Life with children is unpredictable. It’s busy. We’re tired. They’re not. To top it all off, we need to feed our families. Lame. That’s when freezer meals can come in handy. Sometimes when I remember I have food in the freezer to whip out an easy meal, I think I hear angels sing. I used to think freezer meals were mostly freezer bags full of food to just dump in your crockpot. Now, I have a plethera of ideas that aren’t limited to the crockpot and can even take less time to make. Hallelujah! The recipes and items below are some of our favorite meals to have and I almost ALWAYS have them on hand. Its easy to make them in bulk and freeze. Let’s get freezing!
My favorite item to have on hand in the freezer is meatballs. I use The Pioneer Woman’s all purpose meatballs and it makes a ton! She gives you instructions on how to flash freeze them. The only thing I do different is I bake the meatballs instead of frying them. These are super easy and quick to pull out of the freezer to serve with pasta, covered in BBQ sauce and served with veggies and mashed potatoes, on a hoagie for meatball subs or my favorite, Swedish Meatballs. There are so many things you can make with these and it’s easy!
Pasta and pizza are favorites in our house and I typically always have a homemade marinara in the freezer. You could easily buy jars of pasta sauce but I’m not a fan of many of them and the ones I do like are more than $6 a jar. Yikes. Budget Bytes has a super delicious slow cooker marinara sauce that we love! I double the recipe so I have plenty on hand. Once the sauce is done cooking, I scoop about 3 cups or so into each freezer bag and let sit out open for an hour or two to cool then seal to freeze flat. The sauce thaws super quick in a bag or sink of warm water.
Our family has a weakness for this lasagna recipe brought to you by The Pioneer Woman. It’s THE BEST. It does take some time to make, so when I do, I make a double batch and instead of putting them in to two 9×13 pans, I make four 8×8 pans. AI also use the oven ready lasagna instead of boiling my noodles. I can pull this out the night before and pop in the fridge – or there have been days where I just pop it straight from the freezer to the oven and just cook it longer.
I’m a Costco gal and one of my favorite things is their rotisserie chicken. It’s $5 and is super delicious and moist. I’m a fan of using the chicken to make chicken pot pies or chicken enchiladas. I honestly don’t follow a recipe for these so if you need one, good ol’ Pinterest has tons of great ones. Once again, I’m doubling the recipe. Instead of making one pot pie, I make two big ones or four smaller ones. I make multiple pans of enchiladas as well. Then I get really wild. I make homemade chicken broth with the bones from the rotisserie chicken. This recipe from Jessica Eats Real Food is great, flavorful and easy to toss in your Instant pot or crock pot! I store my broth in the freezer in either freezer bags or freezer safe Tupperware containers. It typically makes around 9-10 cups of stock that you can use for soups, stews or in recipes that you may need just a cup or two! That $5 Costco chicken can help you make tons of meals!
Freezer meals aren’t just for dinners! I love having breakfast easy and accessible in the freezer for school mornings. I am NOT a morning person so anything that can help me get out the door with less effort is essential. I will occasionally make a big batch of waffles or pancakes and then freeze them but let’s be honest, most of the time I just buy frozen waffles and pancakes. There is a pancake bite recipe that I love to make for little effort! They are little protein pancake bites that makes a ton and you can customize the toppings. They are made in mini muffin pans and I love to do a variety of toppings. After I pour the batter in to the tins, I top some with maple syrup, some with cinnamon sugar, some with blueberries and the rest with mini chocolate chips. Once baked and cooled, I flash freeze them and then divide them into bags based on the toppings. In the morning, I’ll take out how many I need and heat them in the microwave for 30-60 seconds and the kids dip them in maple syrup or honey and gobble them up!
I hope these inspire you to prep and freeze some of your favorite meal components and meals! I can’t wait to hear what some of your favorite freezer meals are!
