5 Minute Chicken Salad

The Intentional Mom Planning System is where you need to start with our incredible collection of product options. It will help you establish the basics for your life & home so you’ll finally have a plan, save yourself time, and go to bed feeling like you accomplished something every day (because you did). Save up to 60% HERE!

In keeping with the meal ideas I’ve been sharing, I wanted to give you one more quick meal idea. On my Periscope broadcast yesterday, I shared that I had a crazy busy day on Wednesday, and as it turned out, things only took longer than they were supposed to. Isn’t that always the way?

I ended up being home only for about an hour, collectively, and of course here came the dinner hour again when the people I live with expected something to eat – go figure! Generally on a day when I know I will be gone most or all of the day, I will either make the meal ahead of time the night before or utilize my crock pot. I love my crock pot. Do you use one? If not, you should. They are such a life saver for me. However, yesterday I didn’t come home with the groceries until 5:30, so I had no option of making food earlier in the day since I had NO food in the house.

So, at 5:45 I was looking around at what I had, and also trying to come up with something that I could make from things that really needed to be used up. For instance, I had half of a red onion that was getting a bit dry and some chicken that I had made extra of over the weekend so it also needed to get used up. One of the most valuable of my frugal tips is using what you have – don’t let any food go to waste for whatever reason.

Standing in my kitchen on the verge of tears of frustration at having to whip up a meal out of nowhere for the third time in the past week, I took a deep breath and remained calm. Really, this is the first step to having to come up with a meal under pressure. Breathe deeply. Maybe pour yourself a glass of wine and just compose yourself for a moment.

Next, I cleared my mind and then focused on the chicken and the onion. I opened some drawers in my fridge and found some celery. It was at that point that it came to me…chicken salad. I could use the things I was needing to get rid of and then add some of the grapes that I just picked up, too, which was good since fruit had been missing from our home for five days!

Remember when I made my 5 Minute Lunch? I took the time to chop up the extra chicken I had then, knowing it would make for a quick meal of some kind in a few days. So, all I had to do was cut the onion, celery, and grapes, and then everything else was just a quick dump into the bowl. Again, I had another meal that only took a few moments to throw together because of the prep work I had done previously.

While I’m mentioning prep work, as I was chopping the onions and celery for the chicken salad as well as the cucumbers for our vegetable item for this meal, I chopped all the extra I would need to make potato salad today. I threw all these things in my big bowl, covered it with plastic wrap, and stuck it in the fridge. Now, all I’ve got to do is add the potatoes and a few other things, and my potato salad for today will be done! Always think about how you can use whatever you might be cooking with today for another meal and take the few extra seconds to prepare a bit extra at that point to save time and stress later.

This is how this recipe for chicken salad shakes out, and for this recipe you will need:

• 2 medium cooked chicken breast, chopped into smaller bite sized pieces
• 2 stalks celery
• 1/4 of a red onion, finely chopped
• about 1 cup of grapes, cut in half
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• dash of salt and pepper
• any type of bread, roll, or bun for serving
• lettuce
• walnuts (optional)

It really is as easy as throwing everything but the lettuce and bread item into a bowl and mixing it all up. Serve on the bread or bun with lettuce and pair it with something like a chip type item…we had tortilla chips with a hint of lime, which are a favorite over here. Have some fresh vegetables or cole slaw on hand and you’ve got a meal without the mommy meltdown.

Looking for some quick dinners? You can find my 5 Minute Dinner and Yet Another 5 Minute Dinner for some inspiration by clicking on those links!