Who isn’t busy these days? Many nights it’s not always possible for family members to be at the dinner table at the same time. Hectic schedules and erratic mealtimes can make it challenging to prepare healthy, home-cooked meals. How many times has your family eaten tasteless, processed dinners or fast-food meals because you didn’t have time to cook? Here’s a secret I’ve discovered: How to Meal Prep Frozen Dinners. I’ve shared our simple steps on meal prep that will have you out of the kitchen in a hurry!
How to Make Your Own Frozen Dinners
With a little bit of planning and some meal preparation over the weekend, you can make delicious dinners that can be kept in the freezer for your family to enjoy throughout busy weeks.
Planning:
Step 1: The first step in making frozen dinners is choosing what dishes you are going to freeze.
- Before purchasing groceries, take inventory of your refrigerator, pantry, and freezer.
- Do you have vegetables, meat, or leftovers that need to be eaten? If so, try to incorporate them into your meal planning. You will save money and waste less if you use foods you already have.
- Step 2: Make a shopping list.
- Incorporate dishes your family enjoys or use your grocery ad to shop around weekly sales.
- Only plan on preparing dishes that freeze well. Many vegetables, meats, soups, wraps, and casseroles freeze well.
- Baked foods like bread, cookies, and muffins are also good choices for freezing.
- Avoid cream or dairy-based dishes as they change texture when frozen.
- Eggs and fried foods should be avoided as they don’t usually freeze and reheat successfully.
Step 3: Have plenty of storage containers and freezer bags on hand before you begin preparing the meals.
Food Preparation:
Step 1: To save yourself time, prepare and cook several foods at once.
- Prepare 3 to 4 entrees and 3 to 4 sides. With proper planning and using easy recipes, you can have the entire meal prepped and prepared within a few hours.
- You can also plan quick bread, muffins, and cookies at the same time.
Step 2: After the food has cooked, allow it to cool before packaging it and storing in the freezer.
- It’s important to follow this step because:
- it prevents the surrounding food in the freezer from thawing and refreezing when exposed to hot food
- it helps prevent freezer burn
- it helps to prevent a buildup of bacteria
Proper Storage:
Any dish you plan to freeze should always be stored in air-tight containers.
- Glass containers and freezer bags work nicely for most foods and are available in different sizes to easily portion meals.
- Waxed paper or parchment paper are easy ways to separate individual foods like homemade waffles
- If you plan to reheat your meals in the microwave, be sure the containers are microwave-safe.
- Choose containers that are dishwasher safe for easy cleanup.
Labeling Instructions:
Always label your meals before placing them in the freezer.
- Labels should include the contents, date, and reheating instructions.
- Most frozen dishes should be eaten within 2 or 3 months from the date of preparation.
- When you add new meals to the freezer, pull older ones to the front so that they don’t go to waste.
Thawing:
- You can thaw your frozen meals by placing them into the refrigerator overnight. This is my favorite way to thaw as it reduces bacteria growth.
- Since frozen meals are made ahead of time for convenience, you may not have the time to let them thaw. You can thaw your food quickly by holding the sealed food under cold running water or letting it sit in a sink or basin of cold water for 20 minutes.
- You can also thaw the dish in the microwave on a low heat setting. I usually use defrost.
- Bread, cookies, or muffins can be placed on the countertop to thaw.
Easy Sample Menu Plan Ideas:
Breakfast Ideas:
- muffins, homemade or from a mix
- waffle sandwiches
- omelets
- smoothies
- pancakes (can use a mix to save time)
Lunch and Dinner Ideas:
- Pork roast (use 1/2 as roast, 1/2 made into barbecue)
- Grilled Chicken (can also be chopped up and used in salads. Do not freeze salad greens.)
- Soups or Stews (not cream-based)
- Wraps
- Veggie burgers
Snack Ideas:
- trail mix
- cookies, use refrigerated dough to save time
- muffins or quick bread, can use a purchased mix to save time
- smoothies
Freezing Tips:
- You can store the dishes as they are prepared to serve a family or you can portion them into individual dishes before freezing.
- If you are freezing liquids, like soups, leave at least an inch of space at the top of the container. Liquids will expand when frozen so they need the extra room.
- If you cook vegetables for your frozen meals, be sure to slightly undercook them. Leaving them a bit under-cooked will prevent them from becoming soggy when they are reheated later.
- Sometimes leftovers make delicious frozen meals. If you’ve prepared a big dinner with lots of extras, don’t toss it–freeze it!
It isn’t difficult to meal prep your own frozen dinners. Not only will you save money, but you’ll also eat healthier! Have you ever tried preparing your own freezer meals? What are your favorite recipes to freeze?
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Awesome idea, I don’t like buying frozen dinners so making them myself is awesome.
I need to do this!! I hate pre made frozen dinner and I cook all the time so I totally should have thought about doing this before!!
That’s a good idea to store them in containers that go from microwave to freezer! I think it’s smart to freeze your own.
This is the most unique thing I’ve ever seen! I buy frozen meals and all that, but never once thought that I could make my own. How cool!
I honestly think it’s a convenient way to deal with busy nights. You can make sure that there’ll always be food at home and you don’t have to worry about going crazy over what to cook.
When I was pregnant with my son, i made a bunch of frozen meals but for the crockpot. I put stuff all together, uncooked, that way i could just toss it in the crockpot in the morning and i didn’t have to cook. I do love the idea of throwing my leftovers in the freezer too, such a great way to save money!
Love this idea. I tend to cook in bulk and then freeze meals for late. Makes life so much easier.
My husband and I are so going to try this! We both do work for our at home business and go to classes, so we never want to fix dinner during the week.
This is such a great tutorial for DIYING YOUR OWN homemade frozen dinners. We are actually going to try this on the weekend and see just how many dinners we can get made for the following week! Thanks for the inspiration!
My family often makes lots of frozen meals and soups in the beginning of the winter so we can have lots of them throughout the season. That Shrimp and Grits at Bills by the Beach looks amazing!
And I usually forget about the labeling part. Haha! Having food frozen is a practical idea IMO, it helps you be ready for all types of meals.
I so need to start doing this! My new years resolution is to make dinner every night and I think this will help a ton!
My grandma used to do this. I used to think it was such a great idea! Love it!
I love this idea and I love your tips. I am going to plan this out this weekend. I admit I spend too much on frozen meals and this would be far cheaper than what I do now!
Interesting, I have never though to do this. Although we are horrible with planning meals in advance, we always say we are going to and then do not do it. I know my husband and I would simplify life so much if we did. I like this idea a lot of freezing things and having them ready to go!
That is not a bad idea because once cooked food is frozen, it can stay good for quite a while. I like this idea.
I was just telling my husband I wanted to try doing this!!! It would be so great to have meals ready to go!
What a great idea, efficient and money saving as well! I hadn’t considered slightly under cooking them, but that makes complete sense!
I really need to give this a try. Some nights, we are so rushed to get dinner, baths, and stories read before bed. It would be nice to have a quick and healthy option for dinner.
I never thought of making my own frozen dinners but this is a great idea. THanks for sharing this idea. It sounds like a great way to save time and money!
I’ve started doing this and love it. I’ve done baked mac and cheese as well as baked ziti. I haven’t done meats yet though. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the how to! I am definitely looking forward to making my own frozen meals!
This is such a great idea. My next door neighbour is having a baby soon and I wanted to make her some frozen meals so this post is incredibly helpful.
What a great idea!! I never thought about making my own frozen dinners like this before perfect time saver!
This is exactly what I want to start doing this year! I get tired of trying to figure out meals on a day to day basis. I want to be able to meal prep for the week.
This can really be more efficient when getting regular meals. They have been prepared in advance and frozen to preserve its freshness.
I have really wanted to start doing this because sometimes I’m just too busy to prep AND make a meal at the end of the day, but this would help a lot. Thanks for this!
I’ve never made frozen meals and I’ve always been intrigued by meal prepping for the week. I’ve even seen people meal prep for the month. I need to try this soon.
I can’t believe I never thought of doing this. This is the kind of thing that can save hours of work during the week and really cut down on weekday stress. I have to try it!
I am a big believer in cooking once and eating twice at least. We do tons of freezing of meals and it is such a time saver. I might have to spend half a day in the kitchen sometimes all day but when you have enough meals for couple weeks I really am saving time, money and eating so much healthier.
That is absolute genius! I could make up a big batch of these on my down time on the weekend and then not have to worry about dinner all week!
I think I want to try this. I have been trying to think of ways to make dinner easier on busy school nights and I think this is it.