Adding sous vide to your meal prep routine is going to totally change the game for you. My favorite approach is to stock your freezer with ready-to-sous-vide proteins that can go straight from frozen to the water bath, no defrosting required. At the beginning of the week, sous vide a few protein basics that you can use in meals throughout the week, and that will always be cooked perfectly.

Stocking Your Freezer

My favorite way to make sure my freezer is always stocked up with ready to sous vide proteins is to:

  1. Buy in bulk when proteins go on sale. This is especially great for bulk wholesale stores like Costco. Anytime you see a good sale, stock up!
  2. Portion the protein for your family’s size and pick 2-3 ways to season them. I have tons of rubs, marinades, and sauces in my cookbook Sous Vide Meal Prep, but you can also find rub and marinade recipes right here on my website. For example, if you found pork chops on sale, prepare half for sous vide pork chops and apples and the other half with my Chipotle Mustard Marinade (both recipes can be found in my cookbook!).
  3. Vacuum seal the portioned and seasoned protein. Using a vacuum sealer and vacuum seal bags is the best way to ensure your meat won’t get any freezer burn, but I do have other air removal methods if you’d prefer.
  4. Fill your freezer! Put all the vacuum sealed food into the freezer to sous vide later.

When you’re ready to enjoy one of these meals, you can go straight from the freezer to your sous vide water bath. It’s so easy!

Sous Vide Meal Prep

This cookbook outlines my entire method for keeping your freezer stocked with ready to sous vide meals (and some great recipes to boot!).

Learn More

Weekly Meal Prep with Sous Vide

Using the above freezer stocking method will make your weekly meal prep routine so much simpler and quicker. Pick a few items that are already in your freezer and make note of them. You can either sous vide them on the day you plan to eat them, or you can sous vide several proteins in advance in one day. The latter works well if you work outside the home and don’t want to wait 2 hours to eat once you’re home. Simply reheat to serve!

I love to sous vide something like chicken breasts to use in lunches throughout the week. One of my favorite ways to use sous vide chicken breasts is to dice them then add them to a bowl with ranch, chopped spinach, bacon, and shredded mozzarella for a chicken salad sandwich of sorts that can be eaten hot or cold. This chicken is also the perfect addition to a rice bowl!

When it comes to breakfasts, I recommend sous vide hard boiled eggs (or soft boiled, depending on your preference), egg bites, or sous vide oatmeal pudding (recipe found in Sous Vide Meal Prep) or some combination of these things. Prep enough servings for the whole week and you won’t have to think twice about what to eat each morning.

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    Common Questions

    I work outside of the home and a 2 hour cook time just isn’t doable after work. What should I do?

    No worries! The easiest thing to do is cook several proteins on a meal prep day in advance, then simply reheat and sear (if necessary) before serving. If you’re feeling fancy and you have a WiFi enabled circulator, you can set up your sous vide bath as an ice bath before leaving for work and add your food, then remotely turn it from your phone. Be careful, though: this isn’t foolproof!

    What immersion circulator do you recommend?

    The Breville Joule is my favorite, but the Anova Nano is a great, affordable starter option. Any circulator from a reputable brand with good reviews will do the trick.

    What do I need besides an immersion circulator?

    I highly recommend getting a vacuum sealer so you can fully take advantage of the freezer method. This allows you to batch prep tons of food, freeze without worrying about freezer burn, and pop right into your sous vide water bath.

    How do you reheat egg bites?

    To reheat egg bites, I remove the lid and pop them in the microwave at 70% power for 1 minute 30 seconds.

    Tips and Tricks

    Looking for some extra guidance? Make sure to check out these resources.

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