Coming up with meal ideas for every day of the week seems like such a chore. We’ve all made the mistake of grocery shopping with high hopes of cooking and eating healthy, just to get too busy and let all the food that you bought go bad.
Save yourself time and money by meal prepping some healthy meals to freeze and reheat.
Continue reading below to learn about ten super-easy and delicious, healthy freezer meal recipes that you can cook in large portions and then easily freeze to save for later. When you’re ready to eat, most of them only require a few minutes to cook or reheat!
Table of Contents
Lasagna
Pasta is always a reliable food that will easily freeze without compromising taste. Although it usually does require a slightly longer cook time than other freezer meals, cooking is usually as simple as taking it out of the freezer and popping it in the oven!
This is a super easy recipe that doesn’t require too many ingredients, freezes easily, and might even leave you with some leftovers once you cook it!
Another option is considering store bought lasagnas. Costco has one of my family’s favorite frozen lasagna. The Costco brand isn’t just delicious, but it’s portions are very generous.
If you don’t have room in your freezer for a whole lasagna, or you’re looking for single-serve freezer meal ideas, these lasagna roll-ups are a genius alternative.
Fajita Ingredients
This recipe is a great example of how you can use freezer meals to preserve ingredients that might otherwise go bad. According to this simple recipe, all you have to do is combine all the below ingredients into a freezer-friendly bag or container, and then simply thaw and cook when you’re ready to eat. Enjoy this tasty mix with a side of rice or on tortillas!
Taco Meat
Tacos are always an easy and budget-friendly meal when you’re in a hurry, and having taco meat on hand makes this dinner option even easier!
Simply cook your taco meat according to these simple instructions. Allow it to cool and transfer it to freezer-safe and microwave-safe containers in smaller portions, depending on how many people you’ll be feeding.
Freezer bags or these awesome meal prep containers are super handy and don’t take up much room when you have to store them (they stack so pretty!).
Then, when you’re ready to have tacos for dinner, you can either put a container in the refrigerator to thaw overnight or simply defrost it according to your microwave’s instructions and settings.
Tip: you can also make a batch of homemade taco seasoning in bulk. It’s a great ingredient to have on hand and might even be healthier and a little more budget-friendly than the packs you can buy at the store.
Chicken Noodle Soup
Soups are possibly the easiest meal to freeze that will reheat beautifully, and chicken noodle soup is an easy-to-make and budget-friendly option.
Cook a large batch of chicken noodle soup according to this simple recipe. Then, allow it to cool and transfer it into smaller freezer-safe and microwave-safe containers. Then, when you’re ready to eat, simply defrost it in the microwave until it’s warm. No planning ahead or extra cooking is needed!
Frozen soup is also a great portable lunch idea. If you’ve stored the soup in serving size containers, all you have to do is put one in your lunchbox and heat it in the microwave at lunchtime. Plus, it’ll serve as an ice pack for the rest of the food in your lunchbox throughout the day!
Vegetable Soup
This is another nutritious option for a freezer soup that’s especially warm and delicious on a rainy day.
This is a helpful recipe on how to prepare a delicious freezer vegetable soup. You can also use this as an opportunity to clean out your fridge and use some veggies that you already have that might otherwise go bad. Get creative with it, and experiment with different veggies!
Shepherd’s Pie
Shepherd’s Pie is a yummy and filling meal, and perfect comfort food for a chilly evening. Here is a simple recipe on how to make an easy and budget-friendly Shepherd’s Pie.
To freeze, once it’s done baking, just let it cool, cover it with foil, and put it in the freezer. Then, when you’re ready to eat, just heat it up in the oven at 350 degrees for one hour.
Breakfast Quesadillas
It can be so hard to fit in a filling and nutritious breakfast on busy weekday mornings. If you’ve experienced this same struggle, then you’ll love these breakfast quesadillas! Once they’re made and in the freezer, all you have to do is take a few minutes in the morning to reheat one!
Follow this recipe for simple instructions on how to prepare delicious breakfast quesadillas.
Baked Ziti
This is another great freezer recipe that’s budget-friendly, easy to prepare, and easy to cook! And who doesn’t love a big bowl of warm and cheesy pasta—yum! This recipe will outline how to prepare your ziti. Then, you’ll just need to cover it with foil and put it in the freezer until it’s time to cook.
Chicken and Veggies
This is a super nutritious meal, and freezing it will prevent your fresh meat and veggies from spoiling in the fridge. All you have to do is combine the chicken and veggies into serving-size containers or bags, pour in your marinade and toss them in the freezer! Then, when you’re ready to eat, take out a bag, sauté the contents on the stove, and you’re ready to eat. Check out this recipe for more details and a homemade marinade idea.
This meal is delicious when enjoyed with a side of rice, which is also freezer-friendly.
Chicken Pot Pie
Chicken pot pie is a great meal to have in your freezer, perfect for when you’re in the mood for some comfort food. This recipe explains how to make and freeze chicken-pot pie, and while this meal does take a little while to cook when you are ready to eat, all you have to do is take it out of your freezer and put it in the oven.
Tips for Making Meals to Freeze and Reheat
To make freezer meals even easier, keep these simple tips in mind when preparing meals, as well as deciding which meals to prepare.
- Making freezer meals may require some trial and error for beginners. So, try out a few freezer meals to find what works for you before you start making enough freezer meals to last months.
- To save space, using freezer-safe plastic bags, rather than containers, where possible. If you want to be environmentally friendly, you can also purchase reusable plastic bags like these online. You can also save space by laying plastic bags flat when freezing, allowing the liquids to freeze in a narrow, rectangular shape. This makes it super easy to stack several freezer meals on top of each other in your freezer.
- To avoid freezer burn, remove as much air as possible from bags when freezing. This is another reason to use plastic bags where possible, rather than containers.
- Choose meals based on what you know you’ll enjoy eating, rather than what is easy to freeze. If you freeze a meal that you are not sure you’ll like, it’ll probably end up going to waste anyway, which defeats the purpose of making freezer meals.
Conclusion
If you can spend one afternoon every few weeks preparing several freezer-friendly meals, then you’ll be able to enjoy nutritious and yummy meals throughout the week with little effort. Freezer meals can last for months and won’t spoil easily if prepared according to instructions and stored in freezer-safe containers. Hopefully, this article gave you some inspiration on nourishing your body well while saving time and money!
