Who’s ready to cook all day long for a month’s worth of freezer meals?
When you tell your family you’re having frozen dinner do they run the other way and only the dog looks happy? Maybe it’s time to introduce them and yourself to homemade Freezer meals. Cooking a month of meals for the freezer all in one day makes for a stress-free and often quick meal time for busy families.
Once upon a time, long, long ago, I used to make a few month’s worth of freezer meals all in one day. Not having to cook for a month was heavenly and I didn’t miss working every day in the kitchen. It has been a few years since those cooking adventures, and I was itching to do it again. Having four children all in after-school dance and sports programs, life is very busy. There are some nights that we don’t get home to eat dinner together until around 7 or 8pm. Last week when I looked around the dinner table and saw everyone eating Cheerios for dinner I decided it was time to do some freezer cooking. 🙂
I know the idea of cooking a month of meals in one day seems impossible or crazy but it can be done. For those of you who don’t want to spend the whole day cooking here is a helpful hint: For Freezer cooking you can try to just double or triple your recipes all the time, eating the one you made for dinner and freezing the others for later. This way you are constantly building your meals.
The other option is you can put on the apron, roll up your sleeves, kiss the kids goodbye, and do freezer cooking all in one day like I did. To take the load off some people even create freezer meal groups with friends, making meals and meeting to swap freezer meals so everyone comes home with a variety of meals. This would be really fun , however I have never done it myself (hint to all my friends out there).
Having a stockpile of Freezer meals is invaluable especially when you get sick for a few days or weeks, have a baby, or just have a hard day and don’t feel like cooking.
The key to Freezer cooking is preparation. If you are prepared it can make all the difference in your busy day.
Cooking Freezer Meals in a Day Process
Step #1 – Go through what you already have. Time to use up some of the food you have on hand to save yourself money. Then you can go through all the sales ads for the week and find things that are on sale or seasonal. After taking those things into consideration make your list of meals you want to make. List them all out! On another sheet of paper list each ingredient you need for each of those meals x how many items.
Step #2 – Go shopping, get all your supplies. Here is my HUGE list of freezer cooking essentials.
Step #3 – Clean your kitchen, prepare your freezer (make room), make sure you have enough dishes & pots. I like having a couple sets of measuring spoons and cups on hand.
Step #4 – Decide on paper the order in which you will cook your meals. This will help you stay focused when you are doing a ton of things at the same time.
Step #5 – Clear your schedule for a day – then cook all day long!
Step #6 – Clean your kitchen – it will be a huge mess, so be prepared….(or better yet, make your spouse do it – it’s only fair…)
I have a regular freezer and a deep freezer. This smaller freezer only held about 30 meals and the other 20 are in my deep freezer.
Here are the FREEZER FRIENDLY meals I made and quantities:
- Honey Lime Chicken (3)
- Homemade Pot Pie (3)
- Fried Rice (5)
- Slow Cooker Broccoli Chicken Alfredo (3)
- Twice Baked Potatoes (3)
- Sweet & Sour Chicken (2)
- Honey Glazed Pork Chops (2)
- Chicken Parmesan Pesto Shells (3)
- Beef Barley Stew (3) – it’s all uncooked ingredients so I can toss into crock pot and cook all day.
- Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos (2)
- Cafe Rio Pulled Pork for Cafe Rio Salads (3) – recipe is in my cookbook!
- Homemade Hamburger Patties (3) – just mixed bread crumbs, Parmesan, garlic, and onion powder + 1 egg in large batch hamburger. Shaped into patties, layered between freezer paper.
- French Dip Sandwiches (2)
- Stirfry Meat, Veggies + Sauce (3) – I had a bag of stir fry veggies already. To a second bag added raw chicken in slices and a stirfry sauce.
- Chicken Enchiladas (3)
- Lasanga (3) – my own recipe!
- Pulled BBQ Pork for buns (2) – slow cooked pork roast, shred and add bottle of BBQ sauce
- Chimichangas (2) – shredded chicken, spanish rice and cheese added to large burrito, and folded. These are bagged up so they can be fried.
Grand Total = 50 Meals all cooked in one day
I also made homemade breakfast burritos – using hash browns, bacon, eggs and cheese. Those will be perfect for some quick breakfast meals.
Making a ton of freezer meals all in one day can be extremely rewarding and save you a lot of time.
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.
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!
—> See MORE of my Freezer Meals recipes here.
And if you do happen to do your 50 freezer meals in a day cooking marathon, take some pictures and share them on instagram with me! Use hashtag #50freezermealsinaday and tag me @happymoneysaver. I absolutely LOVE to see you do your freezer meal cooking!
How do you defrost meals?
This will be perfect! My dad is dying and I live across the country going back to visit for a week I was looking for something like this to help me make preparations for him to be able to cook easily during chemo and as things get harder. Thank you for making this!
Got a new baby on the way in 7 weeks or less and a 2.5 year old, this is just what I need! I will try to do this before due date! I like that you show the list of what you cooked as I am terrible at meal planning. I am trying to get better so I don’t have to pick something every night. Thank you!
Freezer meals saved me with babies! Congrats!!
I LOVE your site!!! I’ve already pinned so many recipes. I can’t wait to get started, thank you!!
Oh, you are so sweet! Thank you so much for letting me know!!
I’m so glad that I stopped to browse the site, about the homemade face cleaner and continue to browse the added links to that one. I have learned a lot. And plan on trying everything out, so thank you!
This sounds great!
for healthy meals /freezer/ pick and choose what is suited to your food preferences. After all this is just guide lines and and DARN good ones.. anything to make life a little easier and less stressful.
I’m a family of one but have a hard time to decide what to have. since I’m only one. by the time I deicide and cook and tired and not sure about eating right now… then there are the dishes just waiting for me. Planning on cooking several meals freeze them in disposable containers or easy clean dishes. Thanks for your site and recipes.
When freezing a chicken casserole should it be cooked completly before freezing?
No, I often don’t cook my freezer meals before freezing – and bake them up on cooking day.
Thank you for for the freezer MEALS im looking forward to make good
This is going to help me big time. Thank you so much.
Is there a shopping list for all of these recipes? Please and thank you!
Is there a shopping list for the 50 freezer meals in a day please ?
Well, I should have read your comment first…lol
Wow. Meat meat meat and more meat and then throw in a few carbs. Might be convenient but healthy?
Iys perfectly fine. Get off your high horse. If you don’t like it look for something that caters to you specifically instead of reading an entire post just to complain.
Meat is healthy 👍🏻
One thing that I struggle with is the when/how to defrost/reheat meals.
Planning, cooking and freezing I get but are there instructions on when is best to defrost, as I know some meals are best cooked from frozen or can be cooked from frozen. Are there instructions on whether to use the oven or microwave, temperatures and times like there is when not cooking from frozen. This is where I need help, is this information available for each recipe?
Some of my old recipes on my site I didn’t add in the thaw and reheating instructions, but in my cookbook Seriously Good Freezer Meals I do add those instructions in them. But many of these recipes are linked out to other sites, and don’t have freezable instructions on them.
Hi, are the recipes you provided to make multiple meals or do I need to double/triple them?
You would need to double or triple them.
I have always wanted to do this but worry the recipes wont be as nice thawed and reheated. Are they wraps in the freezer door? How do you keep them from becoming moist/soggy?
They taste really great actually!!
I treat them like the frozen foods I buy. Some are reheated straight from the freezer and they are not soggy ( like the frozen pizzas , burritos etc). Some are cut in half so the center is heated through about the same time as the edges. Some can be soggy ( like the store bought frozen breakfast sandwiches) in which case, accept as is or open them up & toast them. I know it won’t always be like freshly made for some, but the convenience is really great.
Would you typically be able to fit all 50 of these meals in a regular freezer (like is pictured) or would I require a deep freezer to hold 50 meals?
You’d need a bigger freezer than the small above the fridge version most likely. It depends on how big your meals are and if they are in bagged form or in pans.
Where have I been, I love this site.
haha!!! So happy you found me!!! 🙂