Peri Peri Chicken Pot (Homemade Pot Noodles!) Prep. Ahead Meals

This was a ‘staff room’ recipe from Beth, who turned up at school one lunchtime with a pot of rabbit food. Well, I say that, but actually, when I tried it, it was far more delicious than rabbit food and even had some meat in it! And what’s more, its one of the quickest recipes you’ll try, especially if you prep. ahead and get all the chopping done beforehand.

You’ll need to slice peppers (yellow), carrots and spring onions. I used the mandoline so they were super thin, but thinnish strips will be fine. Pop these into a zipped freezer bag and add mange tout, corainder leaves and baby spinach. (I told you it was a little like rabbit food!) To fill the bags, put them into an empty large mug so nothing spills. Chop some ready cooked chicken (or leftover chicken from the roast if you have any!) and add that, along with a good splash of ‘sauce’. I used Nando’s Peri Peri Medium, but you could add a dollop of Hoi Sin, or Sweet Chilli – really, whichever flavour you fancy. Remember to check the date on the chicken so you know when to eat it before.

I really prefer to bag these as individual portions, then they become a ‘grab and go’ dinner or lunch. And I also freeze them all, but you’ll need to remember to thaw in the fridge overnight for the next day. If I ever need a lunch, I just get one out the night before and take it with me, along with a noodle nest and stock cube.

To make the ‘meal’ you add noodles and stock. That’s it! I prefer the vermicelli rice noodles, but traditional egg noodles work just as well. I also opt for the ‘soft’ straight-to-wok noodles rather than the dry ones as they simply require heating, rather than cooking, making the dish even quicker. You can even add these soft noodles to your ready-prepped bag, but in this case, I wouldn’t freeze them. It’s just as simple to grab a nest of noodles on the day of making.

So, the initial idea with these was that you store all the ingredients in a Kilner jar, even the noodles, and simply pour hot stock over the top and eat. We all agreed, however, that the dish just isn’t hot enough like this, so I’ve found the best method to be tipping out your prepped veg. into a shallow bowl and adding the noodles. Boil the kettle and add half a stock cube to around 200ml hot water. Pour over the veg. and noodles and microwave for a minute until piping hot. It’s essentially a homemade pot noodle, I know, but with all that veg. surely the little bit of salted stock is balanced out?!

And I promise, it’s much tastier than you might think!