The Pre-Cooked Chicken

I remember when all of the pre-cooked, pre-seasoned, pre-sliced chicken first came on to the market. I bought them when they were on sale (and when I had coupons) and then when my local warehouse club starting carrying them all bets were off. Admittedly I was seduced by the convenience: my husband loved having them around to make super quick chicken nachos and quesadillas and I had something to bail me out when I needed a quick healthy lunch or again, got stumped for dinner.

However, as convenient as they were, there was something slightly artificial about them. The texture always seemed odd to me and when I would pull them apart into smaller pieces for things like nachos and the salads - I would shudder just a bit at the rubbery texture. Still convenience won out.

Then things changed, the costs starting going up and coupons were no longer readily available. The warehouse club stopped carrying the Southwestern flavor and I became more committed to monthly meal planning.

Yet, I could not get over the convenience of having seasoned, cooked ready-to-add-to-a-recipe chicken. So, I made my own! Tonight for example we are having chicken quesadillas using strips of chicken that were made from the leftover breast from the goat cheese sandwiches. I sliced the chicken, put the strips in a sealed plastic container and added a little fresh lime juice and a hearty tablespoon of my favorite Mexican seasoning mix. I gave it a good shake and it's been waiting for me in our fridge. Had I not been planning to have the quesadillas tonight, I could have just as easily transferred all of that to a freezer bag, labeled it and put it away for one of those emergency meal nights!

So now I make my own pre-cooked chicken to have on hand. Some is plain - for all of those recipes that call for two cups of cooked cut-up chicken and some Mexican flavored - fajitas, nachos, quesadillas, enchiladas, you name it! Next time you see chicken on sale, stock up, bake it, poach it, grill it, whatever your preference and then slice and store away!