Awesome Make Ahead Freezer Meal Recipes
Homemade freezer meals your whole family will love! Make these TEN freezer meals in two hours to make your busy weeknights easier!
There is nothing I love more than a freezer stocked full of easy homemade freezer meals! As a busy mom of four young kids, make ahead freezer meals can be a serious life changer.
I originally got into bulk freezer meal cooking with my neighbor and good friend, Pam, from Over the Big Moon years ago when we were both freezer cooking (and blogging) newbies! We made this first original batch together and I'll tell you what- they are delicious!
We did five different recipes and made two of each recipe, ending up with 10 delicious freezer meals in under two hours! It went so fast and I loved knowing I have some meals in my freezer that are not only quick, but delicious!
Make Ahead Freezer Meal Recipes
One of the reasons we grouped these recipes together is that they are all pretty different from each other. This way you will have a variety of yummy options in your freezer! Here is a little video sneak peak of the five different recipes you'll be seeing in this post, and a little of the freezer meal assembly process.
Freezer Meal FAQ's
Before we get down to our delicious recipes I thought I would answer a few quick FAQ's.
How do you reheat frozen meals?
For the meals in this post, we put re-heating instructions in each recipe card. That being said, I typically prefer freezer meals that can go straight into the crockpot. If a meal needs to be baked (like the beef enchiladas in this post, casseroles, etc.) then I usually let them sit on the counter for a few hours or in the fridge overnight before baking as the recipe directs.
What meals can I make to freeze?
In addition to the meals in this post here are a few of our other favorite things to freeze!
Green Muffins | Cinnamon Rolls | Chocolate Chip Cookies | Pancakes | Perfectly Seasoned Ground Beef | Cafe Rio Chicken | Cafe Rio Pork | Taco Soup | Crock-Pot Beef Stew
Which foods do not freeze well?
Foods that are not ideal to freeze in my experience are: fried foods, foods that are cream based, desserts with meringues, recipes with raw egg whites, cucumbers, lettuce and uncooked celery, hard boiled eggs and mayo or sour cream based meals.
*This post contains affiliate links.
What do I need to assemble freezer meals?
The essentials are: gallon sized freezer ziplocs, aluminum foil and disposable pans with lids!
Cilantro Lime Chicken Recipe
Cilantro lime chicken is a delicious fresh and healthy freezer meal option! Serve with avocado and some soft yummy tortillas and you're in business!
Cilantro Lime Chicken Freezer Meal
Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 4 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 limes juiced
- 2 bags frozen corn
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 red onion finely chopped
- 2 cans black beans drained and rinsed
- 2 teaspoon cumin
- salt and pepper to taste
- cilantro for serving
Instructions
Meal Preparation
- Split all ingredients evenly between two containers.
- Mix bag by shaking.
- Seal, label and freeze the meal flat in the freezer.
Slow Cooker Instructions
- Cook in Crockpot on Low for 6-8 hours or High for 3-4 hours.
- Serve with hot tortillas and dress with sour cream, guacamole, cilantro, and/or cheese.
Notes
Nutrition
The assembly on the cilantro lime chicken is a breeze as well!
Pineapple Chicken Recipe
If you like sweet meats then you will love this recipe! The yummy pineapple sauce gets even my pickiest eaters excited!
Pineapple Chicken Freezer Meal
Video
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups sugar
- ½ cup soy sauce
- 1 cup pineapple juice (use the juice you will drain from crushed pineapple)
- 1 cup ketchup
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 16 oz. cans of crushed pineapple drained
Instructions
Meal Preparation
- Clean and trim chicken and split between two Gallon Ziplock bags.
- In a sauce pan, over medium-high heat, combine sugar, soy sauce, pineapple juice, ketchup, vinegar, and mustard. Bring to a boil and cook until ingredients are well combined, about 3-4 minutes. Then put in the fridge or freezer to cool some before pouring over the chicken in the Gallon Ziplock.
- Bring to a boil and cook until ingredients are well combined, about 3-4 minutes. Then put in the fridge or freezer to cool some before pouring over the chicken in the Gallon Ziplock.
- Once cooked, divide the sauce evenly between two bags. Then seal, label and freeze flat.
Slow Cooker Instructions
- Cook in Crockpot on Low for 6-8 hours or High for 3 hours. Serve over rice.
Notes
Nutrition
I love to serve pineapple chicken over rice and with fresh fruits and veggies!
Best Beef Enchilada Recipe
My all time favorite beef enchiladas freeze like a dream! Can I get a hallelujah?!
Beef Enchiladas
Video
Ingredients
To Prepare your Beef
- 3 lb chuck roast cooked and shredded
- 2 cans beef broth
- 1 can water
- 1 fajita packet
- 1 Au Jus Packet
For the Sauce
- 2 Packets McCormick Enchilada Sauce (prepared)
- tomato sauce
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- To prepare the Chuck Roast cook your roast on low overnight in your Crockpot with your beef broth, water, fajita and au jus packets. I also chop an onion and put in the crockpot with the Chuck Roast.
- In the morning shred roast, and add the can of diced green chilis.
- Prepare Sauce in a large pot on the stove by following the directions on the McCormick Enchilada Sauce packet. Once prepared add heavy whipping cream.
- Assemble Enchiladas to preference. Lay out a tortilla, put the meat in the middle, sprinkle some cheese and approximately 1 tablespoon of the sauce. Then roll them up. For freezer meals, I use disposable pans. But, you can use your glass pans if you want. I always coat the pan with some cooking spray and like ½ cup+ of sauce and then lay them in the pan. After the pan is full I cover all the Enchiladas with plenty (approx 2 cups) of sauce and sprinkle the cheese all over them!After I'm finished I cover the enchiladas with tin foil and then I put the lid on to the disposable pan.
- Reheating Instructions: If reheating from a frozen state, preheat the oven to 350 and cook for 45 minutes. If reheating from a thawed state, preheat the oven to 350 and cook for 20 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Maple Dijon Chicken
The flavor of this maple dijon chicken is to-die-for good! Everyone I make it for asks for the recipe!
Easy Maple Dijon Chicken Freezer Meal
Video
Ingredients
- 8-10 chicken thighs trim excess fat
- 1 cup dijon mustard
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoon rosemary
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Trim excess fat off of the chicken thighs. Don't worry about getting it all, just minimize it.
- Split all ingredients between your two freezer bags and stick in the freezer. When ready to use, thaw the bag just enough to dump into the crock-pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Serve over rice.
Notes
Nutrition
Garlic Lime Chicken
Garlic lime is one of my kids favorites. It's so simple to throw together and delicious to eat.
Garlic Lime Chicken
Ingredients
- 8-10 chicken thighs
- 1 cup soy sauce
- ½ cup lime juice
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoon quick cooking tapioca
Instructions
Meal Preparation
- Divide all ingredients evenly into two freezer bags and mix well. Place flat in the freezer.
Slow Cooker Instructions
- Place contents of bag in slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW 4-6 hours.
Notes
Nutrition
We like to throw these garlic lime chicken thighs on the barbecue during the summer months as well! Just thaw out the bag and bbq instead of slow cooking -- they are delicious both ways!
Voila! So, to wrap up, we made 10 freezer meals (5 different meals, 2 of each) in about two hours! Awesome, right? I hope making these make ahead freezer meal recipes will give you some peace of mind and help ease the stress of your next crazy day!
Good luck with your freezer meal assembling!
xo,
can't wait to put these together!
Tortillas aren't listed either... :(
Wondering where you are using the tomato sauce listed in the Beef Enchiladas recipe? Also, maybe you want to add the cheese to your ingredients list? I'm working on a grocery list now to do some freezer cooking this weekend, and would have been pretty upset if I hadn't thought to add cheese to my shopping list. Easy to miss since it's not listed as an ingredient.
Just curious: With the pineapple chicken the recipe calls for 2 1/2 c sugar. This seems really high. Is this correct? Thanks. Otherwise it all looks great :)
It is, lol! Not the healthiest but most if it cooks i to the sauce which you do t actually eat much of! Hope this helps!
I Used a few of your recipes as my first time tries at this and I had wonderful results! I Blogged about it and made sure to link you in my blog http://startingoffsmart.blogspot.com/
These look great and as a busy mother very handy .My question is how many do these feed as I have 5 family members 2 of which are 20 year old boys .
They feed my family of four (two baby eaters though) usually for dinner and lunch the next day. If your boys eat a ton I would maybe throw in an extra breast or two, but you could keep all the ingredients the same! Hope that helps!
I just found your blog & I love it! Looking forward to doing these freezer/crockpot meals. Thanks for all the great content!
I'm curious... I always buy my chicken breast frozen from Sam's club. Do you think this would work using already frozen meat or does the meat merinate in the bag?
Thanks for all the great freezer meal recipes! They are awesome.
I love this! I actually couldn't find the McCormick Enchilada sauce packets, so I found a recipe for Enchilada sauce that was just as simple, and I thought I'd share it with you in case anyone else was finding the same trouble. I actually modified the recipe for a cook one freeze one recipe, and I made mine with pork. check out the whole recipe (which I credited you for) at http://www.bizzaromom.com
Otherwise, here's the quick and easy enchilada sauce:
Ingredients:
1/4 olive oil
1/4 tsp chilli powder (I skipped this because I cook for a toddler and I can’t handle spicy either)
2 Tbsp flour
1 8oz can of tomato sauce
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 packet of sazon
1 1/2 cups broth from pork crockpot (you can always use water, or canned broth)
1 cup of heavy cream
In a medium sized skillet over medium heat, add the oil and let it warm up, but don’t let it get too hot. A minute or two will do it.
Reduce the heat to medium and add the flour. Stir in constantly so it doesn’t burn. It will turn a light toasty brownish color after two or three minutes. This is also when you can add the chili powder if you’re going to use it.
Add the tomato sauce and stir. It’s going to look thick right away, so gradually stir in the broth you took out of the crock.
Add your seasonings (cumin, garlic powder, sazon) and stir it all together.
Let this sit for a few minutes until you see it get slightly thicker.
Add cream, and stir well. This is so pretty to see blend together.
In the pineapple chicken recipe the ingredients state that you need 2 can of crushed pineapple but in the recipe they are not used. Just wondering when to throw those in. Can't wait to stick my freezer! Thanks!
Hey Cathleen! So sorry about that overlook! We added the pineapple to our bags right before we stuck them in the freezer, but it also works if you cook the pineapple in with the sauce!
It's funny that you asked this today, because one of my pineapple chickens is in the crock pot right now for dinner tonight! :).
Hope this helps!
In the pineapple chicken recipe the ingredients state that you need 2 can of crushed pineapple but in the recipe they are not used. Just wondering when to throw those in. Can't wait to stick my freezer! Thanks!
Jessica, I stumbled across this post on Pinterest, and now I'm a follower! I'm planning on making the Cilantro-Lime Chicken (I already bought all the ingredients!!), but in the recipe you don't specify how much cilantro you use! Whoopsie, guess I'll have to wing it!
So sorry Alison! We just used about a handful, but you could do more or less to taste! Sorry for the late response, I've been out of town! Hope you liked the recipe!
Looks good! But how much cilantro do you put in the Cilantro Lime Chicken w/Corn and Black Beans?
We just used about a handful but you can do more or less according to preference!
This is a great idea. Thank you for sharing!
Hopping by and following your lovely blog (Twitter and Pinterest).
The Quiet Mom blogging @ How to Cook Fresh Artichoke Recipe
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Visiting from A Bowl Full of Lemons - what a great feeling to put meals in the freezer! I love to do this together with some my daughters, with families of their own. Enjoy your freezer meals!
These all look so good and so easy! I just HAVE to take the time to do this sometime.
LOVE all these recipes. Thanks so much for sharing!
These all look so yummy! I have to stock my freezer and may give these a try~
Sounds awesome! My mom always makes me a sausage rice casserole mix before she leaves me after her baby visit. It is super easy too, and delish. I should message you the recipe.
Yes please I would LOVE that! Sounds amazing. Oh, and thank goodness for mothers!
Would you mind sending the recipe my way?
danatoo@yahoo.com