I love baking, but I’m not the keenest on “proper” cooking, mainly because the last thing I want to do when I get home from work is to start chopping and peeling veg and stirring sauces for interminable periods of time. However I also realise that while frozen portions of pasta sauce are a lifesaver, and that my freezer is essentially my best friend, there are times when I want to eat something that tastes like I’ve actually put some effort in…

These one meal parcels are a great way around the “maximum taste, minimal effort” dilemma for me, and they are also healthy, fat free (if made with skinless chicken), and best of all the only washing up is a plate….

As with most recipe’s this can be adapted to suit your own personal tastes/fridge contents.

Typical Contents of my Chicken and Veg Parcels...

Typically I’ll use a potato, or a few new potato’s (life without carbs is not for me, however if you are that way inclined obviously leave this out and substitute for more veg…), mushrooms, tomato’s, and a bit of mixed veg (this pack contained carrots, green beans, courgettes) but basically you can chuck anything you like veg wise in. I also prepare the chicken by removing the skin. Bang the oven on to a medium to hot temperature too.

Next prepare your parcel. This involves laying two sheets of foil across each other (like an “x”), and, if you have it, a piece of greaseproof paper in the centre.

Start off by chopping up your veg – I cut my potato in half and then slice each half into roughly half centimetre slices, as this seems to guarantee that they will be cooked in the same time as the chicken (nothing worse than hard spuds!), then slice up mushrooms and tomato’s. If you can be bothered put the “harder” veg, ie in this case, the potato, carrots and beans in a pan and cover with freshly boiled water for a couple of minutes – this starts them cooking, but it does involve having another pan to wash. Either way seems to work fine though…

Next tumble your prepared veg into the centre of your parcel, and season it all well – I’ll usually crumble a chicken stock cube over as well, but if you are watching your salt levels, then you might want to be a bit more imaginative with using herbs and spices.

Next lay over the chicken pieces, pour a couple of tablespoons of boiled water over the lot, as this will produce a sauce/gravy from the ingredients which you can pour over if you want, as well as making sure everything stays beautifully moist…

Once everything is in your parcel, bring the sides of the parcel together and scrunch the foil together so it’s all sealed in with no gaps – this doesn’t need to look pretty in any way, just maek sure its all sealed.

Place the parcel on a baking tray in the centre of the oven and bake for around 40-50 minutes – keep checking and ensure that the chicken is cooked all the way through. Obviously fan ovens will cook it faster, so adjust the time according to the temperament of your own oven…

Serve however you like – In usually put the chicken on one side of the plate, and pile the veg to the side, then pour a bit of the cooking liquid over the chicken.

Its a great filling, healthy meal and enables you to get a good few of your five a day in as well.

You could obviously also substitute different types of meat or even fish in the parcels, You could keep it fresh using citrus fruits to squeeze over instead of plain water, and obviously there are endless possibilities of which herb and spice combinations you use… Also if you are a vegetarian, you could use this method to prep your veggies to accompany a tofu dish etc.

You could also leave out the potato’s and bulk up the tomato content to make a veg sauce which would go well with pasta…

Hope this was helpful!