The Easy Way to Do Freezer Meal Prep

Save time and money with freezer meal prep. The easiest way to fill your freezer with frozen meals? Double dinner! Here’s how to easily fill your freezer with DIY convenience.

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Wanna save time and money through batch cooking? Not only can you save money through bulk buying your groceries — a bigger flat of chicken or pork is usually cheaper per pound than a small one — but you can also buy yourself some time when you’ve alreaady got your favorite freezer meals stashed away. 

There are several ways to approach freezer meal prep that result in healthy freezer meals and meal components, but the simplest is practically genius.

Double Dinner

Whether you’re choosing a slow cooker chili or instant pot pulled pork, making a double batch of dinner is the easiest approach to freezer cooking. Do this a few times a week or month and you’ll easily have many freezer friendly recipes frozen ahead of time.

The Process of Doubling Dinner

1. Choose your freezer meal recipes. We’ve got loads of freezer recipes to choose from.
2. Plunk these recipes into your regular weekly meal plan.
3. When you’re making your grocery list, be sure that you’ll have double the ingredients for the recipes you plan to freeze.
4. As you prep dinner, make the double batch. (See the notes below for our best tips.)
5. Serve one batch for dinner, save the second batch to freeze. To avoid freezer burn, be sure to chill cooked food completely in the fridge, storing it in an airtight container or in freezer bags in the freezer. Check our recs for best freezing containers.
6. Remember that you don’t have to freeze in a family-size portion. Consider dividing the second batch into single servings if that will suit you best.

This method works for all kinds of recipes, from crock pot to sheet pan dinners.

Tips for Success

• Make an assembly line. If you’re making a casserole, lay two (or more!) pans side by side. Prep the different components and then put together the casseroles assembly-line style.
• Double your pot. Making a soup, stew, or chili? Double batches may or may not fit in one pot or slow cooker. Check the volume of your cooking vessel first. Two pots may be a better bet. Remember that an electric pressure cooker can double as a second pot or slow cooker.
• Make a meal kit. Depending on the recipe, you might be able to create a freezer meal kit instead of assembling the entire recipe. You can make a pizza meal kit, taco kits, fajita kits, and even slow cooker meal kits. Just package the freezer-friendly elements separately and then containerize in one larger bag to keep all the bits together.
• Go bigger. If you’ve got the storage space and the cash for more groceries, by all means triple or quadruple your recipe.

More Freezer Prep Tips

Tips for Organizing the Freezer

15 Great Freezer Meals Kids Love

Tips for Thawing Freezer Meals & 5 Recipes That You Don’t Need to Thaw

Easy Summer Freezer Meals