10 Clever Freezer Meal Hacks

These freezer meal hacks are little tricks that will make freezer meal assembly even easier. They are great for using anytime, but when you’re doing a marathon freezer meal session and assembling dozens of meals, the small tricks make a BIG difference.

1. Use plastic containers or juice jugs to hold open large resealable freezer bags instead of buying the fancy holder-upper things.
2. If you forget to take a meal out of the freezer in the morning, you can thaw it quickly by placing the bag in a sink or large bowl full of warm water for 20 minutes.
3. Freeze leftover wine in ice cube trays. Once frozen, add the wine cubes to freezer bags and keep frozen. Use in soups, stews, chilis, and pasta sauces for more depth of flavour.
4. Put dates on your freezer meal labels. This lets you know at a glance what order to use the meals in. Most meals keep in the freezer very well for 3-6 months and some even longer.
5. Buy ground meats when they are on sale. Fry them up and freeze them in one pound portions to use in recipes. This works with ground beef, ground turkey, ground sausage, and ground chicken.
6. If you’re going to be assembling freezer meals using ground beef, put 20 – 30 lbs of ground beef into a large counter-top electric roaster and let it cook on 200/250° overnight. By morning, it’s ready to go! You’ll need to use a ladle to take out the excess liquid. This tip (and picture) is from my friend Kimberly Walker, a mom of 10 and freezer meal veteran.
7. When a recipe calls for 1 pound of ground beef, that is equal to 2 1/3 cups cooked ground beef. Knowing this makes it so much easier to assemble freezer meals.
8. Pick up your free cheatsheet for what freezes and what doesn’t here so that you never have to wonder again.
9. If you don’t have a standup freezer, you’ll want to first freeze your meals flat and then put them upright in the freezer like books on a bookshelf to maximize space.
10. Use pre-planned freezer meal plans that include printable shopping lists and labels to save you time and sanity.

What are your favourite freezer meal hacks?