Freezer Meals 101

BBQ Chicken Sloppy Joes

When it comes to feeding your family, you can’t go wrong with BBQ! And with this simple make ahead recipe, you can whip up a delicious batch of BBQ sandwiches with just a few minutes of prep work at dinner time. Thanks to the delicious combination of barbeque sauce, peppers, and onions, this recipe for chicken sloppy joes is sure to be a hit with everyone at the dinner table.

This budget friendly recipe is also kid friendly. Ground chicken is often less expensive than other ground meats. With rising grocery costs, recipes like this are good to include in your dinner rotation schedule.Kids seem to like Sloppy Joes. I think it’s something about the name. It’s one of the meals that all my kids will happily eat so it’s no wonder that over the years I’ve developed so many variations!

I actually remember thinking this dish had such a fun name even back in my own childhood!

Ground Chicken Sloppy Joes Recipe

Ingredients:

1 pound ground chicken, cooked
3/4 cup onion, diced
1 green pepper, chopped
3/4 cup BBQ sauce
1/2 cup tomato sauce

Assembly Instructions:

Cook the ground chicken in a large skillet, crumbling the meat as it cooks. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the pan and allow it to cool completely.
Place the chicken in a large resealable bag with the onion, green pepper, BBQ sauce, and tomato sauce.
Squeeze the contents of the bag together to mix the sauce into the meat and vegetables.
Seal the bag and remove excess air. Place the bag in the freezer until you’re ready to eat.

Cooking instructions:

Transfer the frozen BBQ chicken ingredients to the refrigerator to thaw overnight.
When ready to cook, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the contents of the bag and stir to mix the ingredients together.
Bring the sauce to a simmer and allow the mixture to cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the ingredients are heated through.
Serve on hamburger buns.

What Toppings Go Well With Sloppy Joes?

Since these chicken sloppy Joes are made with BBQ sauce, there are a variety of toppings you can add to your sandwiches to take the flavor up a notch! Try these topping ideas to add some fresh flavor to your barbeque dinner.

Coleslaw
Cheese
Pickles
Sliced red onions
Jalapeño slices
Lettuce
Extra BBQ sauce

What Can I Serve with BBQ Chicken Sloppy Joes?

This quick make ahead recipe is the perfect option for an easy main dish for dinner. But after you prepare your sandwiches, you’ll need some side dishes to add to your plate. Try these sides when you serve your sloppy joe dinner.

Dr. Pepper Baked beans
French fries or tater tots
Potato chips
Crunchy Coleslaw
Macaroni and cheese
Baby Potato Salad
Mediterranean Pasta salad
Side salads
Corn on the cob

How Do You Store Chicken Sloppy Joes?

Since these chicken sloppy joes are so delicious, I’d be surprised if you have any left after dinner is over! But if there are a few leftovers to save, simply transfer the meat to an airtight container and place it in the refrigerator. The sloppy joe filling will stay good for up to four days.

To reheat your meat, place it in the microwave in 30 second intervals or reheat it in a skillet.

Ground Chicken Sloppy Joes

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Course: Main Course

Keyword: sloppy Joes

Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 lb. ground chicken cooked
3/4 cup onion diced
1 green pepper chopped
3/4 cup BBQ sauce
1/2 cup tomato sauce

Instructions

Assembly Instructions:

Cook the ground chicken in a large skillet, crumbling the meat as it cooks. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the pan and allow it to cool completely.
Place the chicken in a large resealable bag with the onion, green pepper, BBQ sauce, and tomato sauce.
Squeeze the contents of the bag together to combine.
Remove excess air, seal, and freeze.

Cooking instructions:

Thaw.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the contents of the bag and stir.
Bring the sauce to a simmer and allow the mixture to cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the ingredients are heated through.
Serve on hamburger buns.

Pesto Minestrone

By Sharla

What better way to warm up after a cold day than with a hot bowl of soup? But prepping and cooking a batch of soup can be a time consuming process! With the help of this easy make ahead minestrone soup recipe, you can prep all the ingredients for your Italian soup ahead of time and freeze everything until you’re ready to start cooking. That means you can enjoy a delicious bowl of soup in a fraction of the time!

I love having soups in the freezer especially in winter. Being able to pull out a cozy soup on a dreary day is such a nice treat. We also love the Hearty Sausage Zucchini Soup, Curried Butternut Squash Soup, and our amazingly delicious Lasagna Soup.

Pesto Minestrone Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups bowtie pasta
1 cup diced onion
2 cloves minced garlic
2 ribs of celery, chopped
3 carrots, sliced
1 cup white wine (or you can use apple juice)
14-19 ounce can diced tomatoes with juice
19 ounce can mixed beans
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup basil pesto

For cooking day:

4 cups vegetable broth

Assembly Instructions:

Place the dry bowtie pasta in a medium freezer bag and seal.
In a separate, large freezer bag, add the diced onion, garlic, celery, carrots, white wine, diced tomatoes, mixed beans, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, black pepper, parmesan cheese, and basil pesto.
Squish the large bag to combine the ingredients. Remove excess air from the inside of the bag and seal the top. Staple the bag of pasta to the large bag above the seal. Freeze both bags together.

Cooking instructions:

Transfer the minestrone soup ingredients to the refrigerator to thaw overnight.
To prepare the soup on the stovetop, pour the contents of the large bag into a stockpot and add four cups of vegetable broth. Cook over medium high heat until the liquid begins to boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add the pasta to the pot and continue to simmer the soup for another 10 minutes, until the pasta is tender, stirring the soup occasionally.
To cook the soup in the crockpot, pour the contents of the large bag into the bowl of the slow cooker and add the vegetable broth. Place the lid on top and cook on low for four to six hours or high for two to three hours.
Stir the pasta into the soup 20 minutes before serving.

How Do You Thicken Minestrone Soup?

Since minestrone is made with a broth base, it has a soupy consistency. But the use of beans and pasta in this recipe help give the soup some thickness without the need to add any thickening agent to the pot.

If your minestrone is soupier than you prefer, the best way to help reduce the amount of liquid in the pot is allow the soup to simmer for longer. Increasing the cook time by around 30 minutes will give the excess liquid time to thicken and reduce, giving your minestrone a less runny consistency.

Soups are about the most comforty of the comfort foods when it comes to winter. See us make this Pesto Minestrone soup as well as some of our other most popular soup recipes in the video below.

Variations for Minestrone Soup:

Add more vegetables. If you’re looking to add more nutrition into your bowl, add cubed zucchini, frozen green beans, frozen peas, kale, spinach, or cabbage to the bag before freezing.
Change up the beans. Use cannellini beans (also known as white kidney beans) or kidney beans in place of the can of mixed beans if you prefer.
Extra protein. To add more protein, you can replace the veggie broth with chicken stock and top with Parmesan cheese.
Use different pasta. In place of the bowtie pasta, you can use any small pasta such as small shells or macaroni noodles.

Pesto Minestrone

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Course: Soup

Keyword: soup

Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups bowtie pasta
1 cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic minced
2 ribs of celery chopped
3 carrots sliced
1 cup white wine or you can use apple juice
14-19 oz diced tomatoes with juice
19 oz mixed beans
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese grated
1/4 cup basil pesto

For cooking day:

4 cups vegetable broth

Instructions

Assembly Instructions:

Place the bowtie pasta in a medium freezer bag
In a separate large freezer bag, add the diced onion, garlic, celery, carrots, white wine, diced tomatoes, mixed beans, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, black pepper, parmesan cheese, and basil pesto.
Squish to combine the ingredients. Remove excess air from the bag and seal. Staple the bag of pasta to the large bag above the seal. Freeze.

Stovetop Cooking instructions:

Transfer the minestrone soup ingredients to the refrigerator to thaw overnight.
Pour the contents of the large bag into a stockpot and add four cups of vegetable broth. Cook over medium high heat until the liquid begins to boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes
Add the pasta to the pot and continue to simmer the soup for another 10 minutes, until the pasta is tender, stirring the soup occasionally.

Crock Pot Cooking Instructions:

Pour the contents of the large bag into the bowl of the slow cooker and add the vegetable broth. Place the lid on top and cook on low for four to six hours or high for two to three hours.
Stir the pasta into the soup 20 minutes before serving.

Baked Manicotti Freezer Meal

By Sharla

Baked pasta dishes are always a hit with the family, which means they’re great for adding to your weeknight meal plan. With the help of this easy baked manicotti recipe, you can prep your pasta dinner ahead of time and freeze it until you’re ready to start cooking. Your family will love these cheesy stuffed noodles covered in sauce, and you’ll love how simple this no boil dish is to prepare!To make this dish into individual freezer meals, divide it among smaller foil containers. It is a great one for making as a freezer meal for one.

We also enjoy this Mexican Manicotti Bake recipe for a bit of a change. It’s packed full of flavour.

Baked Manicotti Recipe

Ingredients:

3 cups cottage cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 (8 ounce) box manicotti, uncooked
6 cups pasta sauce

Assembly Instructions:

Start by spreading one cup of pasta sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 pan.
In a large bowl, mix the cottage cheese, egg, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Using a piping bag, a spoon, or your fingers, stuff the cheese filling mixture into the center of the manicotti shells.
Place stuffed manicotti on top of the pasta sauce that’s in the pan. Then pour the remaining sauce over the top of the pasta.
Wrap the entire pan in plastic wrap and top the pan with foil. Label the pan and place it in the freezer until you’re ready to bake.
Be sure to write a reminder to remove the plastic wrap before baking.

Cooking Instructions:

Transfer the pan to the refrigerator to thaw overnight.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the foil and plastic wrap from the pan and replace the foil. Bake for 45 minutes.
The dish can also be baked from frozen if you increase cooking time to 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Remove the foil from the pan and continue baking until noodles are tender.

Is it Better to Freeze Manicotti Before or After Cooking?

Preparing pasta for freezer cooking can sometimes be confusing. While some pasta dishes require that you cook the noodles before freezing the dish, others don’t need to be boiled or baked before freezing. So how do you know whether you should cook the manicotti noodles before stuffing and freezing them?

The best way to figure out if your pasta needs to be cooked before freezing is to check the box. If you use no boil manicotti noodles, there is no need to pre-cook the pasta before placing the stuffed shells in the freezer. All you have to do is make sure the pasta is fully covered in sauce and they’ll soften as they bake in the oven.

But if your pasta is not no boil, you will need to prepare the noodles before you freeze them. No boil manicotti should be boiled until they are al dente. After that, allow the pasta to cool until it’s safe to touch and add the cheese filling before freezing your pasta dish.

How Long Does Manicotti Stay Fresh in the Fridge?

After your family enjoys your baked manicotti, you might have a few leftovers when dinner is over. Any leftover pasta should be stored in the refrigerator. You can cover the pan with plastic wrap and store it directly in the fridge. Or transfer the leftover pasta to an airtight container. When stored properly, your pasta will stay fresh for up to four days.

What is the Best Way to Reheat Manicotti?

When you’re ready to enjoy your leftover pasta, there are a couple of different ways you can reheat it. The best way to warm up your manicotti is to bake it in the oven. Place your leftover pasta in an oven-safe dish and cook it at 350° for 10 to 15 minutes, until the pasta is heated and the cheese is melted.

You can also reheat the leftover manicotti in the microwave. Heat the pasta for around one minute and check the temperature of the filling. If the center is still cold, return the pasta to the microwave and cook for an additional 30 seconds.

Baked Manicotti Recipe Variation Ideas:

This quick and easy vegetarian lasagna is a great option for a meatless meal. But you can easily adjust the recipe to create a delicious dinner for your family with these simple additions.

Use a meat sauce. If your family prefers to have meat with their pasta, you can easily add cooked ground beef or Italian sausage to the pasta sauce. Simply stir one pound of prepared meat into the sauce before adding it to the pan.
Mix in some spinach. An easy way to add flavor and veggies to your pasta dinner is by mixing some spinach leaves into your cheese filling. You can use fresh or frozen spinach, depending on what you have on hand. If you plan to use frozen spinach, make sure to allow the vegetables to defrost before mixing them into the filling.
Boil the pasta. To help speed up the prep work on this baked pasta dish, try using no boil pasta. But if you can’t find that type of pasta in your grocery store, traditional manicotti noodles will work, too. To prepare this baked pasta dish with traditional noodles, make sure to boil the pasta before adding the filling. You’ll want to cook it to slightly underdone so that when reheating, the noodles don’t get mushy.

Baked Manicotti

Ingredients

3 cups cottage cheese
1 egg lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese shredded
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
8 oz manicotti uncooked
6 cups pasta sauce

Instructions

Assembly Instructions:

Spread one cup of pasta sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
In a large bowl, mix the cottage cheese, egg, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Using a piping bag, a spoon, or your fingers, stuff the cheese filling mixture into the manicotti shells.
Place stuffed manicotti on top of the pasta sauce in the pan. Pour the remaining sauce over the top of the pasta.
Wrap the entire pan in plastic wrap and top the pan with foil. Label the pan and place it in the freezer until you’re ready to bake.

Cooking Instructions:

Thaw.
Preheat the oven to 350°. Remove the foil and plastic wrap from the pan and replace the foil. Bake for 45 minutes.
The dish can also be baked from frozen if you increase cooking time to 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Remove the foil from the pan and continue baking until noodles are tender.

Tex Mex Stuffed Peppers

By Sharla

You’ll love the unique texture of these Tex Mex Stuffed Peppers. They’re easy to make and a great healthy alternative to meat and potatoes! The filling for these Tex Mex stuffed peppers can be made ahead as a freezer meal.

If you love the flavors of stuffed peppers, you will also like our Stuffed Pepper Soup, Unstuffed Peppers Skillet Meal, and Stuffed Pepper Casserole.

Tex Mex Stuffed Peppers Recipe:

1 lb. ground beef, browned
1/2 cup onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup rice, cooked and cooled
14 oz. can tomato sauce
3 Tbsp. taco seasoning

For day of cooking:

6 bell peppers
shredded jalapeño jack or cheddar cheese

Assembly instructions:

Add ground beef, onion, garlic, corn, cooked rice, tomato sauce, and seasoning to a large freezer bag. Remove excess air. Freeze.

Cooking Instructions:

Thaw. Cut the top off of 6 bell peppers and hollow them out. Fill with mixture and top with shredded cheese. Place in baking dish and bake in the oven at 350° for 30 minutes.

These peppers make a delicious and healthy weeknight meal. Not to mention that when you have the filling pre-made in the freezer, they are super easy to assemble.

All that’s left to do is cut the tops off your peppers and take out the seeds and membranes before filling and topping with cheese. I find the easiest way to hollow out the peppers is scooping them out with a spoon.

Can you make Stuffed Peppers ahead and freeze?

Yes, you can make this complete meal as a freezer meal including pre-stuffing the peppers with the filling. I prefer to only make the filling ahead and stuff the peppers on the day of serving. I prefer the texture. And having the filling already made saves a lot of time.

But if you prefer, you can actually freeze the peppers already stuffed (before baking) and then on the day of serving, allow them to thaw, top with cheese, and bake. Just be sure to remove as much air as you can from the freezer bag in order to prevent freezer burn.

Variations and Substitutions:

Substitute Mexican ground round for the ground beef to make these stuffed peppers vegetarian. This is my favourite way of eating them actually.
Another vegetarian option is to omit the ground beef entirely and add a can of black beans that have been drained and rinsed.
To make a healthier version of these, use lean ground turkey as your protein in place of the beef.
Omit the peppers and make this meal as a rice bowl. Serve salsa and sour cream on the side.
Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro if desired.
Use mozzarella cheese, pepper jack cheese, or a tex mex blend if you prefer.

Should peppers be precooked before stuffing?

Peppers do not need to be blanched or cooked before stuffing. Simply stuff the raw peppers and bake. They will soften in the oven as the filling warms and cheese melts on top.

Tex Mex Stuffed Peppers

Prep Time

25 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Course: Main Course

Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef browned
1/2 cup onion diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1 cup corn frozen
1 cup rice cooked and cooled
14 oz. tomato sauce
3 Tbsp. taco seasoning

For day of cooking:

6 bell peppers
jalapeño jack or cheddar cheese shredded

Instructions

Assembly instructions:

Add ground beef, onion, garlic, corn, rice, tomato sauce, and seasoning to a large freezer bag. Remove excess air. Freeze.

Cooking Instructions:

Thaw. Cut the top off of 6 bell peppers and hollow them out. Fill with mixture and top with shredded jalapeño jack or cheddar cheese. Place in baking pan and bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Make Ahead Crock Pot Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken

By Sharla

When it comes to meal prepping, your freezer and your slow cooker are your best friends! That’s why this simple recipe for crock pot pineapple teriyaki chicken works so well. Combine chicken breast with sweet pineapple chunks, crispy veggies, and savoury teriyaki sauce, then pop everything in the freezer until you’re ready to eat. After that, simply dump the ingredients in your slow cooker, set it, and forget it until dinner time!

We are fans of freezer meals that can be cooked in the slow cooker like our BBQ Meatballs, That Lady’s Chicken, or the Crock Pot Chana Masala.

Crock Pot Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Recipe

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, cubed
1 cup teriyaki sauce
1 cup water
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 can pineapple chunks, drained
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
can water chestnuts, drained

Assembly Instructions:

Combine the cubed chicken breast, teriyaki sauce, water, brown sugar, garlic, carrots, pineapple chunks, red pepper, green pepper, and water chestnuts in a large bag.
Squeeze the ingredients in the bag together to mix the sauce into the chicken and vegetables.
Remove excess air from the bag, seal the top, and place it in the freezer until you’re ready to start cooking.

Cooking Instructions:

Transfer the mixture to the refrigerator to thaw overnight.
To cook the chicken in the slow cooker, pour the entire bag into the bowl of your crockpot and place the lid on top. Set to cook on low for three to four hours.
To cook the chicken in the oven, transfer the entire contents of the bag to a large baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake uncovered for 50 minutes.
Serve on rice.

How Long Does Teriyaki Chicken Stay Fresh in the Fridge?

After your family finishes eating your pineapple chicken, you might have a few leftovers to pack up. Any leftover chicken and vegetables should be stored in the refrigerator until you’re ready to enjoy it again. Simply transfer the leftover ingredients to an airtight container and your dish will stay fresh for up to four days.

Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Recipe Ideas

This quick and easy one pot dinner is a great option for a quick weeknight meal. But the best part about this simple recipe is how easy it is to adjust. Try these recipe ideas as you’re preparing your freezer meal.

Serve with rice. While this one pot meal features all the meat and vegetables your family needs for a full dinner, the addition of rice is a great way to round up the meal. Your pineapple chicken can be served with white, brown, or jasmine rice.
Use chicken thighs. Boneless chicken breasts are a great option for freezer cooking, but they can sometimes get dry while cooking in the crockpot. Another great option for slow cooking is boneless chicken thighs. You can substitute chicken thighs for chicken breast in this recipe for added juiciness and flavor.
Try whole chicken breasts. Cutting the chicken into bite-sized pieces is great for easing serving. But you can also reduce your prep work by freezing and cooking whole chicken breasts. After cooking your chicken in the slow cooker, remove it from the pot and shred the meat. Then return the shredded chicken back to the slow cooker to mix it with the sauce and vegetables before serving.
Add more vegetables. Featuring pineapple, carrots, and bell pepper, this chicken dinner is already packed with healthy ingredients. But there are a variety of other veggies that would taste amazing with when combined with the rest of the ingredients in this dish. Try mixing in some broccoli, cauliflower, snap peas, and mushrooms for even more texture and flavor.
Freeze after cooking. If you would prefer to reduce the amount of prep work you need to do on the day of cooking, you can also cook the teriyaki chicken before freezing it. After cooking the chicken according to the recipe instructions, allow the ingredients to cool completely. Then transfer everything to a freezer bag or container and store until you’re ready to reheat it.

Is it Safe to Freeze Chicken in Marinade?

Using teriyaki sauce as a marinade is a great way to add flavor to your chicken. But keeping the meat in the marinade for too long could cause the chicken to breakdown. That might make you wonder whether freezing your chicken in marinade is a good idea.

In fact, adding marinade to the bag with your chicken before freezing is a great option. Storing the chicken with the sauce will help infuse flavor into the meat. But since the marinating process will stop once the chicken and sauce are frozen, you don’t have to worry about damaging the chicken while it’s being stored in the freezer.

Can I Cook Chicken on High in the Crockpot?

Setting your slow cooker to high is a great way to speed up the cook time of your crockpot recipes. But when it comes to chicken, it’s best to keep your slow cooker on low. High heat can make your chicken breast tough and chewy. Luckily, chicken cooks fairly quickly in the crockpot – even on the low setting. Your teriyaki chicken will be ready to eat after cooking for around four hours on low.

Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

3 hrs

Course: Main Course

Keyword: chicken

Servings: 6

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts cubed
1 cup teriyaki sauce
1 cup water
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 cloves garlic minced
2 cups carrots peeled and roughly chopped
1 can pineapple chunks drained
1 red pepper chopped
1 green pepper chopped
can water chestnuts drained

Instructions

Assembly Instructions:

Combine the cubed chicken breast, teriyaki sauce, water, brown sugar, garlic, carrots, pineapple chunks, red pepper, green pepper, and water chestnuts in a large resealable freezer bag.
Squish to combine.
Remove excess air from the bag, seal the top, and place it in the freezer until you’re ready to start cooking.

Crock Pot Cooking Instructions:

Thaw.
Pour the bag contents into crockpot. Cook on low for three to four hours.

Oven Cooking Instructions:

Thaw.
Transfer the contents of the bag to a large baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350° and bake uncovered for 50 minutes.

Recipe Notes

Serve over rice.