Spend a bit of time stocking up on these freezer-friendly meal prep recipes so you have healthy lunches and dinners at your fingertips! This post takes the guesswork out of freezing your meals with vegetarian, and chicken options- plus more!
When it comes to meal prep, picking freezer-friendly meals is such a great idea. This means you can have healthy meals in your freezer at all times, and helps you rotate meals into your meal plan- no more repetition! The problem with freezer meals? It's often unclear what can or cannot be frozen.
This post takes the guesswork out of the equation- these meals are all tried and true freezer-friendly meal prep recipes!
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Which meal prep recipes tend to freeze well?
- curries
- stews
- stir fries
- rice and quinoa freeze/thaw well
- cauliflower rice is OK, it gets a little bit softer but not to the point of being unappetizing. If you freeze cauliflower rice in a sauce, this becomes a problem
Freezer meal FAQ
The most important thing is to pick meals that are freezer-friendly (that's where this post comes in handy). To learn more about which ingredients freeze well and which don't, check out Freezer Meal Do's and Don'ts.
1. Cool completely- after cooking your meals, it's important to cool them completely. Warm food going into the freezer can lead to condensation, which in turn can cause freezer burn.
2. Use good containers- I love freezing in my Snapware storage containers because they are freezer-friendly, and can be placed into the microwave while still fully frozen. Check out my favorite meal prep containers
Check out my favorite freezer containers
3. Label- use tape, labels or dry erase markers to label the container with the recipe and date of freezing.
The short answer is you can technically freeze pre-cooked meals indefinitely, as there is no risk of harmful bacteria growing while the food is fully frozen (1).
The longer answer is that you do not want to store your meals for longer than 3 months, as the 'freezer taste' can start to creep in (2). Make sure you label the meals with name and date, and make an effort to eat what you've prepared, and to be rotating through your freezer stash.
Thawing is as simple as placing the container into the fridge. You should need 24 hours for the meal to fully thaw; you can speed the process by partially submerging the container in water for an hour or two. Depending on your containers, you may be able to place them in the microwave.
I do try to thaw my meals out before reheating, but sometimes I forget. Because I use good quality meal prep containers, it's OK to place them directly into the microwave. First I heat on low heat for 5-10 minutes until it's mostly thawed, then I heat on a higher heat to heat through until steaming hot.
If your meals are fully thawed, reheating is as simple as heating in the microwave until steaming hot.
Meal Prep Plan
If you are looking for a meal prep plan to stock up your freezer, check out 24 lunches in 2 hours. This meal prep plan has a video tutorial + shopping list, and stocks the freezer up with 8 portions of three delicious recipes.
Vegetarian options
Chicken options
Other proteins
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Marylin Parkin says
Thank you ❤️
Tammy G says
Hi! Love your (vegan) recipes! I make others for my omni husband, too. The link for the Caulifolwer Chickpea Samosas is actually going to the Black Bean Baked Taquitos (6 Ingredients) recipe
Denise says
Thank you for letting me know, Tammy! I will get that fixed ASAP
Stacey says
I am looking for easy meals to freeze that my husband can put in the crockpot for us to have for dinner. He is on disability so is home all day so would be easy for him to do. He is diabetic and also can't have garlic or onion. I am thinking stuff like beef stew, soups, anything chicken or turkey, rice like maybe a chicken fried rice, enchiladas maybe.
Denise says
Hi Stacey! You might like this recipe: https://sweetpeasandsaffron.com/slow-cooker-tuscan-chicken-stew/, it's a reader favorite!
Jazmin Waters says
Do you just pop these in the microwave or do you have to thaw first?
Robby says
How do you reheat these meals? oven? Microwave?
Thaw first?
Denise says
Hi Robby! Yes, that's how I do it. I thaw overnight (when I remember) or I thaw by placing the meal prep container in warm water the morning of. Since the containers I use have a pyrex base they are extremely durable and I occasionally microwave partially-frozen meals. If you have plastic or cheap meal prep containers this may not work. Hope this helps!
Rachel says
I have a question! Can I put the meat or entree AND my rice and veggie in a glass container with separate compartments and freeze all together ? Thanks
Denise says
Hi Rachel! I just freeze them all together. I haven't found that it matters. The only time I have kept things separate was pasta + sauce but even that I'm not sure if it was really necessary.