Portuguese meal prep on a budget: 5-day plan
Eating out every day has a cost that adds up quickly throughout the month. With a few hours of preparation on Sunday, it is possible to have lunches and dinners for the week practically taken care of, with a much more controlled budget.
This plan is based on affordable ingredients that are easy to find in any Portuguese supermarket: chicken, eggs, legumes, rice or pasta, and seasonal vegetables, organised to last for several days without repeating exactly the same dish.
Basic shopping list
- Chicken (breast or thighs), about 1 kg.
- Eggs, a dozen.
- Chickpeas, 2 cans or equivalent cooked at home.
- Rice and pasta, to vary the bases.
- Seasonal vegetables: the cheapest ones at the moment tend to go further.
- Fruit for everyday.
- Natural yogurt.
The Sunday plan, in 2 hours
- Cook the chickpeas (or heat the ready-cooked ones) while you prepare the rest.
- Roast the chicken and vegetables simultaneously, on two trays in the oven.
- Cook the rice or pasta base for the week.
- Assemble the containers by meal, keeping fresh sauces and seasonings separate.
Menu ideas for 5 days
- Monday: roast chicken, rice and broccoli.
- Tuesday: grain salad with egg and raw vegetables.
- Wednesday: pasta with shredded chicken and tomato.
- Thursday: stewed grain with seasonal vegetables.
- Friday: vegetable rice with poached egg.
Storage: what goes in the fridge and what freezes
Generally speaking, cooked chicken will keep safely in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. That said, the ideal is to freeze in individual portions. Rice and pasta also freeze well, but fresh leaf salads should only be assembled on the day itself, so as not to lose texture.
How to reheat without losing texture
Roast chicken and vegetables are best reheated in a frying pan or in the oven rather than the microwave, which tends to leave them rather soggy. Rice and pasta cope well with the microwave, with a little water or stock added so they do not dry out.