Well hello there! I’m Karrie. It’s nice to meet ya!
If you are curious about freezer meals… well then, you’ve come to the right place.
Because freezer meals are my thang. My total passion.
You see, as a busy mom of four kids, I am always juggling so much, from meal planning, to grocery shopping, sports, carpooling, to making costumes for school plays and making sure someone fed the pets. Then after all that, there is still making dinner just before collapsing on my bed for a couple of hours just to wake up and do it again.
That is, until I discovered freezer meals! I learned all the freezer meals tips for beginners that I will be sharing with you in this post, then I actually made some! And my life was forever changed. I realized that my family could have healthy, delicious and beautiful meals, without me being exhausted, if I made them up in advance. It not only saved me time but money too.
So because I get asked all the time by beginners I made a youtube video all about Freezer Meals for Beginners and How to get Started. There are 6 amazing tips you need for success so watch the video below!
Also, I want to tell you that there is no right or wrong way to do freezer meal cooking. You don’t have to spend a whole day in the kitchen cooking if you don’t want to. You can just double a few meals you make each night and within a week you will have a nice stash of meals built up. I of course LOVE to make a whole bunch of meals in a day as one day of hard work equals many days of me not cooking. And that makes me very very happy. Hee hee.
So without further ado, here are even more of my favorite tips for beginners getting started with freezer meal cooking.
Supplies
The first thing you’ll want to do is have the right supplies for freezer meal cooking so when you feel the urge, you can begin right away. This will include:.
- Freezer storage bags: I use gallon sized and quart sized bags the most
- Foil baking pans. My favorite place to buy them is Cash n’ Carry (or restaurant supply stores if your area has them). The next best thing would be your local dollar store.
- Plastic storage containers. For these, check at your local bulk store or look for cheap storage containers at the grocery store or online such as these which are made for freezing, are only about $0.50 each and you can get free shipping if you have a Prime membership.
- Permanent markers
Kitchen Supplies
- A 5-quart Slow Cooker – this one is what I use (works great!)
- A few large mixing bowls – 4 qt or higher for mixing together multiple batches of meals
- Measuring cups and teaspoons – a few sets if possible
- It’s nice to use a food processor or blender to save time chopping, but not necessary
- several cutting boards if you plan on doing a big freezer meal cooking day
Start Slow
To prevent being completely overwhelmed, start slow. Pick one or two freezer meal recipes that you know your family would like and try them out.
One great way to do this is when you’re cooking dinner, just cook twice as much and freeze one. If you’re not sure of what things freeze well, start with recipes that are recommended for freezing. As you consider meals that will freeze well, remember to avoid recipes with these ingredients:
- Fried foods
- Recipes with fruits and veggies with high water content (cucumber, melon and lettuce)
- Anything with mayo, fresh whipping cream, or yogurt
- Raw potatoes
If you’re not sure if a meal will freeze well, just Google it and see whether others have had success with freezing that type of recipe.
Freeze Individual Ingredients
Another great way to ease into freezer cooking is just freezing individual ingredients. So many things can be frozen including browned meat, raw hamburger patties, marinated and grilled chicken, many fruits and vegetables, cooked beans, rice, and more. By freezing individual ingredients, you can add them to many recipes quickly and easily.
For example, if you were to brown ground beef and freeze, it can then be quickly and easily added to many recipes including tacos, pizza, soups/stews, spaghetti sauce and more. By browning a few pounds of ground beef all at once, you can freeze the meat in individual portions and then quickly add it to recipes to save a step.
Freezing ingredients also saves you money. If your bananas are getting a little brown, flash freeze the bananas in slices and they can be stored for months till you use them in anything from smoothies to banana bread. To flash freeze food, just stick on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (so each piece is not touching any other piece) and freeze for 30 to 60 minutes till hard. Then transfer into freezer bags.
By freezing fresh produce you’ll save money in the long run by not throwing this food away if you have too much, and so many things can be frozen. Just take a look at the grocery store in the frozen section. You can freeze berries, bananas, peppers, spinach, cherries, herbs, beets, onions, pumpkin, zucchini, and more. If you’re not sure, just try freezing a small portion and see if it works.
Freezer Burn
The best way to avoid freezer burn is to get all the air out of the bag before freezing. Air is the enemy friends. So press all the air of the bags, then seal for the freshest tasting meals possible.
Making Multiple Freezer Meals in a Day
After you have tested out some freezer meals with success go ahead and push yourself to make more at once. Maybe try 5 or 6 meals at once. You will save time in the long run by making a bunch of meals in advance. I have even made up to 50 Freezer Meals in a day, can you believe it? But I’m cray cray like that.
There are so many possibilities when it comes to freezer cooking! It is the absolute BEST feeling to have some freezer meals made ahead in your freezer that you can just pull out on nights you don’t feel like cooking. I hope you give it a try and love that free time as much as I do!
P.S. I have tons of beginner information on getting started and even tips for advanced freezer meal cooking in my new cookbook called Seriously Good Freezer Meals. Please head on over and order yourself a copy! Inside there are menu plans and 150 of the BEST ever tasting freezer meals I’ve ever created. For reals.
Any questions? I’d love to hear about your attempts at freezer meals. Have you had any major flops? What about wonderful successes? Tell me about them! And if you love freezer meals consider joining my private facebook group called THE FREEZER MEAL CLUB. I’d love to have you join us!
Claudia Hart says
June 27, 2017 at 3:11 pmI hear alot about freezing tomato based sauces in foil pans. Any thoughts on that?
Christine says
September 18, 2016 at 7:43 pmI dont know if anyone is still answering questions, but I have one. Today was my first day making multiple meals at a time. We made 6 meals, put in freezer bags. We plan to eat them this week. The idea is each morning I take a bag out of the fridge and dump it in the crock pot. My question is, is it ok to store each meal like this in the fridge instead of freezing them, since we are cooking each one this week?
Martha E Dwight says
August 6, 2016 at 12:25 pmMy daughters and I want to cook meals and freeze individual portions for taking to work, or eating alone. I also will be having an operation and need things I can pop in the microwave. What meals do you suggest.
Whitney Henry says
June 20, 2016 at 7:42 amThank you for the tips! I’m doing my first freezer meal trial this week. I don’t know where to begin, but this was a good start. Hope you have a great week!
Ali says
February 2, 2016 at 3:09 pmOh and baby friendly I try to make my own baby food as much as possible ble but I’ve been able to give him more complex stuff and am just not sure what is freezer friendly for him and what’s not
Ali says
February 2, 2016 at 3:02 pmI love your sight I’ve wanted to to start doing freezer meals but never knew where to begin and it’s difficult to know what to make because my family is huge meat eaters are there recipes that use a lot of meat and not as many veggies
Gwendolyn says
December 19, 2015 at 8:12 amThis really helped get me started. I purchased the containers for soup and have a good amount of soup in my freezer now.
I purchased an Instant Pot on sale last month and have used several pressure cooker soup/stew recipes that worked great for dinner and leftovers were what I froze.
Lorelei says
December 8, 2015 at 8:33 pmI’ve made stir fries, meatballs, meat loaf, and meat sauce for spaghetti to freeze. Going to your 50 freezer meals list now to see if anything peaks my picky interest!
Taylor says
October 29, 2015 at 1:09 amI will be a new mother to a son in less than 2 weeks. I know I will be tired, and I’m on a tight budget so quick and easy freezer meals seem to be a great option! I just need some advice on where to start! What is something simple I can first cook with until I’m comfortable to find more creative ideas?!
Happy.MoneySaver says
October 29, 2015 at 1:17 pmLook through this post. There are a lot of great freezer meals which would be perfect for you to start making. They are simple and really good. Or look through the recipes freezer meals tab above. See which one sounds good to you and make it. I love freezer meals and they are perfect at this stage of life! Good luck!
Marie M says
October 24, 2015 at 7:26 pmI have to respectfully disagree about getting the foil storage items from the “dollar store”. I did that for my first attempt at making freezer meals (because it had been recommended at numerous sites) and it was a disaster. The one set was so thin that it bent when I tried to pick it up (thankfully nothing was spilled). With the next set, the label and glue would not come off one of the pans. From now on, I’m going to Costco or spending the extra money at the chain grocery store.
Carol says
October 17, 2015 at 5:41 pmI’ve been making freezer meals for the better part of 4 years now and I have 2 questions about things I’m doing that you said not to do.
1. You say not to freeze casseroles that contain potatoes, why is that? My experience is that they turn out great as long as they are fully submerged before freezing.
2. Other than ground meat and bacon, I seldom precook meat. Most of what I make are for the crockpot and it is fully cooked after 6 hours on high. Is there a he
alth risk to this?
Thank you.
Happy.MoneySaver says
October 18, 2015 at 6:09 pmHi Carol!
I think some freezer casseroles with potatoes have the tendency to turn mushy. The potatoes absorb all the liquid and then can lose that goodness when you warm it up. Not all recipes are like this at all. This is just something to pay attention to. You also definitely don’t have to precook meat. Some meats I like to cook before freezing so I make sure that it is fully cooked by the time it is warmed through. Some meals I think it works best to have the meat cooked through for health and ease of preparation. 🙂
Debra Felmingham says
August 8, 2015 at 2:22 amMy husband and l both have Fibromyalgia (chronic pain and fatigue) and had terrible eating habits as most days we aren’t up to cooking a proper meal.
We started doing bulk freezer meals about a year ago and we love it. We pick 5 or 6 recipes and, spreading the work over a couple of days, we quadruple the recipes then freeze individual servings in ziploc bags or small plastic containers.
Having all those healthy meals at our fingertips is a lifesaver and my husband says it’s like having a restaurant in our freezer!
We are both on a disability pension and the savings from bulk cooking is fantastic!
Sue says
July 31, 2015 at 6:05 pmWow such good advice, thank you for posting this on pinterest.
Amber Foister says
April 22, 2015 at 1:05 pmare all the recipes in the 50 freezer meals already doubled and tripled or do I need to triple or double the ingredients?
Happy.MoneySaver says
April 22, 2015 at 11:33 pmAfter the title of the recipe it has a number. That is the amount of times it needs to be doubled or tripled! 🙂
Dawn says
February 21, 2015 at 10:22 amI do freezer meals all the time and for containers I keep an eye out at garage sales. My mom is always on the lookout for me as well. Any Pyrex dish for a dollar or less I pick up so I always have a variety of sizes and shapes and I don’t tie up my dishes In the freezer.
Happy.MoneySaver says
February 21, 2015 at 7:53 pmGreat tip!
Tracey says
February 1, 2015 at 8:44 pmHi
Im just wondering about using potatoes in cassoroles and stews? Some websites say they are fine frozen but will just loose a bit of texture… is this right?? or to avoid completely
Thanks
Happy.MoneySaver says
February 2, 2015 at 8:22 amIt depends on the recipe. I always say try a recipe first before making multiple to freeze. If one freezes and warms up well you have a hit! All of my freezer meals have been tried and work great!
Kristen says
January 19, 2015 at 7:53 amHow long do they generally last in the freezer? How long do I have before we have to eat them?
Happy.MoneySaver says
January 19, 2015 at 12:56 pmGenerally 3-6 months depending on the ingredients!
Debbie says
April 23, 2019 at 5:19 pmThis might be a silly question but, Do you have to defrost everything before you start cooking?
Karrie says
April 27, 2019 at 8:29 pmIt all depends. If you are doing a meat item in the slow cooker, it’s best to thaw completely first, but if you are doing a freezer -to-oven meal you don’t have to thaw at all.