It’s (kind of like Shake and Bake) Post Partum Meal with Kraft Fresh Take Mix

I’m fairly certain I’ve gotten a coupon for this product before, direct from Kraft, and may have even written about it on my own (no compensation), but this one is all me. We took a coupon about to expire and turned it into two meals!

This is my bargain basement 2 meals for the price of one. I had a $1 off coupon (not hard to find in magazines or online) for the Kraft Fresh Take Mix. It claims to coat about a pound of chicken, but I used a 2.5 lb bag of chicken tenders, and had plenty of mix remaining to shake over the top, so it may have done 3 whole pounds of tenders. Price of mix to me ~$0.98. We got our chicken from Aldi, so it was around $5-6 for the 2 meals. We used other items from the pantry, so that’s basically ‘free’. The first time we had pasta and alfredo sauce with it, see last pic for 2nd iteration….

We’re always looking for something ‘different’ to do with chicken. This definitely filled the bill. I have used one of the mixes before and figured with the ingredients and how much is leftover that I could get a 2nd (possible freezer) meal out of it, and I was right!!! The flavor above is VERY good, but there are also Italian, Mexican, etc. versions.

I think the 2.5 lb bag had about 17 -19 tenders in it. Roughly half we coated and put on a plate to be baked later that day. It took no time at all, and I kept one hand clean to handle the bags (I opened them ahead of time) and the other had chicken on it, of course. It comes in a dual pouch bag, you pull the sides apart to mix the cheese and breadcrumb/spice mix immediately before using–super easy!

Obviously we wanted to freeze the rest, so in it went, arranged flat in 2 quart size freezer bags, and was frozen flat. I left it that way, but the bags were full enough, they probably could be later configured upright in your freezer door to save space.

The package mix has instructions for chicken breast or pork chop, but we adapted it for tenders, cooking it just a little shy of directions for the smaller pieces. Obviously we left the post-partum portion in the freezer for a couple of weeks, so the instructions were long gone. We approximated 400 degrees F for 25 minutes and that cooked it all through just fine-obviously bake longer if needed, right? With 2 adults and 2 small kids we had plenty from each batch to eat plus a couple tenders as leftovers.

The second meal ended up being a ‘throw together’ of canned foods and mac and cheese (must add garlic powder!) This arrangement is perfect for post-partum, because you can turn on the oven to pre-heat, gather all the canned food, start pasta, put the chicken in, make the mac and cheese while you open everything else, and set the table. It’s all done in about half an hour, and there’s a bit of something for everyone! Obviously, pre-cooked veggies or salad would be better, but that isn’t always available if you haven’t run to the store, but most people have canned food of some sort in their pantry! In this instance I chose the beans to try and get some fiber and protein into my toddler, and fruit to please their sweet teeth! The mac and cheese was all about a preggo mama (and soon to be nursing mama’s) need for carbs and good fat milk products! Plus it’s kid friendly and makes for great leftovers if you have any–to eat cold, straight out of the fridge on a nursing break! (Not that I’ve ever done that).

In answer to the question, could you make this yourself? Sure. Probably for about the same price as retail or maybe less if you’re not using store bought breadcrumbs and instead make and toast your own, but this is of course, extremely convenient since it’s all ready and lasts for quite some time in the fridge or freezer.

Check out my other post-partum meal ideas by clicking the ‘tag’ below this post or on the right sidebar!