Want to fill the freezer with homemade meals? Follow this step-by-step method to plan your next freezer meal prep session for easy freezing.
Whether you’re focusing on Breakfast on the Go or Easy Freezer Meals to serve at busy dinnertimes, organizing your freezer meal prep can save you a lot of time, money, and heartache. And you can do it with your own favorite recipes!
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I’ve officially been doing freezer meal prep for two decades now. Please don’t click away because you think I’m an old lady and no longer one of the hip chicks. Surely you watched that teen movie that proclaimed how a woman hits her prime in her 40s.
Yes, it’s true. Those two decades of adulthood behind me mean that I’ve made a lot of mistakes and learned a ton.
You can trust me on the freezer cooking front.
Cooking to freeze wasn’t “new” when I first heard about it in the 90s. And it’s not new now, but, the practice of cooking to freeze has changed with the times.
We’ve got a whole new world of flavor profiles to choose from, a wide range of kitchen gadgets to work with, and a huge realm of technology to make the process quicker and easier.
In short, like women and fine wine, freezer meal prep has improved with age.
Why It Matters
Freezer meal prep is a way that home cooks can prepare for the coming weeks by making their own homemade convenience foods and stashing them in the freezer.
- Don’t feel like cooking? Let everyone choose his favorite homemade soup from the freezer.
- Have unexpected company? Grab a few quarts of homemade marinara sauce and prepare a pasta feed for a crowd.
- Looking for something quick to eat on the run? Pull some burritos or freezer sandwiches from the stash.
Not only will this enable you to eat better, but it will also save you money as you avoid high priced takeout.
If you’re new to freezer cooking, or bulk cooking as it is sometimes called, rest assured that it is not difficult. You can very easily spend a few hours cooking up several recipes in quick succession and have weeks worth of meals at the ready. In fact, the internet is full of freezer meal prep plans and programs to help you fill the freezer.
For instance,
- Watch this video if you want some simple get-started tricks.
- Grab some of my FREE freezer cooking plans here.
- Browse my freezer-friendly recipes here.
You’ll get the hang of it in no time! And once you do, you may want to branch out and create a cooking plan with your own recipes.
1. Download the free planner.
You can do your planning on a piece of paper, but I’ve designed planning pages that make it easy.
Find the planner here and download it right away! Use the coupon code freezegce at checkout to get it free.
So, once you’ve got your planner, you’re ready to create a freezer meal prep plan.
2. Decide on main proteins and recipes.
My usual mode of operation these days is to work my cooking plans around a common protein. Using common ingredients or recipes that build on one another is a great way to maximize the time benefits of batch cooking. I find this to be a good way to make use of good grocery sales as well as save time.
Choose your proteins based on what you already have on hand (shop your kitchen!) or what’s on sale at the store.
Once you’ve chosen your protein, you can select the recipes you want to use featuring that protein. Be sure to check out these freezer-friendly recipes for inspiration.
If you’re not sure a recipe freezes well, test it. Prep it as you normally would, but set aside a small portion, like one serving. Chill it well, wrap it for freezing, and chuck it in the deep freeze. In a few days thaw and reheat and see if you like it.
3. Create your grocery list.
As you’re going through your freezer meal prep recipes, jot down which groceries you’ll need to pick up.
Be sure to check the pantry, fridge, and freezer before you write it on your list. You may already have what you need.
4. Figure out your prep list.
Your cooking session will go much more smoothly if you prep your veggies and other ingredients in advance.
Go through each recipe and create a prep list of all the things that you need to precook/prepare, chop/slice, or grate.
Make note that several recipes may call for the same prepped ingredient, such as chopped onion or chopped broccoli. Write down how much you will need for all your recipes in your freezer meal prep and do all the chopping at one time.
5. Plan your order of recipes.
Next what order of prepping the recipes makes the most sense for your freezer meal prep session. What will be the most efficient use of your time?
Some recipes will be part of other recipes. For instance, if you’re making a homemade red sauce to use in meatball sub kits and lasagna, you’ll need to prepare the sauce first so that you have it ready when you want to assemble the other recipes.
In the same way, put your recipes in order of what appliances you’ll be using. You can’t use the oven for five different recipes at once. You’ll need to space them out throughout the cooking sesson.
Start with the longest cooking item so that the other freezer meal prep items will be finished in the same time. You want to condense your time in the kitchen as much as possible.
6. After you’ve cooked, keep track.
Once all your recipes are prepared, cooled, wrapped, labeled, and ready for freezing — your work is not quite done.
Make an inventory of your freezer meal preps so that you know what you have. Go here for more information on keeping a freezer inventory.
Use it or lose it, baby. You don’t want to lose your precious work to freezer burn. Know what you have so you can use it up in the next 6 to 8 weeks.
7. Make a meal plan.
Create a meal plan for how you’ll use these frozen meals in the coming month. You’ll want to space out your bulk batches so that you’re not stuck at the end of the month with a week’s worth of enchiladas.
Having a few freshly-made meals interspersed with freezer meal preps can help you enjoy great food and still have the flexibility for other meals throughout the week.
This step-by-step process should help you easily create an efficient prep plan with your own recipes.
Don’t got the bandwidth to plan? That’s okay. We’ve got some free freezer cooking plans here.
Recommended Recipes
If you’re running short on recipes that your family loves, check out our freezer-friendly recipes here on the blog to get some inspiration. There are dozens to choose from!
- Quinoa Chili Recipe (93 cents/serving)
- Shredded Beef Recipe (Crock Pot or Instant Pot)
- Easy Baked Chicken Flautas Recipe (26 cents each)
- Easy Chicken Stir Fry
- Spicy Pork Chili with Pumpkin (91 cents/serving)
- Instant Pot French Dip Sandwiches
- Instant Pot Refried Beans (17 cents/cup)
- Single Crust Pot Pie (77 cents/serving)
- Instant Pot Shredded Chicken (54 cents/cup)
- Spicy Chicken Marinade
- Gluten-Free Meatballs Recipe (25 cents each)
- Beef Chimichanga Recipe (61 cents each)
This post was originally published on April 1, 2011. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Monica Martinez
My awesome friend Jackie decided to start a freezer meal exchange group. We are the Funky Freezer Girls and have been exchanging now a year. It has been so wonderful to make a bunch of dinners from one recipe and then head home from our exchange with all different meals for that month to feed my family. We also each make an extra meal to give away to a family that we pick every month to bless. If you are interested in starting a group like this check out this page: http://www.facebook.com/funkyfreezergirls there are lots of great ideas!
Heather Ratliff
I have a book called Once a Month Cooking and I’m excited to finally try it. I’ve never done “real” freezer cooking so I am excited about the prospect of not having to cook supper every night!
Terri
I just finished a stock-up of all our Mexican food components: Mexican rice, fresh salsa, refried beans, taco meat. I think this week will be dedicated to replenishing breakfast items (fruit bars and oatmeal bars), and making some more baby food. The little guy is plowing through my supply!
Kate
I’m still working my way through our last big freezer stock-up. What worked for me was to write out a detailed time line. It helped me to think logically about the order of operations. What recipes needed to bake? What needed simmering time? What could be easily whipped together while those things happened? That way I can maximize my time.
Ann M
We’ve been eating from the freezer/pantry for the past month, so I’m due for a batch cooking day. 4years ago when I started, I made complete entrees. Now I just make up components (bags of browned ground beef, cooked chicken, beans, sauce, pesto, etc) so I’m just pulling baggies from the freezer to make dinner.
Let me just say a “duh Ann!” to myself. I’ve never premaid burritos because they just seemed gross reheated in the microwave, and I wasn’t clever enough to think how else to do it. You’re idea of on the griddle – BRILLIANT! Thanks!
katie
For easy freezer lunches, quesadillas (cheese, chicken, steak, veggie…), cut in quarters, layer in wax paper and freeze individually. Put in the toaster oven on toast for 2-3 minutes and it’s ready (and crispy!).
Also have made grilled ham and cheese, let cool and place in individual baggies. Again, throw in the toaster oven from the freezer for a few minutes.
Twice baked potatoes and chili are a weekend lunch staple for us as well – defrost on Friday night in the fridge, then microwave for a few minutes.
Completely changed our weekends – no more thoughts of running out for lunch!!
Kim
@katie, Thanks so much for that tip! The weekend is when I blow our “eat out” money because things are so crazy! Great idea on the chili and potatoes!
Sheri
April Fools? Did I miss something? What happened to Frugal Friday? I look forward to reading through it every Friday night, so it was greatly missed yesterday 🙁
I do love your blog, thanks for all the great posts!
Jessica Fisher
@Sheri, so glad to hear you love it! I mentioned last week that we’d be skipping in exchange for the Spring giveaways. It will be back next week. But, there are tons of archives, all the way back to Spring of 2009, to browse: http://lifeasmom.com/category/budget-living/frugal-friday
Sheri
@Jessica Fisher, Thanks for filling me in. I must have missed that. I do like everything else on your blog too, not to over emphasis frugal friday 🙂
Liz
My plans for the weekend are posted over at my blog. Thanks for sharing.
http://wonderwomanimnot.blogspot.com/2011/04/weekend-plans-maybe-not-so-much.html
Lee
I saw the comment about frozen pb and j and realized that I could do the same with my daughter’s pb and honey – especially when we get to then end of the bread’s life at home. I had just been freezing the bread and serving it to her with toast, but that seems much easier. Thanks! I am going to cook up a lasagna – a bunch of chicken – diced and frozen, and baked oatmeal.
Kiasa
I actually dream of full on freezer cooking. Someday. Right now we live in NYC and have a smaller than average fridge. But I freeze what I can. We make a large pot of spaghetti sauce about every 5-6 weeks and use it for spaghetti, ravioli sauce (reduced with beef broth) or lasagna. Whenever I make some soup I’ll double the batch and freeze some. And chicken stock, of course. It makes it super easy to go out and play in the city on beautiful days and still have a quick, easy, healthy meal at home.
Susan
The number one thing I’ve been freezing is homemade chicken stock from my huge slow cooker. Every time I roast a whole chicken, the carcass goes in the slow cooker with some veggies. I use half of it for soup that night and freeze the rest in smaller portions to use for recipes later.
Carolyn
I am pregnant with baby #3, making 3 under 3 come the end of May. So I have been trying to cook, bake and freeze a little here and there.. hoping to get stocked up enough to last me through that newborn survival stage! I have made LOTS of breakfast muffins & biscuits, as well as some casserole dishes. Also, I have blanched veggies, diced onions, and cooked meats, breaking down into 1 lb. baggies… all frozen and ready to throw together for a meal. For lunches, I made my own version of Smuckers uncrustables PB&J… a lot of them, as well as wash, dice and freeze fruits for smoothies. It’s amazing everything you can freeze! I’m new to freezer cooking and think I’ve done well so far. Thanks for all your tips!
jessica
@Carolyn, fyi you can make a big batch of smoothies portion them out into freezer bags and freeze the night before pull out the bag and place in the fridge when you wake up you have a smoothie
Carolyn
@jessica, Thank you!! I will definitely try this. I love making smoothies but I hate to drag the blender out every time. Doing one huge batch and freezing would be super efficient! 🙂
Gwen T
With seven kids, every month is Freezer Cooking month. 🙂 The ways I use it most are: 1. Baking 8-10 loaves of bread and freezing about half of them. 2. Never cooking enough meat for just one meal. In my 5 qt dutch oven I brown 3+ lbs of hamburger at a time and freeze some. I also roast an entire turkey, dice the entire thing and freeze it in 2-3 cup portions – perfect to pull out for a casserole. 3. Freezing cookie dough. Much cheaper (and more delicious) than storebought dough.
These are all huge time savers – especially with browning and freezing meat in advance. I always feel that if the meat is taken care of for the meal, planning what it goes into is the easy part!!
Kacey
I always keep a few things on hand in my freezer. Rice & Bean Burritos individually wrapped for easy lunches, lasagna, pulled pork, taco meat, and tomato sauce. I seem to have a hard time finding good freezer recipes for lunch though, and although I love my burritos…they do get tiring day after day. I look forward to your cookbook and enjoy following your blog!