Easy Make Ahead Freezer Meals

Is dinnertime crazy in your house? Are you tired of making decisions? Do you find yourself always wondering what’s for dinner? If you answered yes to any of these, then these Easy Make Ahead Freezer Meals will help lessen your decision fatigue and make dinnertime a little less stressful.

School has either just started or is right around the corner. With the start of school comes all the sports practices, after school activities, early mornings and late nights.

It can be A LOT. I get it and I want to help. I have compiled a list of my recipes that freeze well. It’s my hope that these make ahead freezer meals will lessen your decision fatigue and make dinnertime a little easier.

With each recipe, I have included the best way to freeze it and how to warm it up for serving.

Easy Make Ahead Freezer Meals for: BREAKFAST

Cottage cheese & veggie egg bake

• Make in an 8×11 pan and then cut into squares to freeze. Freeze in a freezer bag.
• Heat in microwave for 1.5 to 2 minutes.

Healthy banana chocolate chip muffins

• Let the muffins cool and then freeze in a freezer bag.
• Heat in microwave for 30 seconds.

Frozen spinach cubes for smoothies

• Freeze into cubes in an ice cube tray.
• Pop 1-3 cubes in the blender with your other smoothie ingredients. Try this smoothie, you will love it!

Ham & swiss egg bites

• Once cool, place into a freezer bag to freeze.
• Heat in microwave for 1 minute. Side note: some moisture will release when you heat these up, just soak it up with a paper towel!

Easy Make Ahead Freezer Meals for: LUNCH & DINNER

instant pot shredded chicken

• Once cooled, place shredded chicken in a freezer bag (don’t put any of the broth into the bag).
• There are a couple of different ways to use this frozen chicken. You can heat it up on the stove top (covered) or you can heat it in the microwave. Sometimes, I defrost it for a few minutes and then add it to the pan.
• I have included some recipes that specifically use this chicken in the recipe but you can also use it for tacos, to add to a salad, to serve with barbecue sauce – the options are endless.

Chicken pesto panini

• Instead of using turkey (like the recipe calls for), substitute Instant Pot Shredded Chicken
• Defrost the shredded chicken in the microwave and then assemble the sandwiches.

Instant pot turkey bolognese

• After cooking, and allowing it to cool, freeze flat in a freezer bag.
• Since you froze it flat, you can break off whatever amount you would like and heat it on the stove top (covered). Make noodles when you want to serve.

crockpot mongolian beef

• The part of this recipe that you can make ahead of time and freeze is the beef. Once cooked, let cool before freezing flat in a freezer bag.
• When ready to eat, heat the beef in the crockpot, microwave or covered on the stove top. Make the rice and slice the green onions when ready to serve.

Crockpot pulled pork cubans

• The part of this recipe that you are going to make ahead of time is the crockpot pulled pork. All of the other ingredients you will prepare when you are ready to eat.

• Once the meat has cooled, freeze it flat in a freezer bag.
• When you are ready to make the Cubans, full defrost the pulled pork before assembling the sandwiches.

Honey dijon lemon grilled chicken

• With this recipe, you can either prepare the marinade and freeze the raw chicken with it or, grill the chicken according to the recipe and then freeze it (once cooled) in a freezer bag.
• If raw, thaw chicken before grilling. If already cooked (but frozen), turn oven to 375 degrees and put chicken in oven safe dish (covered with aluminum foil) right when you turn on the oven. Heat chicken until fully heated through.

Instant pot Kalua pork

• Make sure to completely cool before freezing in a freezer bag. Lay flat to freeze.
• You can heat in the microwave or covered on the stove.

Easy hoisin Turkey lettuce wraps

• You might be thinking freeze lettuce wraps?! Okay, don’t freeze the lettuce but you can freeze the filling. Once it has been cooked (and cooled), put it in a freezer bag and lay flat.
• When you are ready to have your lettuce wraps, heat the filling in a pan on the stove. While it is heating up, get your lettuce ready!

Ranch turkey burgers

• Once you have made the turkey burgers, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the (raw) turkey burgers on top. Cover them with another piece of parchment paper and freeze until solid. Store in a freezer bag.
• When ready to eat, you can cook them on the stove top from frozen. I recommend using a lid to keep them nice and juicy!

Crockpot Swedish meatballs

• Make the meatballs according to the recipe. You can either freeze them before you cook them or after they are cooked. If cooking first, make sure they cool off before you put them in a freezer bag.
• When ready to eat, put them in the crockpot to heat them up! If you are a little short on time, you can heat them up on the stove top with a lid.