when not on P2 and restricting how many/much goes in, I want a really hearty salad with lots of different things. I like to chop up lots of veggies, but it's time-consuming to get them all out, chop, etc. I don't usually want to do it just for myself. BUT if I can make a bunch of salads at once, it's totally worth it. I saw this idea on pinterest one day and loved it. It works great for me and the salads easily last at least a week in my fridge.

What have you made ahead or in larger portions?

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A Note on Ingredients

I've had some questions about ingredients, storage, etc. so I wanted to post the information I gave to those who asked in case it will help others.

Nuts and Nut Flours

Specialty flours can be really expensive. I prefer to buy in bulk from Amazon (usually four 1-lb package per case) so the price is better, and store the extra packages in the freezer. The current package I'm using stays in the refrigerator. I haven't had any nuts or nut flours go rancid as long as I keep them cold. This really applies to all whole grain flours. Keep them in the fridge or freezer and they should be fine.

Here is a source for almond flour at a good price - it came recommended on a forum I read.

You can buy raw nuts and grind them yourself, rather than buying nut flours or meals. Almonds, pecans, walnuts, flax seeds grind into meal or flour very well and are more versatile and possibly less expensive. You can use a coffee grinder, and some blenders may be strong enough to do it as well. I personally have a Vitamix that I could not live without. Yes, a very big investment, but one I feel is totally worth it as I use my Vitamix many times per week, for myself and for my kids. It can pulverize whole lemons (seeds and all), grind nuts as mentioned, and make smoothies (which I then freeze into popsicles) for my kids in no time, complete with spinach and other healthy things they have no idea I throw in. Love the Vitamix. :)

Sweeteners

All of the recipes on this blog are sugar-free and many use sweeteners that seem a bit exotic at first. I haven't seen Erythritol (like Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Zero or Z-Sweet) in stores so it has to be ordered online, and Stevia, while available in some stores, especially as a powder, can be hard to find as well. I really prefer the NuNatural brand of liquid stevia, closely followed by SweetLeaf. I've tried others and they were definitely not as good, so if you have had a bad experience with liquid stevia and think it just isn't for you, I'd encourage you to try one of those brands.

Also, liquid stevia should be added one drop at a time, literally. Add a drop and taste. Add another drop, and taste. Keep going until it's right. If you use too much, and sometimes even one drop too much, the aftertaste will be bad and the whole recipe could be ruined. So just be careful and add very small amounts at a time.

I use liquid stevia in a lot of recipes, as well as to sweeten my coffee and tea, and to make lemonade (lemon juice, water and stevia - that's it).

I do not like powdered stevia. Some people do but I have a serious aversion to it. I can taste the stevia aftertaste every time and I just really don't like it. If you've tried powdered stevia and hated it, I'd encourage you to try liquid stevia and see if it might work for you. They are nothing alike, in my opinion.


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P3 Whipped Cream

Ever since I realized how easy it is to make my own whipped cream, I can no longer stand the taste of cool whip or other imitations. It's so creamy and rich, a little goes a long way.

P3 Whipped Cream

Recipe makes 1 cup of whipped cream

1/2 cup Heavy Cream or Whipping Cream
1 tsp Vanilla
5 drops Liquid Stevia

It's easiest to use a mixer, but you can whip cream by hand with a whisk a well. Make sure bowl and beaters are clean and completely dry. Chill them in the freezer first if you like, though it's not strictly necessary. Pour cream, vanilla and stevia into bowl and whip on high until it thickens. Be careful not to whip for too long, or you'll end up with butter!

I use my vitamix to whip cream. Turn it on low, then high and turn it off when the sound changes (it only takes about 10 seconds).


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Hardboiled Eggs

Googling how to cook hardboiled eggs brings up lots of opinions. This is my way.

Put eggs in a pot and cover with cold water.

Heat on high until boiling, then turn it down to med-high and boil for 10 minutes.

After 10 min, drain and cover with cold water (add ice to speed up the cooling if you want). Keep draining and replacing with cold water to cool them faster, or just put the eggs in the refrigerator for later.

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