Freezer Meals 101

Less time cooking, more time living

Baked Italian Chicken (Freezer Meal)

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Who doesn’t love a freezer meal that includes the protein AND the veggies?! This baked Italian chicken recipe has all that and more. It is especially delicious served over pasta.plastic bag with raw chicken and sauce on top. Pasta on plate with chicken and vegetables on it on bottom. Text reads "Baked Italian Chicken freezer meal" Sometimes when you bake chicken in the oven, it can dry out, but this recipe has a sauce, so the chicken stays nice and juicy. 

This dish can also be cooked in the Crock-Pot® (which I know then technically is no longer called “Baked” Italian Chicken, but it still tastes just as good. And the slow cooker option is nice for a day when you need to be out of the house and come back to dinner waiting. 

What I like best about this meal is that it includes some fresh-tasting vegetables as well as the chicken so I know my kids are getting a balanced meal and yet it’s so easy to throw together. Plus, when you serve it over pasta, it gets that homemade comfort food aspect down as well.plastic bag filled with red sauce, chicken, and vegetables

Baked Italian Chicken Recipe:

  • 8-12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
  • 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup sliced mushrooms
  • 1 cup zucchini with peel, cubed
  • 1/2 cup onion, diced
  • 24 oz. jar pasta sauce

mushrooms, raw chicken, zucchini, onion, and a jar of pasta sauceAssembly instructions:

  1. Cut the zucchini and onion and slice the mushrooms. 
  2. Place the chicken thighs in a large resealable freezer bag.
  3. Add the seasoning, vegetables, brown sugar, and pasta sauce. 
  4. Remove all the air you can from the bag, seal it, and freeze.

Oven Cooking Instructions:

  1. Thaw. Put the contents of the bag in a casserole dish.
  2. Bake in the oven at 375° for 50 minutes.

pot holding red sauce and chunks of chicken and vegetablesCrock Pot Cooking  Instructions:

  1. Thaw. Put the bag contents into the slow cooker.
  2. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Serve over pasta and sprinkle with shredded or shaved Parmesan cheese. If you are on a gluten-free diet, you can instead serve this over rice. You can also serve this with a side salad if you want more greens. collage of photos of a chicken, vegetable, and sauce dish served over pasta

Variations on this recipe:

  • Substitute 3-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts for the chicken thighs.
  • Add some crushed chili flakes either before cooking or when serving if you like to spice things up a bit. 
  • You can substitute a can of sliced mushrooms for the fresh mushrooms, but I really suggest you use fresh. It’s hardly any extra work to slice them up and it tastes so much fresher. 
  • Use whichever red pasta sauce is your favorite. By experimenting and trying different types of pasta sauce, you can change up the flavors of this meal. 

wide pasta noodles on a white plate topped with chicken, vegetables, and red sauce

Other chicken freezer meals:

pot holding red sauce and chunks of chicken and vegetables
Print
Baked Italian Chicken
Prep Time
7 mins
Cook Time
50 mins
 
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: baked chicken, chicken
Servings: 4
Calories: 428 kcal
Ingredients
  • 8-12 chicken thighs boneless and skinless
  • 1 tsp. Italian seasoning
  • 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup sliced mushrooms
  • 1 cup zucchini cubed with peel
  • 1/2 cup onion diced
  • 24 oz. jar pasta sauce
Instructions
Assembly instructions:
  1. Cut the zucchini and onion and slice the mushrooms.
  2. Place the chicken thighs in a large resealable freezer bag.
  3. Add the seasoning, vegetables, brown sugar, and pasta sauce.
  4. Remove all the air you can from the bag, seal it, and freeze.
Oven Cooking Instructions:
  1. Thaw. Put the contents of the bag in a casserole dish.
  2. Bake in the oven at 375° for 50 minutes.
Crock Pot Cooking  Instructions:
  1. Thaw. Put the bag contents into the slow cooker.
  2. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
Recipe Notes

Serve over pasta and sprinkle with shredded or shaved Parmesan cheese.

Easy Cabbage Soup (freezer meal)

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Perfect for cold days, this make ahead cabbage soup is easy to make and has nice light flavours. You can freeze this cabbage soup before cooking it or after. Or of course, if you can’t wait to try it, you can cook it and eat it right away!

If you like, you can double the recipe to use up your whole head of cabbage and ensure that none goes to waste. Then, simply freeze in family sized portions or even single servings. blue bowl heaped with carrots, cabbage, and stewed tomatoes. Text reads "Cabbage Soup freezer meal"Cabbage touts many health properties including being high in vitamin C, vitamin K, and improving digestion. Adding this easy soup to your diet is a simple way to eat healthier. It’s also budget conscious as this costs very little to make.

To make this soup vegetarian or even vegan, just use vegetable broth. The recipe is also dairy free and gluten free, so it’s appropriate for many types of diets.

For this recipe, you can use savoy, Napa, or green cabbage. blue bowl heaped with vegetables like carrots, cabbage, tomatoes

Can you freeze cabbage?

This seems to be a common question. I can see where the confusion comes in as lettuce does not freeze well at all and cabbage and lettuce look similar. Cabbage, however freezes beautifully. We use it in recipes such as our Cabbage Roll Casserole and this Cabbage Soup. 

If you want to freeze cabbage that isn’t in a recipe, cut the cabbage into wedges and pat dry. Place it in freezer bags, being sure to take out all the air you can before sealing. Freeze for up to 18 months. white bowl of soup with chunky vegetables next to two spoons

Cabbage Soup Recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 8 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
  • 1/2 tsp. pepper
  • 1/2 head cabbage chopped in about 1 1/2″ chunks* 
  • 4 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
  • 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
  • 14 1/2 oz. can stewed tomatoes

Assembly instructions:

  1. Chop the vegetables.
  2. Place the vegetables and other ingredients into a large resealable freezer bag or silicone bag.
  3. Remove excess air, seal, and freeze.

Cooking instructions:

  1. Thaw.
  2. Place bag contents in a large stovetop pot. Heat over medium until it comes to a low boil.
  3. Turn down to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

*note: if you want to use up the whole head of cabbage, simply double the recipe and separate into two large freezer bags or into single serving containers

collage of photos showing the process of making cabbage soupThat’s it! It’s simple to make homemade cabbage soup ahead so that you can pull it out to cook on those cold dreary days that scream for soup.

What to serve with this soup:

Serve this soup on its own, with crackers, or with dinner rolls. 

You might also like these freezer soup recipes:

blue bowl heaped with vegetables like carrots, cabbage, tomatoes
Print
Cabbage Soup
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
35 mins
 
Course: Soup
Keyword: cabbage, cabbage soup, soup
Servings: 8
Ingredients
  • 1/2 onion diced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 8 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
  • 1/2 tsp. pepper
  • 1/2 head cabbage chopped in 1 1/2" chunks
  • 4 medium carrots peeled and sliced
  • 2 stalks celery thinly sliced
  • 14 1/2 oz. can stewed tomatoes
Instructions
Assembly instructions:
  1. Chop the vegetables.
  2. Place the vegetables and other ingredients into a large resealable freezer bag or silicone bag.
  3. Remove excess air, seal, and freeze.
Cooking instructions:
  1. Thaw.
  2. Place bag contents in a large stovetop pot. Heat over medium until it comes to a low boil.
  3. Turn down to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

Baked Tortellini Alfredo (Freezer Meal)

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This recipe for Baked Tortellini Alfredo will change the way you think about freezer cooking! If you’re pasta fans, this is about to become one of your family’s new favourites. oval casserole dish filled with tri colour tortellini in a white sauceThe first time we attempted a baked tortellini freezer meal, we didn’t get the flavours right and it was a bit of a miss, but we were not deterred. We could see right away the potential to create a delicious meal that was quick and easy to make.

Enter our experiment phase. We tried many variations of our original tortellini bake and finally found the winner. 

This Baked Tortellini Alfredo can be made ahead as a freezer meal and doesn’t require you to pre-cook the noodles. (read that again if you missed the significance – no boiling water, cooking noodles, draining noodles, extra pot and strainer to clean!)

There are also many variations you can make to this recipe so you’re able to choose the flavours you know your family will like best. Depending on what you decide to mix in, this can also be a vegetarian freezer meal. tortellini in a white sauce in a square bowl and oval dish

Baked Tortellini Alfredo Recipe:

  • 1 lb. cheese tortellini (we like the tri-colour rainbow one)
  • 2 jars Alfredo sauce (I use Classico because I like their jars as mason jars afterwards!)
  • 1/2 – 1 cup of your chosen mix-ins* (in these pictures, I used sliced mushrooms and frozen peas)
  • 1 cup shredded mozza cheese
  • 1/4 cup shaved or shredded Parmesan cheese

*Examples of mix-ins:

  • cooked cubed chicken and 2 Tbsp. of pesto
  • sliced mushrooms and frozen peas
  • crumbled bacon and sundried tomatoes
  • sundried tomatoes and artichoke hearts
  • browned Italian sausage

The nice thing about this recipe is that you don’t have to boil the pasta. It cooks right in the dish.collage of photos of making baked tortellini with alfredo sauce

Assembly instructions:

  1. Add everything except the Parmesan to a 9×13 baking dish or casserole dish. Stir. If you prefer to save space in your freezer,  you can add it to a large resealable freezer bag and squish to combine.
  2. Top with the Parmesan. 
  3. Cover with two layers of aluminum foil, one that is directly on top of the pasta so there isn’t as much air in the container.
  4. Freeze.

Cooking instructions:

  1. Remove from freezer.
  2. Bake at 375° for 30-40 minutes or one hour if still frozen. If frozen, remove foil for the last 10 minutes of bake time.

You can see me make this and two other tortellini freezer meals on video here.

Other pasta freezer meals you may like:

tortellini in a white sauce in a square bowl and oval dish
Print
Baked Tortellini Alfredo
Prep Time
4 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
 
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: pasta, tortellini
Ingredients
  • 1 lb. cheese tortellini
  • 2 jars Alfredo sauce
  • 1/2 - 1 cup your choice of mix-ins*
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1/4 cup shaved or shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Assembly instructions:
  1. Add everything except the Parmesan to a 9x13 baking dish or casserole dish. Stir. If you prefer to save space in your freezer,  you can add it to a large resealable freezer bag and squish to combine.
  2. Top with the Parmesan.
  3. Cover with two layers of aluminum foil, one that is directly on top of the pasta so there isn't as much air in the container.
  4. Freeze.
Cooking instructions:
  1. Remove from freezer.
  2. Bake at 375° for 30-40 minutes or one hour if still frozen. If frozen, remove foil for the last 10 minutes of bake time.
Recipe Notes

*examples of mix-in options: cooked cubed chicken and 2 Tbsp. of pesto, sliced mushrooms and frozen peas, crumbled bacon and sundried tomatoes, sundried tomatoes and artichoke hearts

Mongolian Beef Skillet Freezer Meal

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If you’re a fan of Mongolian beef, you’re going to love how easy it is to make from scratch. This Mongolian Beef freezer meal recipe is as delicious as it is simple.bag filled with beef strips and sauce and white bowl filled with rice, cooked rice strips, and green onions with chopsticksThis easy make ahead Mongolian beef is so fast to assemble and almost just as fast to cook up. There’s no need to order from an Asian restaurant when you can just pull this out of the freezer and have it at home!

We love asian flavours so they often make their way into our freezer meals such as in our Easy Kung Pao Chicken, Asian Rice Bowl, and Ginger Soy Salmon, and Asian Meatballs. white bowl filled with rice topped with beef strips and sliced green onions. Chopsticks rest of top.

Time saving tips:

  • I use the squeeze tubes of ginger because it still has that fresh taste but saves me having to grate the ginger myself.
  • Purchase the beef strips pre-sliced.
  • If you slice the steak yourself, putting it in the freezer for 15-20 minutes right before slicing makes it easier to cut.

Can you freeze Mongolian Beef?

Yes! You can absolutely freeze Mongolian beef. In fact, this recipe is designed for just that, although you can also eat this straight away if you prefer. You can double or triple the recipe to freeze several dinners at a time. Then, just pull out a bag on the day you have a craving for Asian take-out and instead, quickly cook up your own!bag full of beef strips and sauce

Mongolian Beef Recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 lb. package beef strips*
  • 1/2 tsp. ginger 
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup carrots, cut into tiny matchsticks
  • 2 green onions, sliced

For day of cooking:

  • 1/3 cup cornstarch

beef strips, green onions, bowls of ingredientsAssembly instructions:

  1. Peel the carrots and cut into matchsticks.
  2. Slice the green onions.
  3. Add the beef strips to a large resealable freezer bag.
  4. Toss in the ginger, minced garlic, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, carrots, and green onions to the bag.
  5. Squish to combine.
  6. Remove excess air, seal, and freeze.

Skillet cooking instructions:

  1. Thaw.
  2. Heat in skillet.
  3. Whisk 1/3 cup cornstarch into the sauce as it cooks.
  4. Cook until beef is cooked. This will be quick, 3-5 minutes.
  5. Serve over rice. Sprinkle with some sliced green onions if you like.

*If you can’t find the beef cut into strips already, you can ask the butcher at your grocer to slice some flank steak for you or you can slice it yourself against the grain. You can substitute sirloin steak for flank steak if you prefer.collage of photos of making Mongolian beef as a freezer meal

What to serve with Mongolian beef:

Rice is a natural choice to serve under or beside the Mongolian beef to soak up some of that delicious sauce. White rice, jasmine rice, sticky rice, or any rice will do. You can also add a side veggie.

Here are some suggestions for great side dishes for this meal:

white bowl with rice, beef strips, green onions, and chopsticks

white bowl with rice, beef strips, green onions, and chopsticks
Print
Mongolian Beef
Prep Time
8 mins
Cook Time
5 mins
 
Course: Main Course
Keyword: beef, mongolian beef
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 lb. package beef strips*
  • 1/2 tsp. ginger
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
  • 1/4 cup carrots cut into matchsticks
  • 2 green onions sliced
For day of cooking:
  • 1/3 cup cornstarch
Instructions
Assembly instructions:
  1. Peel the carrots and cut into small matchsticks.
  2. Slice the green onions.
  3. Add the beef strips to a large resealable freezer bag.
  4. Toss in the ginger, minced garlic, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, carrots, and green onions to the bag.
  5. Squish to combine.
  6. Remove excess air, seal, and freeze.
Skillet cooking instructions:
  1. Thaw.
  2. Heat in skillet over medium.
  3. Whisk 1/3 cup cornstarch into the sauce as it cooks.

  4. Cook until beef is cooked. (about 5 minutes)

  5. Serve over rice. Sprinkle with some sliced green onions

Recipe Notes

*If you can't find the beef cut into strips already, you can ask the butcher at your grocer to slice some flank steak for you or you can slice it yourself against the grain. You can substitute sirloin steak for flank steak if you prefer.

Check out these other Asian inspired freezer meals:

Easiest Kung Pao ChickenAsian Rice Bowl

Asian Beef Noodle Soup for the Instant Pot

Complete Guide to Freezer Meal Prep

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Taking time ahead to prep your ingredients and your kitchen for freezer cooking will make assembling the meals go so much faster and more efficiently. This guide to freezer meal prep contains everything you need.

Preparing your kitchen

  1. Make room in your freezer.
  2. Wash the dishes and set out tools such as measuring spoons, measuring cups, spatulas, and large bowls so that you’ll have easy access. 
  3. Wipe down your counters.
  4. Print off recipes.
  5. Create stations by setting out what you’ll need for each meal including the recipe and freezer bags or containers. 

Brown the Ground Beef, Ground Turkey, and Sausage

Put 20 – 30 lbs of ground beef into a large counter top electric roaster and let it cook on 200/250° overnight. In the morning, it’s browned and ready to use. Use a ladle to take out the excess liquid or drain the meat. A big thank you to my friend Kimberly Walker, who is a mom of 10 and a freezer meal veteran for sharing this tip with me.

browning ground beef in electric roasterIf you don’t have a large counter top electric roaster, fry up your ground beef in a skillet, breaking it up with a Masher & Smasher as you go. Season it with a bit of salt and pepper. Drain the fat and store in a container with lid until ready to use. 

We typically use large pots with lids to store our cooked ground beef overnight in the fridge.two pots of browned hamburgerRemember: 2 1/3 cups of browned hamburger is 1 lb. This measurement will help you when you’re assembling your meals. You can keep a 1 cup measuring cup in the cooked beef and scoop out into the bags as needed.

Chopping, Mincing, and Slicing Onions

When you are chopping, mincing, and slicing dozens and dozens of onions, you need a better system than just using a knife and a cutting board. This is how we prep our onions for freezer cooking. It’s one of those things that’s better to show you, so watch the video below to see exactly how we do it. 

Know ahead how many onions you need to be minced, how many diced, and how many sliced. I make note of this while I’m compiling my shopping list.

  1. Set up a large cutting board and bring out your mandolin.
  2. Cut both ends off each onion.
  3. Peel the onions and discard the skins in the compost.
  4. For minced onions, use the julienne tool on a mandolin. For chopped onions, use the french fry tool on the mandolin.
  5. Be sure to use the safety guard.
  6. Run an onion down the mandolin repeatedly until it is all sliced.
  7. Use a knife to chop the sliced onion to complete the mincing or dicing.
  8. Place the onions in a bowl with a lid or plastic container with a lid for using when you assemble your freezer meals.

peeled onions, a mandolin, cutting board, and knife

Chopping Vegetables

You’ll want to cut everything ahead of assembling your freezer meals. This includes:

  • peeling and slicing carrots
  • chopping or slicing red, yellow, and green peppers
  • slicing mushrooms
  • dicing zucchini
  • getting broccoli or cauliflower into florets
  • slicing green onions

bowl of diced green peppers, bowl of diced zucchini, bag of sliced carrots, bowl of sliced mushroomsStore them in the fridge in bowls with lids, covered plastic containers, or freezer bags until you add them into your meals.

Shredding Cheese

Shredding cheese is usually pretty straightforward except when you have to shred 40 cups at a time! There are a few tricks that make shredding cheese easier and faster.

  1. Cut the cheese into blocks that will fit into your food processor. 
  2. Use the shredder attachment. 
  3. Add some corn starch so that it doesn’t clump and stays nice and loose in the container.
  4. Put the shredded cheese in a bowl. Add another tsp. or two of corn starch for every 4 cups or so of shredded cheese and give it a shake.
  5. Shred the next chunk of cheese and continue the process until all the cheese is shredded.

the process of shredding cheddar cheese using a food processorCooking Chicken Ahead

If you’re doing a variety of recipes for your freezer meals, you will likely have some that call for raw chicken and some that call for cooked chicken.  The cooked chicken is then cubed or shredded before adding into the meal.

I’ve found that the fastest way to cook chicken on prep day is to put chicken breasts or thighs in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake in a 350° or 375° oven for about 45 minutes. Cool slightly before chopping or shredding depending on what your recipes call for. 

Cooking Large Quantities of Bacon

Bacon is another thing that can be cooked in a large electric roaster if you have one. If you don’t or if you’re already using yours to cook your ground beef, you can cook your bacon in the oven on a cookie sheet.

The trick is in twisting the bacon so that you can fit more than twice as many slices on the cookie sheet!

Put the cookie sheet in the oven and bake at 375° until it’s reached the desired level of doneness. I would never dream of telling anyone how long to cook it for because there are two camps when it comes to bacon. Those who like it crispy and those who don’t!

Other Prep

Anything you can do ahead will save you time and energy on the day you assemble your meals. Take a look through your recipes and see what else can be done the day before. Cube the ham, roll the meatballs, cube or shred the cooked chicken, anything to save time the next day.

I know prep can be a big job, but you will reap the rewards on the day you go to assemble your freezer meals and most of the work is already done for you.