Whether you’re looking for a better way to feed your busy family or you’ve experimented with freezer meal prep before and want to step up your freezer game, you’ve come to the right place!
Freezer meal prep has been a real game-changer for us.
In 2017, we were looking for ways to freeze our soups and sauces in convenient portions. I struggled with all the conventional ways of freezing food – endless containers, bags that can rip, or jars that can shatter. Jake always knew there had to be a better way to freeze our food. Over the past few years, we’ve learned A LOT about the ins and outs of freezing food and it’s become a real passion of ours along the way. (So much so that we created our entire business around making freezer meal prep more convenient!) I’m excited to finally sit down and share all our best tips and tricks with you here.
First off, I need to be honest with you…
This article is a BIG one! I wasn’t kidding when I called it the “Ultimate Guide to Freezer Meal Prep”! I dive deep into everything from:
- Freezer meal prep basics
- Tools you’ll need
- Tried-and-true tips
If you’re looking for specific information, feel free to jump ahead to the section you need. However, if you’re brand new to the world of freezing food, we recommend you strap in and read the entire article from top to bottom. By the end of this article, you’ll have all the knowledge you need to become a freezer meal prep pro and start stocking your freezer with tons of delicious freezer meals for you and your family. Are you ready? Let’s jump in!
Part 01
The Basics of Freezer Meal Prep
You might be wondering, what is freezer meal prep? What makes it different from other types of meal prep and what’s all the hype about? Think of this section like ‘Freezer Meal Prep 101’. We’re going to kick things off with a crash course on freezer meal prep basics to give you all the background info you need.
Freezer Meal Prep vs. Other Meal Prep
Whereas freezer meal prep involves storing prepared food in the freezer, traditional meal prep involves storing prepared food in the refrigerator. The benefit of freezer meal prep is that it allows you to store food for longer periods of time than traditional meal prep.
What is Batch Cooking?
In this guide, you’ll notice that I often refer to “batch cooking” which is a food-prep strategy we use for freezer meal prep. Batch cooking involves prepping and cooking a large quantity of food with the intention of creating leftovers. It can be as simple as making a little bit extra of your family’s favorite dish, so you have leftovers you can enjoy later that week. Or you can make a big batch of soup, stew, or any freezer-friendly meal that you can then store in your freezer, making dinner time easy on those busy days that make it hard to cook from scratch.
Why Should You Start Freezer Meal Prepping?
Whether you’re used to traditional meal prep or you’ve never done any kind of meal prep in your life, there are tons of great reasons to make the switch to freezer meal prep.
Reduce Food Waste
Freezer meal prep is a great way to make your family more environmentally friendly. When you store food in the freezer, you can greatly reduce the amount of food that you throw away. Freezing food allows you to extend the lifespan of the food you purchase so you’ll be able to eat it before it goes bad.Before I started freezer meal prep, I cooked on Sunday my meals for the week. Often, I no longer wanted to eat the same dish by Thursday and would throw it away at work and just eat the snacks I packed. With freezer meal prep, you can freeze your food until you’re craving it again!
Save Money
Another outcome of reducing your family’s food waste is that it helps you save money. Instead of spending money on food that you end up throwing away, you’ll be able to eat more of the food you buy, and you can buy in bulk, which can help lower your monthly food bill. Additionally, on nights when I’m too tired to cook, instead of paying for take-out from a local restaurant I can grab a delicious meal from the freezer and quickly reheat.
Save Time
If you work full time or you’re constantly driving your kids around to their extracurricular activities, it can be tough to find time on busy weeknights to make meals from scratch. I know for myself, as a mom to an infant, finding time and energy to cook from scratch each night can be tough. Freezer meal prep allows me to spend less time cooking every night by simply heating up the meals or ingredients that I already prepped. With freezer meal prep, I save time in the preparation and clean-up process of making a meal.
Can You Freeze Anything for Meal Prep?
The short answer is that pretty much any food can be frozen. The US Department of Agriculture explains that you can freeze almost any food, except eggs in their shell and canned products. However, you may not want to eat every food after it has been frozen. Some foods, such as mayonnaise, cream sauce, and vegetables might not thaw well for your intended purposes. They are safe to eat, but the texture may change.
The Best Foods to Freeze
Unfortunately, there is no universal list of the ‘best foods for freezing’ because freezing food all comes down to personal preferences (which we’ll discuss later in this guide). However, there are a few foods that we find most people are able to freeze successfully:
- Stocks
- Soups (typically without noodles or cream)
- Sauces (typically without cream)
- Stews
- Muffins and breads
The Foods that Make Us Say “It’s Complicated…”
Even though most foods CAN be frozen, certain foods have more limited use cases or there are more things you have to keep in mind to freeze them successfully.
01. Leafy greens and vegetables:
Although you CAN freeze leafy greens and vegetables, you probably wouldn’t want to use them in a salad (unless you like mushy salads!). Frozen leafy greens or vegetables won’t have the same cell structure as they did when they were fresh so they are often best used in soups, smoothies, or sauces where the texture isn’t as important. Freezing produce will likely make more sense for people who have difficulty accessing fresh produce on a regular basis.
02. Heavy cream:
Heavy cream separates and becomes gritty in the freezer so you probably won’t be able to turn it into whipped cream. However, you can use it in a soup or a sauce and you would never know! To thaw, leave it overnight in the fridge or on the counter for a few hours.
03. Scrambled eggs (or other foods that cook very quickly):
Can you freeze scrambled eggs? Yes. But, is it worth it? Maybe not (although that’s totally up to you!). It’s important to consider how you want to use your limited freezer space. For us, we’d rather use our freezer space for foods that take longer to prepare and cook so we can save ourselves more time in the long run. That being said, we love freezing breakfast sandwiches and burritos that have cooked eggs because preparing the entire dish takes up a lot of time in the morning. If we’re going to freeze sandwiches or burritos with eggs, we will try to undercook the eggs by a minute or two as they’ll finish cooking when you reheat the sandwich or burrito.
04. Cooked pasta:
Although you can freeze cooked pasta, it’s recommended that you undercook it by a few minutes because it will finish cooking when you reheat it. When making pasta dishes, many people prefer to freeze other parts of the dish (like the sauce) and cook the pasta on the day of. This lets you avoid having to worry about potentially overcooking your noodles. One trick to freezing soup with pasta (e.g., noodles, tortellini, etc.) is to freeze it separately. Our one-pot mac and cheese recipe has some great tips for freezing pasta.
05. Cheese:
If you freeze cheese in something like a breakfast burrito, no one would ever know but you probably don’t want to serve cheese that has been frozen on its own. As a general rule, it’s best to freeze cheeses that you will be using in a cooked dish. Hard cheeses freeze well, but their texture will become crumbly and mealy.We recommend not freezing soft cheeses, such as cottage cheese and ricotta, due to their high moisture content. Other soft cheeses, such as brie and camembert, also do not freeze well and should be served fresh. Looking for even more tips on the foods that freeze well and the foods that require a little extra care and attention in your freezer? Check out this fantastic freezer meal prep guide from Peanut Butter & Fitness!
Freezer Meal Ideas
Here are some of our favorite freezer meals. Jake and I especially love complete meals that we can easily reheat and serve in the same dish, like lasagna and Shepherd’s Pie. You can use this list as inspiration to kickstart your own freezer meal planning and experiment to see if these frozen foods work well for you and your family:
- Lasagna
- Veggie Shepherd’s Pie
- Chicken broth
- Tomato soup
- Mac and cheese
- Mushroom Barley Soup
- Meatloaf
And don’t forget you can also freeze baked goods and breakfast items. We love freezing:
- Steel-cut oats
- Zucchini bread
- Cookie dough
- Breakfast burritos
Part 02
Everything You Need to Start Freezer Meal Prepping
Now that you have all the background info, it’s time to start your freezer meal prep journey. The first thing you’ll need to do is make sure you have all the necessary tools and supplies. Keep in mind that this is just a general list of supplies you might want. The supplies you will actually need will depend on your cooking practices, traditions, culture, and the specific dishes you want to make.
Cookware & Bakeware
- A small non-stick pan for eggs
- Large stainless steel skillet
- 10” cast iron skillet
- Stove to oven-friendly pot (stainless steel or enamel cast iron/ dutch oven/ casserole dish)
- Small sauce pot
- Large stockpot
- Baking sheets/ sheet pans
- Baking dishes
Side note:
We recently launched Souper Cubes® 5” square stoneware baking dishes that perfectly fit 2-cup portions of food frozen in Souper Cubes® trays! These baking dishes are great for reheating frozen two-cup cubes of food and baking small portions of food. You still freeze your food in your Souper Cubes® tray and then pop them into the baking dish before sticking them in your oven.
Utensils
- Peeler
- Meat tenderizer
- Two good knives (chef knife & bread knife)
- Ladle
Freezer Containers
- Souper Cubes!®
When it comes to freezing food in perfect portions, Souper Cubes® trays are the best option available.
Our trays come in multiple sizes including:
So you can always freeze and reheat the exact amount of food you need to feed your family. Souper Cubes® are made with sturdy silicone construction and can be used for baking, put in the dishwasher, and easily stacked in your freezer.
Freezer bags
- Ziplock freezer bags (for short-term storage under 4 months)
- Rezip gallon-size reusable bags
- Vacuum-sealed freezer bags (for long-term storage over 4 months)
Pro tip: Bags are more space-efficient than containers. After your food is done freezing in your Souper Cubes® tray, pop out the cubes and store them in freezer bags. We love using gallon-size freezer bags to store our frozen 1-cup and 2-cup cubes.
Part 03
How to Freezer Meal Prep
Now that you’ve got all your supplies, it’s time to start freezing! In the following sections, I share our best tips for each step of the freezer meal prep process.
Choosing the Right Schedule for your Family
When should you do all the prep work to prepare your frozen meals? Well, that depends on your preferences. Many people find it easiest to meal prep on Sunday for the week ahead and double their meals so they have half for the fridge and half for the freezer. However, others prefer to batch cook a ton of food for their freezer at once and set aside up to 3 days for the prep work and cooking. Ultimately you’ll need to experiment and find the schedule that works best for you! Here are our best scheduling tips:
01. Double Your Favorite Recipes
My favorite way to build out a freezer stash is to double my favorite recipes when I’m cooking them (e.g., spaghetti sauces, stews, casseroles) and freeze the second half in individual portions.
02. Give Yourself 1-3 Days to Prep Your Food
Whether or not Sundays work best for you, it’s best to choose a time when your schedule is light and flexible and you don’t need to be out of the house. Doing everything in one day can be a lot of work so you might even want to set aside multiple days to prep and cook your food. When we’re batch cooking a lot of food, we like to take 3 days and spread the work out as follows:
- Prep all the ingredients the first day
- Cook everything the second day
- Assemble and freeze it all the third day
03. Spread It Out So You Don’t Get Burnt Out
Another way to avoid burnout is to not only take multiple days every time you prep food for your freezer but to also wait longer periods of time between each of your freezer meal prep sessions. For example, instead of freezer meal prepping every weekend, you might want to batch cook larger quantities every 2-3 weekends.
Selecting Your Recipes
When it comes to selecting your recipes or deciding what meals you’re going to prepare, the most important thing is a willingness to experiment. What works for one person won’t necessarily work for you. Here are our best tips for recipe selection:
01. Look for Freezer-Friendly Recipes
There are tons of recipes across the internet (and on the Souper Cubes® website) that not only tell you how to make a dish but also how to freeze it. When it comes to freezer meal prep, it’s not always as simple as making food and freezing it. Sometimes it’s better to freeze only certain parts of a recipe and complete the recipe on the day you’re ready to eat the meal. Selecting recipes with specific freezer instructions will minimize your chances of freezer fails and wasted food.
02. Choose Recipes You Like to Eat Fresh
Somewhat contradictory to the last tip, it’s important to select recipes for foods that you actually like to eat. Just because it freezes and reheats well doesn’t mean you’ll like it. What are your favorite meals to eat with your family? Start there and then find ways to freeze those meals. If it doesn’t make sense to freeze the entire meal, think about the parts of it that you can freeze to help reduce meal-prep time on the day you are preparing the meal. We love freezing slow-cooked sauces, like our spaghetti sauce and tikka masala sauce, that are easy to reheat and add to pastas, roasted veggies, and cooked proteins.
03. Plan Freezer Meals Based on What’s in Season
Foods that are in season will taste better than foods that are out of season. Try to plan meals that use ingredients that are in season so you can enjoy these foods at a later time when it might be more difficult to access these ingredients.
04. Plan Freezer Meals Based on What’s on Sale
In general, foods that are in season will also tend to be cheaper than foods that are not. For example, tomatoes are in season in the summer and they’re often on sale. That means that the summertime would be a great time to prepare things like tomato soup or spaghetti sauce so you can save money when you want to eat those foods later in the year.
05. Choose Recipes with Overlapping Ingredients
This tip is especially true for those who like to batch cook large quantities of food. Choosing recipes with overlapping ingredients will make your prep and cleanup easier and more efficient because you won’t have to swap out all your cutting boards and utensils. For example, you wouldn’t want to batch prep soup the same day as you’re prepping dessert!