Freezer Meals 101 - Page 3 of 15 - Less time cooking, more time living

Make Ahead Beef Dip Recipe

The flavours in this Beef Dip are so deep that you would never guess that it only uses 5 ingredients. The best part is that you can make it ahead and freeze it. It cooks in the crock pot. Easy all around!These are so fast to make that you can make several of them in minutes. Once they are in the freezer, they are perfect to pull out for a Sunday dinner.

Plop one in the slow cooker before you leave for church or your Sunday drive and come home to the house smelling A-MAZING!

Beef Dip Recipe:

4 lbs. beef chuck roast or beef rump roast
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. dry onion soup mix
3 cups beef broth
1/2 tsp. pepper

Place the beef roast in a large resealable freezer bag. Add the other ingredients and seal the bag before freezing. On the day you want to serve this, take it out of the freezer to thaw. Cook in the slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours. Slice and serve on buns, using the juices from the roast for dipping.

You can top the buns with garlic mayo. before adding the beef if you want. Dipping it in the au jus with the goopy garlic mayo just adds to the experience!

Make Ahead Beef Dip is one of the recipes in our Beef Dump Recipes Cookbook. It includes shopping lists and printable labels, making freezer cooking so simple!

You might also be interested in these make ahead meals:

BBQ Pulled Pork Freezer Meal

Instant Pot Turkey Sloppy Joes

Beef Dip Recipe

Ingredients

4 lbs. beef chuck roast or beef rump roast
1-2 cloves garlic minced
3 Tbsp. dry onion soup mix
3 cups beef broth
1/2 tsp. pepper

Instructions

Place the beef roast in a large resealable freezer bag. Add the other ingredients and seal the bag before freezing.
On the day you want to serve this, take it out of the freezer to thaw. Cook in the slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours.
Slice and serve on buns, using the juices from the roast for dipping.

Freezer Garlic Bread Recipe

By Sharla

It is so nice to have garlic bread in the freezer always ready to go. It’s so convenient. Having these loaves pre-made in your freezer means that you can pull them out to go with any meal or when company pops by unexpectedly. This freezer garlic bread is a fraction of the cost of store-bought garlic bread. Making some loaves ahead means saving on time and on money.

Freezer Garlic Bread Recipe:

loaf of French bread*
1 cup of butter, softened
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
parsley
optional: grated Parmesan cheese

*You can use store bought French bread or use this fool proof, one hour recipe to make your own. It’s the recipe I use when I make it homemade. When I’m short on time, I buy French bread to make these garlic breads.

Set out a loaf of French bread. Make cuts every inch or two (depending on how thick you want your garlic bread) down the loaf about 6/8ths of the way through. Don’t cut all the way down to the bottom.

Soften the butter and mix with minced garlic and the seasonings. Spread the butter mixture down between the bread slices. If you want, you can sprinkle shredded Parmesan cheese in between the slices on top of the butter mixture.

Wrap the loaf in two layers of tin foil. Freeze.

To serve, take it out of the freezer. Keep the aluminum foil on it and place in the oven. Cook at 350° for 15 minutes. Open the foil to allow the steam to release.

Change the oven temperature to 450° and put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Serve with spaghetti, pasta with Italian sausage sauce, or any other pasta freezer meal. Here are some freezer meals that pair perfectly with a side of garlic bread:

Make Ahead Spaghetti Sauce

Chicken Cacciatore

Freezer Garlic Bread Recipe

Ingredients

1 loaf French bread
1 cup butter softened
2 cloves garlic minced
salt and pepper to taste
parsley
optional: grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Set out a loaf of French bread. Make cuts every inch or two (depending on how thick you want your garlic bread) down the loaf about 6/8ths of the way through. Don't cut all the way down to the bottom.
Soften the butter and mix with minced garlic and the seasonings. Spread the butter mixture down between the bread slices.
If you want, you can sprinkle shredded Parmesan cheese in between the slices on top of the butter mixture.
Wrap the loaf in two layers of tin foil. Freeze.
To serve, take it out of the freezer. Keep the aluminum foil on it and place in the oven. Cook at 350° for 15 minutes. Open the foil to allow the steam to release.
Change the oven temperature to 450° and put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

Vegetarian Freezer Meals

By Sharla

I often get asked about vegetarian freezer meals. Sometimes people think of freezer meals as all being made with ground beef or chicken. There are lots of delicious vegetarian recipes out there that are freezer friendly.

In fact, it’s a little known truth that I haven’t eaten beef in over fifteen years. Yes, I’ve written a cookbook of Beef Dump Recipes! That may sound hypocritical, but I have eaten almost all of the recipes in that book and those that I haven’t, I have made for my family and let me tell you; they give honest feedback on what I cook!

The reason I’ve been able to eat most of the meals myself is that I substitute a soy ground round (Yves brand) for the ground beef. I prefer to cook it up first even though it’s already cooked. I find the texture better that way.

My favourite is the Mexican. It goes so well in things like taco meat, Spanish Rice, and the Tex Mex Pasta Bake. The soy ground round freezes beautifully.

If you’re wanting to make vegetarian freezer meals, you can use any of our ground beef freezer meals and substitute the soy ground round or you can find some already vegetarian recipes to freeze in the list below.

Vegetarian Freezer Meals:

Chickpea and Vegetable Curry from here on Freezer Meals 101

Butternut Squash and Chickpea Fajitas from here on Freezer Meals 101

African Thai Stew

Pinto Tortilla Soup from The Chaos and The Clutter

Slow Cooker Mixed Bean Casserole on The Chaos and The Clutter

Spinach Lasagna Rolls from Mavis Butterfield’s One Hundred Dollars a Month

Pesto Minestrone also at The Chaos and The Clutter

Freezer to Oven Enchilada Stuffed Sweet Potatoes from Sweet Peas and Saffron

Hearty Vegetarian Lasagna from Eating on a Dime

“Beefless” Beef Bourguignon in the Slow Cooker from Vegan in the Freezer

Garden Veggie Freezer Burritos from Oh My Veggie – These are great for lunches or after school snacks!

Veggie Burgers from Wholefully – You’ll find recipes for Spicy Black Bean Burgers, Lentil Walnut Burgers, and Roasted Sweet Potato and Chickpea Burgers here. I think the most difficult part might be trying to decide which to try first!

Mushroom and Spinach Lasagna at Life as a Strawberry – This looks so darn good!

Vegan Chili with Mushrooms on Vegan in the Freezer – It says it’s “the best” vegan chili ever, so worth trying for sure!

Crock Pot Tortellini Soup from The Chaos and The Clutter – Sub out the chicken broth for vegetable broth.

Vegan Sloppy Joes from Vegan in the Freezer

Freezer-Friendly Pesto Lasagna RollUps over on Oh My Veggie

Our Vegetarian Freezer Meal Plan takes the guess work out of stocking your freezer. It includes some of our most popular recipes along with shopping lists, prep lists, and printable labels.

Other Vegetarian Freezer Recipes:

Butternut Squash Freezer Meal Side Dish

Freezer Smoothie Bags

Mini Pancake Muffins

Chicken in Mango Cream Sauce Over Pasta

By Sharla

This is one of my favourites. I’ve been making Chicken in Mango Cream Sauce over Pasta for years. Now that I mainly only make freezer meals, I was missing its flavours, so I adapted the recipe into a freezer meal. I wasn’t sure if it would be as good once frozen and heated, but it’s amazing! It’s one of those recipes where the kids squeal when they find out we’re having it.

I am going to put myself out there and admit something. On the very rare occasions that there are leftovers of this, I hide them. I’m not proud of it, but it’s true. I hide them in a container in the far back of the fridge.

It tastes so good the next day heated up with some chili flakes and asiago cheese on top. Yum!

The fact that I have to hide in the bathroom to eat it so that I don’t have to share only slightly detracts from the experience!

Chicken in Mango Cream Sauce Recipe:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1/2 purple onion, sliced thinly
1/2 green pepper, sliced
2 tsp. garlic, minced
1 heaping Tbsp. Madras curry paste
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup mango tangerine juice
1 cup evaporated milk
1 Tbsp. mango chutney
1 tsp. red chilies

For serving:

spaghetti or other long noodle pasta

To cook the chicken, I like to use the oven. I make many freezer meals at once, so this is the most efficient way. Put the chicken breasts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 50 minutes at 350° before cubing.

Place the cooked, cubed chicken, onions, garlic, peppers, flour and curry paste into a large, resealable freezer bag. Give it a good shake to coat the chicken and veggies with the flour and curry paste. Add the chicken broth, juice, evaporated milk, chutney, and red chili flakes. Squish together to combine. Remove the excess air from the bag, seal, and freeze.

To cook, take the bag out of the freezer to thaw. Reheat the sauce in a large skillet or in the microwave. Serve over long noodles such as spaghetti.

If desired, top your chicken in mango cream sauce pasta with more chili flakes and grated Parmesan or asiago cheese.

You can find similar make ahead recipes ready in a splash in our Dinner in 20 Freezer Meal Plan. It includes everything you need: shopping lists, prep lists, recipes, and printable labels.

Other freezer meals you may enjoy:

Spinach and Chicken Penne Alfredo Casserole Beefy Rice Crock Pot Casserole

Chicken in Mango Cream Sauce Recipe

Course: Main Course

Keyword: chicken, freezer meal

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts boneless, skinless, cooked and cubed
1/2 purple onion sliced thinly
1/2 green pepper sliced
2 tsp. garlic minced
1 heaping Tbsp. Madras curry paste
2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup mango tangerine juice
1 cup evaporated milk
1 Tbsp. mango chutney
1 tsp. red chilies

For serving:

spaghetti or other long noodle pasta

Instructions

Put the chicken breasts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 50 minutes at 350° before cubing.
Place the cooked, cubed chicken, onions, garlic, peppers, flour and curry paste into a large, resealable freezer bag. Give it a good shake to coat the chicken and veggies with the flour and curry paste.
Add the chicken broth, juice, evaporated milk, chutney, and red chili flakes. Squish together to combine. Remove the excess air from the bag, seal, and freeze.
To cook, take the bag out of the freezer to thaw. Reheat the sauce in a large skillet or in the microwave. Serve over long noodles such as spaghetti.

Recipe Notes

If desired, top with more chili flakes and grated Parmesan or asiago cheese.

The Easy Guide to Instant Pot Freezer Meals

By Sharla

The Instant Pot is all the rage. Chances are, if you have one, you love it. Once you try freezer meals for the Instant Pot, that love affair will be taken to a whole new level!

Easy meets fast. They were a pair meant to be together. This easy guide to Instant Pot freezer meals will tell you everything you need to know to get started.

The Easy Guide to Instant Pot Freezer Meals:

You will need two things in order to get started. You will need an Instant Pot and freezer meals. The Instant Pot should be chosen based on your needs. We have a large family (7 kids including some hungry teenage boys!), so I went with an 8 quart Instant Pot.

If you’re new to making freezer meals, you can find all the basics in this Freezer Meals 101 guide. (click that link to read)

The benefits to making the meals ahead of time to later be cooked quickly in the Instant Pot:

shop less often (saves time)
buy in bulk (saves money)
never have to decide what to make for supper (saves sanity)
no prep on the day of cooking (saves time)
never have to run to the store for missing ingredients (saves time and money)

The first step will be grocery shopping. Whenever you make many freezer meals at once, it always saves time to prep your ingredients before you start assembling. Once you’ve done that, it’s time to assemble the meals.

The Shape Dilemma:

One of the nicest things about the Instant Pot is that you can cook from frozen. This is particularly good for those of us who sometimes forget to take out a freezer meal to thaw in the morning or the night before. I freeze most of my freezer meals in large resealable bags.

If they are frozen solid, their rectangular shape doesn’t lend itself well to being put into the round Instant Pot. This poses quite a conundrum.

If you want to place the meal into the Instant Pot completely frozen, the best trick I’ve heard is to make the freezer meals in empty ice cream pails or similar sized round plastic containers. That way, they can fit directly into the Instant Pot, no thawing needed.

The downside to freezing the meals in pails is that they take up a lot more space in the freezer. I like that resealable freezer bags can be stored flat. That way, I can fit several months worth of meals in the freezer.

There’s an easy fix to the space dilemma though. Just place the freezer bag in lukewarm water for a few minutes to thaw it enough to get the contents into the Instant Pot.

What Foods Freeze Well?

With freezer cooking, it’s important to know what freezes and what doesn’t. Read a full list here of what foods freeze well and which don’t as well on tips on how best to freeze them.

I’ve created a cheatsheet for you to print out as an easy reference to remember what freezes well.

Freezer burn is the enemy of freezer meals. The good news is, you can prevent freezer burn by taking all the excess air out of the freezer bags before sealing. Label your bags with the date so that you can track which ones to eat first.

Filling the Instant Pot:

Only fill your Instant Pot 2/3 of the way full. For recipes that will expand, such as those that contain beans or rice, fill it no more than 1/2 full.

I have made the mistake of overfilling and then out of the pressure nozzle came a FOUNTAIN of liquid. It covered my counter, my floor, my cupboards. Some of it even got on the ceiling. You had better believe that I never made that mistake again!

Adjusting Cook Times:

If you are cooking your meat from frozen, you will need to add some time to the recipe instructions. It will take longer to come to pressure from frozen.

If you are adding the whole freezer meal in completely frozen, then you will either need to add a bit of water or turn on the saute setting and allow to cook for 5 minutes before sealing and cooking. This is to create some liquid.

A pressure cooker needs liquid in order to do what it needs to do. Use your judgment about which recipes to add water to as it could affect the final meal. A soup for example would be fine to add a bit of water to. Recipes that are not intended to be watery wouldn’t fare as well. For those, use the saute idea.

Supplies Needed for Instant Pot Freezer Meals:

You will of course need to have an Instant Pot. You will also need good quality resealable freezer bags or empty ice cream pails, and permanent markers or printable labels for labelling the meals. I use Avery 5163 labels.

I strongly suggest that you also invest in an electric can opener. I wish I had gotten mine sooner. When you are opening dozens of cans in a day, it wears on your wrists and thumbs. It also eats up precious time.

Instant Pot Qt 7-in-1 Multi- Use Programmable Pressure Cooker Instant Pot Freezer Meal Plan Ziploc Freezer Bags, Gallon Sharpie Permanent Markers Cuisinart Electric Can Opener Labels (5163)

Converting Slow Cooker Recipes to Instant Pot Recipes:

Many of our favourite recipes are freezer to crock pot recipes. If you want to use one of those recipes in the Instant Pot, you can, but you will have to adjust the times significantly.

Things cook much quicker with pressure cooking. In a slow cooker recipe that calls for 8 hours of cook time on low (4 hours on high), the cook time in the Instant Pot in the sealed setting will be 25-30 minutes. You will of course need to allow extra minutes for the pressure to release.

Instant Pots need liquid to cook things properly, so if your original recipe doesn’t have at least one cup of liquid (this can be broth, sauce, water, etc.), you’ll have to add some.

Don’t add freezer to slow cooker recipes that have milk or dairy in them (condensed or evaporated milk is ok). You can add the milk or dairy in at the end, but because of the high pressure, you don’t want to include them for the full cook time.

One last note about this: Instant Pots can also function as a slow cooker, so if you only have an Instant Pot, it’s easy to use your crock pot recipes in there using that feature.