I normally don’t do dedicated freezer cooking days. here’s how I usually stock my freezer.
but when I was a teacher, I definitely would do a freezer cooking day (or several) at the end of summer to make the back to school transition easier. having a few meals on hand really helped those first few crazy weeks/months.
and nowadays, i also always appreciate dinner help, no matter how that looks. brett gets an extra paycheck twice a year, and I do like to use a tiny portion of that to spend a tiny bit more on groceries and do a freezer cooking session to help out Future Haley.
(I also like to do a freezer cooking session as one of my birthday traditions - more on those traditions here!)
unexpectedly, brett was taking KK to his parents, so my Saturday was suddenly wiiiiiide open.
and I decided it would be super helpful if I made a few dinners to throw in the freezer for Future Haley.
(and yes, this may sound 10000% boring to you, and that’s totally okay! having some uninterrupted time in the kitchen sounds heavenly to me. and if I’m able to help out Future Haley in the process, even better!)
if at all possible when freezer cooking, I like to have a few appliances going (slow cooker, IP, etc) while I assemble some casserole-y things. maximizes my time!
here’s a few potential things I might make!
double batch of easy slow cooker chicken tikka masala
except use the jarred simmer sauce from Costco that’s hanging out in my pantry
slow cooker bbq chicken with that bbq sauce lurking in my pantry
use that bottle of hot sauce in my pantry, for the LOVE
chicken spaghetti in these 8x8 foil pans
I do saute the veggies first because otherwise they’re too crunchy for me
sub rotisserie chicken
red sauce chicken enchiladas in these 8x8 foil pans
sub rotisserie chicken
instant pot sweet and tangy meatballs
post has four other freezer-to-instant-pot meals
lasagna (no link - family recipe) in these 8x8 foil pans or these smaller pans - whatever I have
and/or baked ziti
and/or best baked manicotti
and/or stuffed shells with marinara
basically I want to fill my freezer with some yummy pasta dishes for brett okay
instead of doing a deep dish quiche, I split the filling between two normal pie pans. and i have a ton of pie pans from Goodwill, so I just freeze them in those.
you can freeze quiche before or after baking, but I prefer to freeze after I bake it a bit just because I don’t trust myself to make walk carefully enough to the garage freezer without spilling uncooked egg everywhere.
double batch of hidden veggie spaghetti sauce
frozen in these containers, my favorite containers to freeze sauce/soup/meat
I also love to use these containers to make smoothie cups
things that I would love to make, but may instead just work in to our meal plan and freeze in the upcoming weeks:
anything I didn’t get to in the above list
muffins muffins muffins
tuna noodle casserole in these 8x8 foil pans or these smaller pans - whatever I have
double batch of our favorite taco meat, frozen in these containers
did you like this post? you’d love my post on my favorite things to freeze + how I normally keep my freezer stocked!
