Cooking. Do you love it or hate it? I find that I do both. I love cooking when I have a new recipe to try or I have the whole week planned out. I hate cooking when I have my family relying on me to serve them dinner and I do not have anything planned. Nothing is worse than coming home at 5:30 from my kid’s sports activities and having no idea what make. When that situation happens, it usually leads to a frozen pizza night or a meal that I am not proud to be making for my family. I started making freezer meals and it has saved me on many weeknights.
For starters, let’s talk about why you should consider freezer meals:
- It is so easy to grab a home cooked meal from the freezer and warm it up on the stove or the oven. No prep work needed.
- Eating whole foods is extremely important to me. When I prepare my freezer meals, I know that they are nutrient dense and prepared with love.
- Your food budget will go down. When you are making meals on the weekends, you can just make extra to freeze. When you buy in bulk, you save money. You will also save money because you won’t go out to eat on a whim or you won’t make an extra weekly trip to the grocery store.
- Each month you will save a lot of time from being in the kitchen. The more you have prepared in advance, the less time you have to spend in the kitchen later.
There are so many different freezer meals that you could prepare. The options are truly endless. Here are some of my favorites.
Main Meals:
- Meatballs and spaghetti sauce. Kids love spaghetti and meatballs. I like this option because my kids don’t complain about it.
- Chicken Parmesan
- Pot roast
- Chicken Noodle soup
- Lasagna
- Chicken Enchiladas
- Chicken or Vegetarian Tortilla soup
- Chili
- BBQ pulled pork for sandwiches
- Stir fry
- Minestrone soup
Side Dishes:
- Baked Squash
- Baked Sweet potatoes
- Roasted potatoes
- Seasoned green beans
Breakfast:
- Breakfast muffins
- Egg bake
- Breakfast burrito
- Whole wheat waffles
- Steel cut oatmeal
I’m most successful at actually making freezer meals when its in addition to something that I’m already making or if I plan a day just for cooking. I’ve been able to make 8-10 meals in one day. To make it even more fun, you could always spend the day cooking with a friend.
There are many resources out there to give you recipe ideas. The best website that I’ve found is: https://onceamonthmeals.com/. This website develops monthly freezer meal plans based off different types of diets. If you are looking for whole food recipes in general, I often visit www.100daysofrealfood.com.
Lastly, its important to keep organized when you are freezing meals. I’ve found that having a variety of Pyrex dishes with covers on hand works best. It’s also important to label each container with the food and date on it. I encourage you to try spending a day making freezer meals. I promise you won’t regret it! Plan for those unplanned meal nights!
