The Tale of 6 Chicken Breasts

Once upon a time, if I bought 6 breasts like I did this past Saturday (around 3 1/2 lbs worth), I would have just thrown two breasts in a bag and in the freezer.  And I would think "Woohoo!  3 meals worth!"  Then I started Weight Watchers.  

I used to always use a 1 pound (give or take - I would never actually measure) of meat per recipe.  And honestly, yeah, a lot of times for dinner I would down 6 - 8 oz of chicken by myself.  But now, I find that I'm always using either 4 oz. or 8 oz. of chicken for a meal for our family  Obviously when my boys are older or if you have a bigger family, you'll have to use more.  So instead of being able to make 3 meals with those 6 chicken breasts, I now can get upwards of 9:

 

 

Ever since the New Year I've been really good about portioning up thing correctly.  I got the Weight Watchers Food Scale about a month ago and I use it on a daily basis.  It's right there next to my coffee maker which always gets used quite frequently throughout the day.  So that picture above, I took those same 6 chicken breasts and cut them up how I like.  I can prepare 4 of my 4 oz. recipes, 4 of my 8 oz. recipes and the 6 oz - well that's just the "scraps" from cutting up the meat - which is actually, in itself it's own meal (and by scraps, I don't mean all the fat and disgust - I find that most chicken breasts are 8-10 oz.  So I cut off 2 oz. and throw it aside as I'm cutting up my 8 oz.).  

I'll admit, when it comes to Weight Watchers, I'm not the best tracker.  I'm not the best water drinker.  I'm not the most scheduled person when it comes to working out (1 time some weeks, 6 times other weeks).  But one thing that I found that I do really good is measure and weigh.  I measure or weigh everything.  It's actually very easy once you get into the swing of it.  When I first started WW, I was at Ikea and grabbed an extra set of measuring spoons.  I took the ring off - so if I wanted the Tablespoon, I wouldn't have to wash every other spoon.  The Ikea ones are nice because even the 1/4 tsp. is kind of chunky and big so you don't lose it in your drawer.  I also have 2 sets of measuring cups (you can get these at the Dollar Tree).  I popped that ring off too - so that way I'm only using and dirtying the cups I actually need.  I actually leave the measuring spoons in with my silverware. 

That is my Weight Watchers rant of the week.