Freezer Meal Recipe Collections

These make ahead holiday side dishes will give you one less thing to do for your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, freeing up important time and energy. You know so that you can make more food! Or visit with family or do that puzzle or watch football. Whatever it is you want to spend your time doing, making side dishes probably isn’t at the top of the list.

Make Ahead Holiday Side Dishes

Honey Maple Glazed Carrots Freezer Meal Side Dish

These are the perfect accompaniment to any holiday meal.

Buffalo Broccoli and Cauliflower

No one has to know that you just pulled these out of your freezer just before cooking.

Make Ahead Southern Cornbread

This goes with just about any meal.

Butternut Squash Freezer Meal Side Dish

Having side dishes such as this one in the freezer allows me to pull out a main and a side dish together and have supper completely done ahead.

Make Ahead Mac and Cheese

Who doesn’t love a good mac and cheese?! It’s the ultimate in comfort food.

Mom’s Classic Make-ahead Bread Stuffing

This is a classic make-ahead stuffing mix you can prep entirely the day before.

Holiday Side Dish – Bacon Cranberry Almond Green Beans

These sautéed green beans with bacon, cranberries, and almonds are delicious and go well alongside anything at your Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.

Spinach Puffs

These are simple, fresh tasting and surrounded by puff pastry, which always makes everything better.

Easy Scalloped Potatoes

The potatoes are cooked to tender perfection in a creamy, cheesy sauce with a golden crunchy top.

Caramelized Onion Gravy

Did someone say “make ahead gravy”? Yep! Make it weeks ahead of time, then just thaw and warm it up in a saucepan on the big day. Having it pre-made takes the pressure off.

You’ll also want to check out:

Make Ahead Holiday Main Courses

The holiday season can be such a busy time. Being able to make some of the meal ahead of time takes some of the busyness and rush out of the day of. These make ahead main dishes can be made and frozen ahead and then cooked when needed.

Make Ahead Main Dishes for your holiday meal

Apple Maple Chicken Dump Recipe

This apple maple chicken dump recipe is delicious and can be cooked in the oven or the crock pot. It has an interesting blend of flavours that go so well together.

Hearty Sausage and Zucchini Soup

This hearty sausage and zucchini soup is the ultimate in warm winter comfort food. This make ahead meal is packed full of flavour.

Make Ahead Apple Pork Chops

This freezer meal is a little bit more involved in terms of the prep ahead, but it’s worth it. The apples make these Apple Pork Chops the perfect Fall or holiday recipe.

Chickpea Butternut Squash Fajitas

These chickpea butternut squash fajitas are a vegetarian freezer meal. They are colourful. They are healthy. These are also gluten free if you use gluten free tortillas to wrap them in.

Instant Pot White Chicken Chili

A cold day is the perfect time for this Instant Pot white chicken chili. It’s hearty, yet light. This recipe freezes beautifully, so it’s great to make ahead and pull out on busy weekdays.

Freezer Chicken Pot Pie Filling

It has the perfect crispness and the sauce was just right.

Freezer Corn Chowder with Bacon

This freezer corn chowder recipe is one that you are going to thank me for sharing.

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Quesadillas

These are really, really good. It may sound like a strange combination of ingredients, but these are delicious!

Chili Hash Brown Casserole Freezer Meal

This chili hash brown casserole is perfect for potlucks or brunches. I can quickly make it the day before in the crock pot and then put it in the fridge overnight or throw it in the oven 45 minutes before eating.

The Best Freezer Prune and Olive Chicken Recipe

This crock pot meal can be made as a freezer meal and is gluten free.

Freezer to Crockpot Beef Stew

Beef Stew is an all-time comfort food that goes great on those cold fall and winter days.

More Make Ahead Main Dishes:

Cranberry Chicken

This is an incredibly easy recipe – and delicious! Just mix it up before going to work, then pop it in the oven when you get home in the evening. The sauce that forms while baking tastes great on rice.

Make Ahead Sausage Casserole

Not only is this Sausage Casserole really good, it’s super easy to put together. Just a quick whisk of the eggs and milk, a little mustard and salt for seasoning and it’s ready!

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Instead of sugar pumpkins, you can use other winter squash.

Cranberry Dijon Pork

What a delicious treat for a main course!

Crockpot Spaghetti Squash & Meatballs

Did you know that you can cook a spaghetti squash in your crock pot?!

Pork with Sweet Potatoes and Apples

This dish is super affordable and tasty.

Slow Cooker Cranberry Pork Roast

With only four simple ingredients, this is sure to be gentle on your wallet as it wows your family!

I know I can’t be the only one who dreads packing school lunches! Thankfully, years ago, I discovered that I could transfer the concept of freezer meals into things that I could put in their lunch boxes. These make ahead sandwiches and wraps are perfect for exactly that.

You can spend an afternoon preparing these and then not have to think about school lunches for the rest of the month. Your kids can just pull out what they want to pack in their lunch each day.

Make Ahead Sandwiches and Wraps:

Our Hot Beef or Ham Sandwiches can be served hot or cold. If your child’s school has a microwave they can use, they can heat them up or you can heat them ahead and send in a thermos, but they are also good cold.

There’s no need to purchase Uncrustables with this recipe for Freezable Homemade Uncrustables from Make Ahead Meal Mom. Making your own allows you to know exactly what’s in them and they are so much less expensive than the store bought ones.

If you have a child with allergies, you will likely prefer these Homemade Gluten Free Allergy Free Uncrustables from Strength and Sunshine.

The Ham and Swiss Puff Pockets from Make Ahead Meal Mom are another example of something you could buy store bought. Making the homemade version is healthier and cheaper. You won’t believe how few ingredients you’ll need either!

Check out the Tortilla Pizza Rollups from On My Kids Plate. They can be made ahead and frozen and then taken out for packing in school lunches.

The freezer friendly Ham and Cheese Pinwheels on The Coupon Project are simple are a such kid-pleaser.

These Chicken Avocado Salad Roll-Ups from Oh My Goodness Chocolate Desserts are healthy and colourful. Make a big batch, wrap, and freeze.

Thriving Home has a recipe for Make-Ahead Lunch Wraps that can be packed for lunches or eaten as an after school snack.

For those discerning palates and foodies-in-the-making, try Awake by Grace’s Freezer Friendly Chicken Parm Wraps.

Another healthy option is the Black Bean and Quinoa Freezer Burritos on Hey Nutrition Lady.

Santa Fe Spirals from The Appetizer Chick is a simple snack option that can be sliced and used in lunchboxes.

Which of these are you going to try first?

Check out these other make ahead lunch ideas:

These English Muffin Mini Pizzas are great for school lunches too!

Make Ahead Mac and Cheese

You are going to love these easy make ahead side dishes. These recipes will take the stress out of holiday meals. Just knowing that you have these ready to go is such peace of mind.

Whether you are using these for a holiday meal such as Thanksgiving, Easter, or Christmas or for a regular weeknight dinner, having these freezer cooking side dishes is going to make your life so much easier.One of the things I’ve found with making freezer meals is that a lot of the recipes are for a main such as chicken. While those recipes are super fast to make, I’m then left scrambling to create a balanced meal. It’s only been in the past few years that I’ve started to put some thought towards freezer side dishes.

Now that I have sides as well as mains in my freezer, I have everything I need for healthy meals. This means less trips to the grocery store, more savings, and less stress.

Make Ahead Side Dish Recipes:

This Honey Maple Glazed Carrots recipe is about to become one of your new go-tos. They go well along with so many dishes and are great for holiday meals. I like to always have a few bags in the freezer.

Of all of our make ahead side dish recipes, our Freezer Garlic Bread is our most popular.

Your guests will have no idea that this Butternut Squash Freezer Meal Side Dish was made weeks ago and has been waiting in the freezer. This is an impressive one.

I want to be eating these Garlic Herb Mashed Potatoes from Make-Ahead Meal Mom right now! They are that good.

Joyfully Thriving shares these Parmesan Garlic Rolls that can be made ahead and frozen. It’s one of those recipes that gets passed along from person to person. Those ones are usually the best!

The Garlic Texas Toast from Love to be in the Kitchen is a nice one to have on hand.

Make this Instant Pot Mac and Cheese from Baking Beauty ahead of time and freeze it for up to 2 months.

You can prepare the ingredients for This Old Gal’s Crack Slaw and freeze them ready to go into the Instant Pot. This makes this easy dish even easier.

These Buttermilk Biscuits at Baking Beauty are a versatile side that go with almost anything.

What are your favourite freezer side dishes?

Soup, that delicious liquid that you eat with a spoon! These freezer to crock pot soup recipes combine the best of both worlds. They have all the depth of flavour of soups that takes hours to simmer because of being cooked in the slow cooker with the ease of a freezer meal.

I love the variety that soup recipes can offer. They can use everyday ingredients, seasonal produce, or leftovers. Soups allow you to stretch a dollar by having food go further and feed more people.

Having make ahead soups in the freezer ready to go makes life so much easier. I know that most people think of soup as a fall or winter lunch or supper, but I love them for hot summer days because the slow cooker means the house doesn’t get too hot. And eating hot soup actually helps your body to kick in its own cooling down systems.

Freezer to Crock Pot Soup Recipes:

Make Ahead Stuffed Pepper Soup has a nice blend of flavours and is a great way to use up leftovers.

Our Freezer to Slow Cooker Sausage and Zucchini Soup is my personal favourite. I love the flavours of the spicy sauce and the hearty sauce.

Beef Taco Soup Recipe is easy to throw together.

Spicy White Bean and Chicken Chili uses leftover rotisserie chicken and can be cooked in the slow cooker, Instant Pot, or on the stovetop.

Freezer to Crock Pot Chicken Taco Soup on The Chaos and The Clutter – This one is one that you will have to try to believe! It tastes as good as tortilla soup you would order in a restaurant. It’s a recipe I wouldn’t hesitate to serve to company.

Crock Pot Tortellini Soup from The Chaos and The Clutter – I have been making this recipe for decades. It is hearty enough that it doesn’t need side dishes or buns alongside it to be a complete meal.

Vegetable Pesto Minestrone from The Chaos and The Clutter – The pesto in this gives it such a fresh flavour and the wine adds a hint of sophistication.

Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden style!) from Sidetracked Sarah

Beef Vegetable Soup from Eating on a Dime

Tuscan Chicken and White Bean Soup over on The Magical Slow Cooker

Slow Cooker Pizza and Pasta Soup from The Magical Slow Cooker

Mexican Vegetable Beef Soup from Gimme Some Oven

What are your favourite crock pot soup recipes? I hope you’ll give some of these a try and find some new favourites.