Meatballs, Mashed Potatoes, and Homemade Gravy make a fantastic freezer-friendly meal! These recipes will please your whole family.
One of my favorite dishes is Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes. It may seem crazy and complex, but considering that all the components can be made ahead and frozen, it can definitely be a delicious weeknight meal no matter the season.
Simply make a bulk batch of meatballs, a big vat of gravy, and a large pot of mashed potatoes. Divide them into dinner-size portions, chill, label, and freeze. Super easy and so fun to pull out on a night when you want something homey and comforting, but don’t have it in you to stand at the stove.
Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes is also an economical dish. With potatoes selling for about $1-$1.50 for ten pounds, you can easily make up a batch of mashed potatoes for less than $1, accounting for butter, cream cheese, and seasoning. Recently I bought ground beef for $1.49 a pound, making a dinner’s worth of meatballs about $2 after adding eggs, spices, and bread crumbs. Add in a vegetable and you definitely have a good cheap eat.
Dinner for 4 for about $5!
The Meatballs
Make up a batch of meatballs, bake, cool, wrap, and freeze in meal size portions. You don’t need to thaw them before reheating, making this an ideal dinner for the night your plan doesn’t go according to plan.
I’ve got a few favorite Meatballs variations:
- Bulk Batch Supreme Meatballs
- Hearty Gluten-free Meatballs
- This All-Purpose Meatball/Meatloaf Mixture
The Mashed Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes go pretty quickly around here, but when I take the time to make a lot, I’m always thankful I did! The best mashed potatoes for the freezer are the ones that contain a good amount of fat in the way of butter, cream, cream cheese, or sour cream.
These are the best for freezing:
- Mashed Potatoes for the Freezer
- Burning Love Mashed Potatoes (without the bacon topping unless you want to go for the gold)
For making fresh:
- Rebel with a Cause Smashed Potatoes (a great gluten-free option)
And of course…
The Gravy
The gravy is the best part out of all this! While my husband is not a gravy fan, I’m proud to have raised enough gravy fans among my six kids to justify making large vats of gravy. It’s so simple, and really pulls together the meatballs and mashed potatoes.
Storing meatballs in gravy and mashed potatoes
Meatballs
These can be stored in an airtight container for 3-4 days. Or these can be stored up to 3 months in the freezer.
Mashed potatoes
You can keep the mashed potatoes in an airtight container for 3-5 days in the refrigerator. They can also be frozen for up to 10 months. When you are ready to eat them, allow them to thaw in the refrigerator before reheating.
Gravy
Gravy will be good for 3 days in the refrigerator in an airtight container, and in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw fully in the refrigerator before reheating.
Homemade Gravy
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/8 onion chopped for 1/4 cup
- 1/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 2 cup beef broth
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dried thyme or dry dill if you prefer
Instructions
- In medium saucepan, melt butter. Sauté onion until clear. Whisk in flour and cook until bubbly. Whisk in broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened.
- Stir in seasonings. Serve immediately or cool, package in plastic container with a lid, label, and freeze.
- If using from frozen, warm on the stovetop and whisk to blend.
Notes
Nutrition
Want the 411 on freezer cooking? Check out the Ultimate Freezer Cooking Collection of Tips and Tricks.
Or pick up a copy of my book, Not Your Mother’s Make-Ahead and Freeze Cookbook for over 200 recipes and 10 freezer cooking plans to help you fill the freezer, eat well, and save money.
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Stephanie Walkiewicz
I’ve been using this recipe for years! It’s so versatile and easy to customize.
Jessica Fisher
How awesome to know it’s been a longtime fave. Thanks!
Heather
My daughter is going to love this for lunch next fall! She really prefers hot lunch but I have to pack it each day. I plan to pack this in an easy lunch box freeze and then microwave before school and pack with microwave hot packs. Thank you so much!
Laureen matthies
Jessica, would it work to lay the meat balls with gravy on bottom of casserole or a loaf pan and top with the mashed potatoes. I need to take a meal to a family. I always struggle with how to put it together . I found a recipe that says to put meatballs in centre of a 3L casserole and place the vegebales and mashed potatoes in dollops around the outside and the gravey in one area. I think the gravey might soak into the vegetables and potatoes. I’ve cooked the meatballs this dish won’t get eaten until 9p.m and I will have to have it ready to go by 6p.m.
Jessica Fisher
If it were me, I’d probably package it into two different pans with the gravy and meatballs together in one, separate from mashed potatoes and vegetables. I do think that the potatoes would soak up the gravy if packaged together for three hours.
Janet
This sounds so good right now. We are home from school today with a fresh 6 inches of snow on the ground. But what a difference a few years makes in prices! Good quality ground beef is running around $6.50 a pound around here these days and I just bought 5 pounds of potatoes on sale for a $1 — such a low price the store was limiting it to four packages per customer.
Linda Chen
I think that meal looks delicious.
Dee Taylor
Hi there! I enjoy following your posts, your recipe ideas are great! I have a quick question about baking the mashed potatoes that you freeze, then thaw to bake. Do you cover these with aluminum foil when baking in the oven, or just bake them uncovered? Just wondering! Thanks.
Jessica
It depends on if they’ve thawed completely or not. I don’t want the tops to dry out before the inside is hot. Dabbing them with butter helps prevent that. If it’s fully thawed, go ahead and bake uncovered. Otherwise, do half and half.
Jade
Ah this sounds amazing! After all said and done and cooked, how much gravy does this recipe make? Thankyou! Making tonight anyway!
Jessica
It makes about 2 cups of gravy.
Carla
We saved this meal for last night as my husband is running in the Memphis marathon on Saturday and I figured it would be a great carb loading meal (we added wheat rolls to the mix). Unfortunately I didn’t have time to do my own meat balls (Kroger has great frozen turkey meatballs) but we finally got to try the gravy I made earlier in the week. Yum. The guys will probably never let me get away with store gravy again! 🙂 Everyone was happy after a night of martial arts practice.
Jessica
@Carla, thanks for the great feedback!