Meal-prep week with chicken bake and bean wraps

How much you will cook

For one person, this makes six servings: five lunches and Sunday dinner. Make the full four-serving recipe of Chicken, corn and bean bake and half the recipe of Bean and vegetable wraps, giving two servings. Breakfasts and the other dinners stay open.

Your Monday-to-Friday lunches

Shopping for this week

The columns give the amounts you will use. Check your spices and pantry first. When a recipe needs half a can, you still buy the whole can; freeze the unused half separately on opening day or use it promptly in another meal. It is not an extra ingredient for the planned dish.

ml means measured volume here, including dry ingredients and grated cheese: 240 ml is one US cup. tbsp = 15 ml; tsp = 5 ml. Can sizes refer to the weight before draining. Chili seasoning means a mild US-style blend, not pure hot chili powder. Optional garnishes are listed in each recipe.

Sunday: cook and divide

The bake’s original recipe takes 40 minutes. Make it late Sunday afternoon and one serving becomes dinner. Thinly sliced chicken cooks more evenly; it must reach at least 74 °C at the centre before the portions are divided. Follow the recipe for layering and baking.

Eat one serving for Sunday dinner. Cool two promptly and refrigerate them for Monday and Tuesday. Cool and freeze the fourth on Sunday for Friday. Shallow individual containers make the split easy.

Tuesday: the second batch

On Tuesday evening, prepare half the wrap recipe, making two wraps. The original takes 20 minutes and uses the microwave. Cool and refrigerate the filling promptly; keep tortillas, tomato and yogurt sauce separate. Finish one wrap on Wednesday and one on Thursday following the recipe.

Only Friday’s portion of the bake goes into the freezer. The wrap ingredients stay in the fridge for the next two days, with tomato and sauce added at eating time. For warm filling, you will need a microwave at your destination or make the wrap at home to eat straight away.

Keep it chilled and ready to eat

Keep the fridge at 5 °C or colder and eat refrigerated cooked food in this plan within 48 hours. Chill perishables within two hours, or one hour above 32 °C. Use ice packs for the commute and refrigerate lunch again when you arrive.

Move Friday’s serving into the fridge on Thursday and eat within 24 hours of fully thawing. Reheat food once and thoroughly; leftovers should reach 74 °C at the centre. Follow stricter package instructions where applicable.

Cooking for two

For two people, make twice the Sunday quantity and the full Tuesday recipe. That gives ten lunches and two Sunday dinners. If one recipe serving leaves you hungry, plan more of the dish or a side.