Heading back to school, prepping for a new baby, or just tryna get your life together? All of the above point to one thing: FREEZER MEALS!
A little history of this post: I started to do some research around freezer meals for my maternity leave in 2018, and I was shocked at the lack of options out there. Don’t get me wrong – the internet has many freezer meal recipes, but most of them were not what I was looking for in terms of whole food ingredients, flavor, and ease of prep.
So I put together my own! We’ve been working on updating this post every year since it was published and it just keeps getting better and even more useful. Now, as I prepare for another maternity leave, we’re rolling out the latest version which has 6 new freezer meal recipes (bringing our grand total to 22 freezer meal recipes) and an amazing printable resource including grocery lists and labels.
Freezable Toddler Meal Recipes
The idea here was to put everything into one big post so you don’t have to keep a million tabs open and jump back and forth between browser windows while you’re doing your own planning.
The free printables will help make your freezer meal process as smooth and easy as possible. I’ve tailored them to exactly what is useful to me, and now I’m just sharing my process with you.
I hope this post allows you to put a healthy and super delicious dinner that you ACTUALLY love on the table with little to no stress, even in life’s most busy seasons. You got this! ♡
Healthy Freezer Meals For Families
Poof! Now you can make them ALL this week! Or make four this month, four next month, and four the following month. Or make just one at a time! However you wanna do it. I keep the Starter Kit in my kitchen and refer to it often, even if I’m only prepping a few freezer meals at a time.
FINAL STEP:Stir in olive oil and kale. (If you made this in the Instant Pot, some of the vegetables should break down just enough to make the soup creamy! If you made this in the slow cooker, blend a little bit of the soup with the olive oil to make a creamy base.) Finish with a splash of lemon juice or red wine vinegar.
FINAL STEP: Melt butter, whisk in flour, whisk in milk until creamy and thick. Add to the soup. Add extra water to thin to desired consistency.
Actually Easy Freezer Meals (seriously!)
This recipe takes up quite a bit of space, so it works best when divided between two 7-cup glass containers, or stored in a plastic bag.
FINAL STEP: After cooking in Instant Pot, turn on saute function. Add cornstarch slurry. Cook for a few minutes until slightly thickened. (If using a slow cooker, add cornstarch when it’s done and let thicken for 30 minutes.)
FINAL STEP:Shred chicken and add 1 cup jasmine rice. Use sauté function with lid off, and cook for 15 minutes until rice is cooked. Stir in 3 cups spinach and a splash of soy sauce or fish sauce. Serve with fresh herbs (mint and basil), and crushed peanuts.
Minute Healthy Freezer Recipes
From frozen, 65 minutes on high pressure + 10 minutes nature release. For top sirloin:From frozen, 45 minutes on high pressure + 10 minutes nature release.
FINAL STEP:Shred chicken and serve with Jalapeño Ranch Slaw (see below) in tortillas. Blend up the Jalapeño Ranch ingredients and toss with shredded cabbage to make a slaw.
INSTANT POT: Add 2 ½ cups broth and ¼ cup giardiniera brine before cooking. From frozen, 1 hour 15 minutes on high pressure + 15 minutes natural release.
Freezer Meals For One
This vegetarian taco meat is made with cauliflower, walnuts, and chipotle peppers. It’s so easy: just mix, bake, and eat or freeze. Meatless miracle!
Serves 6 // vegan, gluten free, dairy free, whole30 (This one is my favorite, so I like to double or triple this recipe when I freeze it!)
FINAL STEP: Add taco meat to a skillet to reheat, or in the microwave. Serve in tacos (yummy!), enchiladas, rice bowls, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, the usual.
Best Freezer Meals On The Planet
BAKE: From frozen, bake at 425 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes, covered. Remove cover and bake for 10 minutes until bubbly and browned. Let stand for 15 minutes to firm up.
You can also bake them before freezing (400 degrees, 20 minutes) so that you can keep them in the freezer fully cooked and ready to reheat.
These Quinoa Black Bean Crockpot Stuffed Peppers can be made with or without meat – all with simple pantry ingredients! Minimal prep, awesome taste.
Easy Freezer Meals For New Parents
Veggie burgers you’ll want to eat again and again! Filling but not too dense, crispy but not crumbly, and with all the smokiness and yumminess.
FORM: Form into 4 large patties and freeze on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Once frozen solid, store in a bag or container.
Sheet Pan Chicken Pitas that are salty-briney-crunchy in all the right ways! Marinated chicken, roasted peppers, fresh cucumber, kalamata olives, feta cheese, and an easy homemade tzatziki.
Crockpot Freezer Meals (+ Grocery List!)
FREEZE: Spread into a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze until solid; transfer to a bag or container to store in the freezer.
Obviously plastic bags are the most common, but let’s be real – not everyone wants to use depressing plastic bags all the time (ME!!) so here my favorites along with a few pros and cons of each type of container.
**These are my personal favorite!** I own 5 of them and use them all the time. I definitely can’t fit 12 of them in my freezer (nor did I want to BUY 12 of them!), but that’s fine by me since I only prep a few recipes (4-6) at a time.
Healthier Freezer Friendly Meals
Considerations: Many recipes will require leaving the liquids out in order to fit. The food expands a little bit as it freezes, so you want to leave a little space at the top. To loosen the frozen food before cooking, I just run the containers under hot water for a minute until loosened, and then dump them into the slow cooker or Instant Pot. Unlike freezer bags, the food will be frozen in a round shape so they fit straight into the Instant Pot like a dream! No plastic waste! No awkward square shaped frozen blocks of food! Wash and use for leftovers! Did I mention these are my favorite?
These are my second favorite. I own two of these which is just the right amount for the occasional pan of lasagna, enchiladas, stuffed peppers, or even snacks like energy bites. The snap closure is awesome for leftovers and look super pretty in the fridge.
It all depends on how well they’re stored. But if you are able to get most of the air out (to avoid freezer burn), these should keep for at least 6 months in the freezer.
Crockpot Freezer Meals For Effortless Dinners
I am so happy to say that you do NOT need to thaw them first! I don’t thaw my freezer recipes before cooking! *evil laugh* I just take them straight out of the freezer and put them in the Instant Pot, slow cooker, or oven.
The one exception is the category of meats in the slow cooker. Those should always be thawed first. It’s a food safety thing – it takes longer amount of time for the meat to heat up in the slow cooker, leaving the frozen meat in the danger zone for a potentially unsafe amount of time.
Once a recipe has been frozen, I don’t thaw it out and re-freeze it (remember: I just pull them right out of my freezer and cook them from frozen).
Delicious And Easy Freezer Meal Recipes (simple And Affordable)
And once a recipe has been cooked, I don’t freeze it again. Most of these recipes make 6 servings so we just keep it in the fridge and eat it up over the next 2-3 days.
When using my Pyrex bakeware, I put them straight from freezer to oven several times (wiping off the extra water or frost on the outside of the container first). It was fine. Nothing shattered.
, and it was slightly traumatic. I would feel really sad to get comments with reports of your shattering glass dishes, so you’ll have to decide for yourself what you feel comfortable with.
Vegan Freezer Meals To Make Ahead
Line your frozen glass containers with parchment so you can pull your lasagnas out and transfer them into a room-temperature pan for baking.
I had some mild freezer burn on a few of my recipes because it’s hard to press out all the air when using a reusable container like a Pyrex bowl with a lid. To be honest, I didn’t think it was all that big of a deal. My belief on this is that the point when freezer burn really starts to become a bad-tasting problem is when it’s built up on stuff that’s been hanging out in your freezer for, like, months upon months. I wouldn’t worry too much about a little layer of frost on top of your soups in your Pyrex containers.
I generally DO NOT include the liquids (broth, water, tomato sauce, etc.) because I find it’s harder for them to fit in the freezer and then in the
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