Alright, let me tell you about my adventure diving into sous vide for meal prep this past weekend. I kept hearing about it, how it makes things easy and tasty, especially for cooking proteins ahead of time without drying them out. My usual Sunday meal prep often ended with chicken breast that got kinda sad by Wednesday, you know? So, I decided to give this sous vide thing a proper go.
Getting Started: The Plan and The Haul
First thing, I figured out what I wanted to eat for the next few days. Mainly lunches, so chicken breast was definitely on the list. Maybe some pork tenderloin too, if I felt ambitious. I hit the grocery store and bought a big pack of chicken breasts and a couple of pork tenderloins – buying in bulk felt like the way to go for this.
Got home, unpacked everything. The prepping part started. I decided to keep the seasonings simple for versatility later in the week.
- Chicken Breasts: Salt, pepper, garlic powder, a bit of paprika. Simple stuff.
- Pork Tenderloins: Salt, pepper, maybe some dried rosemary and thyme.
I portioned everything out into single servings. This felt important for grab-and-go later. Then came the vacuum sealing. I put each seasoned portion into its own bag and sucked all the air out. Gotta say, the vacuum sealer is pretty satisfying to use. Seeing all those neat little packages lined up felt like progress already.
Cooking Day: Setting Up the Bath
Sunday morning, I got my sous vide setup ready. Just a big plastic container I use for storage, filled with water. Clipped my immersion circulator to the side. I decided to cook the chicken first. Set the temperature – I think I went with 149°F (around 65°C) – and let the water heat up.
Once it hit the target temp, I gently lowered the sealed bags of chicken into the water bath. Made sure they were fully submerged. Then, I just let it do its thing. The recipe I looked up said about 1.5 to 2 hours for chicken breast of that thickness. The beauty was, I could just walk away. No standing over a hot pan, no worrying about overcooking. I actually went and did some laundry and tidied up.
After the chicken timer went off, I did the same for the pork tenderloin, adjusting the temperature and time accordingly. I think I did 140°F (60°C) for the pork, for about 2 hours as well.
Cooling Down and Storing
This part’s apparently quite important for safety and texture. As soon as the cooking time was up for each batch, I took the bags out of the hot water. Had a big bowl ready filled with ice water – an ice bath. Dropped the hot bags straight into the ice bath for maybe 20-30 minutes until they were completely chilled. This stops the cooking process fast.
Once cooled, I dried the bags off and labeled them with the date and contents using a sharpie. Then, straight into the fridge they went. All stacked up, ready for the week.
The Week’s Eats: Reheating and Results
Okay, so here’s the payoff. Monday lunch comes around. Grabbed a bag of chicken. Now, you can eat it straight from the bag after gentle reheating, but it looks a bit pale. So, I took the chicken out, patted it super dry with paper towels. Heated up a cast iron skillet with a bit of oil until it was screaming hot. Seared the chicken for maybe 60 seconds per side. Just long enough to get a nice golden-brown crust.
The result? Honestly, fantastic. The chicken was incredibly juicy and tender all the way through, not dry at all. And that quick sear gave it a nice texture and appearance. Way better than my usual baked chicken efforts. I sliced it up for a salad one day, had it with some leftover roasted veggies another day. The pork tenderloin was just as good later in the week – seared it off the same way.
It made packing lunch so much faster. Protein was cooked, safe, and ready to go. Just needed to add sides or sear it quickly.
Final Thoughts
So, was it worth it? Yeah, I think so. It took a bit of planning and a block of time on Sunday, but the actual hands-on time wasn’t huge because the sous vide machine does most of the work. The vacuum sealing adds a step, but it also means the food seems to last really well in the fridge.
The best part was the quality of the food throughout the week. No more dry, sad protein by day three. Everything stayed moist and tasted freshly cooked after a quick sear. I’m definitely doing this again. It’s a solid technique to add to the meal prep routine, especially for lean proteins that dry out easily. Made my week way less stressful food-wise.
