Rachel Donaldson.

Welcome back to Dining with Donaldson, the place where I try recipes so you don’t have to!

This week I decided to change things up again, because what brings more joy in life than unpredictability? This morning as I was working on some food prep items in my kitchen, I started thinking about how great a topic it could be. So consider this a little teaser for the back-to-school season. I plan to do a few articles on meal prep and freezer meals later on, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

I do my best thinking two times a day. The first is when I’m in the kitchen, and the second is in the middle of the night at around 2 a.m. when I frantically wake up with a thought and suddenly feel like it’s the most important idea I have ever had. (And sometimes I’m right.) In fact, if you’ve ever interacted with me in person, there is a high probability that I have started a conversation with, “Last night when I was awake around 2 a.m., I had a thought…” This article is basically one of those moments.

This “recipe” doesn’t really fit in the normal category for the term. It is more of a way to prepare one of the most useful ingredients you can have ready to go: pre-cooked chicken. This is something I have been doing for more years than I can count, and as I’m sitting here typing this in a rush of ideas, I currently have four chicken breasts cooking on the stove.

Pre-cooked chicken may not sound exciting, but stay with me. This is one of those kitchen prep tricks that can make future meals so much easier. You can use it for casseroles, soups, burritos, taquitos, pasta dishes, salads, wraps, quesadillas, chicken salad … OK, sorry, I’m getting a little out of hand here.

To start, fill a stockpot about halfway with water. Add in your chicken breasts. I would suggest not doing more than four at a time because they can clump together and become harder to handle. At this point, I add a simple seasoning mix: salt, pepper and garlic powder. Cook on medium-low until the chicken is cooked all the way through. I like to cook it low and slow because then I can work on other things at the same time.

Now I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself, “Rachel, you always talk about flavor,” or maybe, “Rachel, I’ve heard the rumors about your ridiculously large spice cabinet.” All I can say is just be patient with me on this.

There is a reason I keep the seasoning simple at first. When you cook the chicken with basic seasonings, it becomes more flexible. Instead of locking into one flavor, you can turn it into several different ones later. Think of it as creating a blank canvas, but with chicken. A very practical, less artsy, more delicious blank canvas.

Anyway, we’ve got the chicken cooked low and slow, right? Take it off the burner and let it cool down. Once cool, take a strainer and remove the chicken to a cutting board. Now here is the exciting part you didn’t even know was coming – an added bonus you didn’t realize you were getting! You actually made two food items, and you didn’t even realize it.

Let’s deal with your bonus item first. Don’t throw away the liquid in the pot. That liquid is now homemade chicken stock. Let it cool and then separate it into freezer-safe containers. You can use this later for soups, rice, casseroles, sauces…sorry, there I go again! It is simple, basically free since you were probably going to dump it down the drain anyway, and you get to control how much salt and seasoning goes into it.

Let’s get back to our chicken. Shred or finely chop it, depending on how you plan to use it. This is where the real seasoning comes in. I usually separate my chicken into bags or bowls based on what meals I plan to make. For example, my plan today is to make burritos and taquitos to freeze for fast lunches, so this chicken will go into a bowl where I’ll add my favorite Mexican-style seasonings and carefully stir until everything is coated.

If I’m saving chicken for later, I put it in a freezer bag, add whatever seasonings fit the dish, seal the bag, label it and throw it in the freezer until I’m ready to use it.

The beauty of this is that future-you will thank current-you. So no, this is not a glamorous recipe. There are no complicated steps or ingredients that require a special trip to the store, but instead it is a practical, affordable piece of kitchen magic.

Rachel Donaldson is an author, self-described foodie and the current family and consumer sciences teacher at North Tama Community School District. She resides with her family in Vinton.