Want to fill your freezer the quick and easy way? Check out these easy freezer meals and download the free cooking plan.
I took classic family favorite dinners and put them into an easy freezer cooking plan that you’ll want to put on repeat. It’s quick to work through, easy to have others help, and will be devoured in a blink.
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Stashing away some easy freezer meals is one of the biggest favors you can do for yourself. Not only are you avoiding fast food and more expensive convenience items, but you’re also making it really, really easy to get dinner on the table.
This easy freezer meal plan is just the ticket to get started filling the freezer with ready to go dinners.
Why Make This
It helps others help you. With some easy freezer meals stashed in the freezer, it’s simple to delegate someone else to cook or reheat dinner and get it served.
Your family will love it. These easy freezer meals are so kid-friendly, you’re really going to be happy cooking through and, more importantly, enjoying these dinners as a family.
It’s quicker than you think! All the recipes included here are quick to fix, 30-minute meals. You’ll easily have 8 to 10 meals stashed away in the freezer in no time.
You should be able to knock out this cooking plan in 2 to 3 hours.
Or you can use the grocery list to shop for a week, and cook one double batch every night. Eat half and freeze the rest. At the end of the week, you’ll have a free week of dinner in the freezer!
Recipes Included
Easy freezer meals are simple and delicious: meatballs, meatloaf, burritos, enchiladas, chili, and a veggie-loaded bolognese. These items top my list as family-friendly, quick to reheat, freezer-friendly meals.
In addition to the green chile burritos at the top of the page, you’ll also have these great meals:
Here are the recipes included in this easy freezer meals cooking plan:
Quickest Chili in the West – You can assemble this recipe in the slow cooker or the stovetop. It’s super quick, so I recommend the stovetop method for this bulk cooking session as long as you’ve got two pots for the stove (one for the chili and the other for the bolognese).
Versatile Meat Mixture – This is a 4-dinner recipe. You’ll be baking 2 pounds of meatballs and freezing two unbaked meatloaves. This is super quick and easy since they are made of the same meat mixture. There are so many ways to serve meatballs; feel free to make it all into meatballs if you want.
Easy Vegetable Bolognese – This meat sauce is loaded with veggies, making it a great way to in your vegetables without feeling like you are. At serving time, add your pasta or spaghetti squash and you’re good to go.
Easiest Cheese Enchiladas – This is a bulk recipe, making 24 enchiladas. The best enchiladas are filled with melting cheese and topped with a rich red sauce. These freeze beautifully and can be portioned prior to freezing so you can tailor the size of the dishes to suit single-serve lunches or larger family meals.
Green Chile Burritos – These burritos are loaded with flavor and yet super affordable to prepare. They freeze and reheat beautifully.
The two recipes in the batch that are already bulked up are the meat mixture (4 meals) and the enchiladas (2 meals). If you’d like to increase the amounts of any of the other recipes, be sure to change the number of servings on the adjustable grocery list below.
The digital grocery list makes it so easy to tally and scale your freezer cooking session!
Supplies
You don’t need any special kitchen equipment to pull together these easy freezer meals. However, you will want to have the right Containers for Freezer Cooking. Be sure to read each recipe and see what containers are needed for storing these meals.
Tips for Success
A couple reminders to help you truly make these easy freezer meals:
- Start with a clean kitchen.
- Wash dishes as you go.
- Take breaks when you need to, but stick to it. You’ve got lotsa meals to make!
- Be sure to label everything with the date, the name of the recipe, and cooking/serving instructions.
Step-by-Step Instructions.
Here’s how to assemble your easy freezer meals for the month:
1. Prep the ingredients.
Having all the ingredients prepped for your recipes can speed up your cook and assembly time. This can be done several hours in advance if you like; just be sure to store the ingredients in separate containers in the refrigerator.
- Peel and chop the eggplant.
- Mince the garlic.
- Chop the green onion, brown onions, bell pepper, and zucchini.
- Prep the breadcrumbs if using homemade.
- Shred the cheese if not purchased shredded.
- If you like, you can cook two pounds of the ground beef into Seasoned Ground Beef to use in the chili and the bolognese. This is just a short cut, but not necessary.
2. Start the stovetop recipes.
In one pot prep the chili; in the other prep the bolognese.
Once the recipes are complete and have sufficiently simmered, divide them into meal-size containers and chill in the refrigerator. Be sure t
3. Prepare the meat mixture.
Use a very large bowl as it’s four pounds of ground beef. Once combined, divide the mixture into four portions. Two are for meatballs and the other two for the meatloaves.
Form and bake the meatballs. Allow these to cool and then divide them into meal-sized portions. Wrap, label, and chill in the refrigerator until cold through, then place in the freezer.
Form the meatloaves. Wrap each one in a large sheet of aluminum foil and place them in a ziptop freezer bag.
4. Assemble the enchiladas.
Follow the recipe instructions to fry the tortillas and assemble the enchiladas.
The recipe makes 24 enchiladas. You can divide them into single serve meal prep containers or in larger 9×13-inch baking dishes.
Once you’ve prepared the enchiladas, wrap, label, and chill the pans in the fridge until they’re completely cold. Once cold through, you can transfer the pans to the freezer.
5. Roll the burritos.
Last but not least – the burritos!
The trick to freezer burritos is to make sure that the fillings are cold and the tortillas are room temperature. This is good for three reasons:
- The tortillas won’t crack when you roll them.
- The tortillas won’t go soggy from hot filling.
- You won’t need to chill the burritos prior to freezing because they’ll already be cold. This also helps them not get soggy.
Lay out the burrito ingredients and in assembly line fashion, make your burritos. I use these deli wraps to wrap each one individually for easy packing and reheating.
Once you’ve rolled all the burritos, store them in a labeled bag in the freezer.
So, you’re all done! Clean up the kitchen and be sure to transfer the chilled meals to the freezer once they’re completely cold. Enjoy taking the night off cooking for a few days this next month!
Adjustable Grocery List
Tell us what you think!
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This post was originally published on September 13, 2015. It has been updated for content and clarity. The meal plan is also digital and easily scaled to suit however many servings you want to make.
Erica
Do you think the meatloaf would work to freeze uncooked and then throw it in the crockpot? That’s always how I cook meatloaf. And yes, I know it doesn’t take much time to put it together and plop it in the crockpot but you know how some days go…I may have the time but not the motivation to get it ready.
Jessica Fisher
Yes, that should be fine. I’ve never done that cooking method, but I trust ya. Just be sure that you thaw it overnight in the fridge beforehand.