the big caveat here is do whatever works best for you.
freezing food isn’t your jam? that’s more than okay.
it just really works for me for three reasons:
we are a relatively small family, and therefore usually have ample leftovers. while sometimes our leftovers are perfect for lunches, Leftover Night, or repurposed into other meals, oftentimes leftovers are divine for the freezer. and then Future Haley is always grateful to find a quick, easy meal, simply because I chose to freeze some leftovers.
a lot of times, it’s not much more work (if any) to double or triple a recipe I’m already making. like, if I’m already making our favorite taco meat or our favorite yogurt muffins, I almost always double or triple the recipe, just so I have a stash in the freezer. cook once, eat twice. always.
i love to cook dinner because I get a break from cooking dinner. and since we are a one-income family, eating out to give me a break isn’t always an option. having (and using!) freezer meals really helps rest and helps me from burning out.
my favorite end-of-summer tradition as a teacher (besides the excitement of setting up my classroom) was filling my tiny apartment freezer with a few freezer meals to make that Back to School season a littleee easier. when I was a florist, I’d take some time to intentionally freeze a few meals before Wedding Season. and during that Newborn Season with KK? we were so thankful to have a stocked freezer.
so now with Baby Boy on the way, I’ll definitely be referencing this list for ideas - instead of doing a big freezer day, I’ll just work some of these recipes organically into our menu plan throughout my third trimester. sometimes just freezing leftovers, but other times doubling (or tripling!) the recipe and then freezing the leftovers. regardless, Postpartum Haley will be so grateful.
whatever works best for you is fantastic.
and another caveat is this: we all have different preferences. so while I may find something super optimal to freeze, your taste buds may disagree. and that’s okay! take this all with a grain of salt.
here’s my big list of things I love to freeze.
cooked meats
these are probably the thing I happen to freeze the most. Usually these are recipes I make for dinner, and I either freeze the leftovers (or double the recipe and freeze half) in these 32-ounce deli containers. Being able to take out frozen, already-prepared meat - the main component of a dinner - to simply reheat is something I’m always so grateful for. And I love that cooked meats are a pretty versatile gem to have on hand.
or pulled pork
regardless, we love turning this into pizza, baked potatoes, or our favorite sliders
grilled chicken breasts
brett grills every Sunday for our beloved Sunday Grill and Chill tradition, and whenever we have grilled chicken on the menu, I always grab the biggest value pack I can find, have Brett grill it all, and tuck a breast (or two! or three!) in the freezer. I love having already-grilled chicken I can pull out of the freezer to add to quesadillas or nachos or pastas.
I’ve also frozen leftover fajitas - when we’d order too much for Fajita Friday - for similar reasons, too.
dump meals
these are meals that I will prep ahead of time, contents assembled in a container or bag, stuck in the freezer, and pulled out of the freezer to be dumped in a crockpot or Instant Pot to cook. so other than any potential preliminary sauteeing (or browning), these meats/meals aren’t cooked yet. and while you could instead freeze the cooked leftovers of these, these are meals that brett (or i!) have preferred cooking day-of - whether that be for flavor, or because we like the smell of it cooking fresh in our home all day. :)
I add baby carrots to the bag, too.
oven-ready pans
these are recipes where I follow the recipe exactly, but instead of putting it in the oven, I freeze it. and voila! all Future Haley has to do is pull it out of the freezer, let it thaw in the fridge overnight, and pop it in the oven for dinner. (However, I’ve been known to forget to do this the day before - and when that happens I just stick it in the oven frozen, cook it way longer than the recipe states, and hope for the best.)
unless it’s a quiche, I usually freeze these guys in these 8-inch foil pans, and I label the lid with the dish, the date, and the oven directions. (if it’s a quiche, I have a million pie dishes from Goodwill I use.)
below are some of my favorite recipes, but these may remind you of a similar recipe you’d love to try freezing!
but I sauté the pepper/onion first since I can’t stand crunchy veggies
chicken pot pie or enchiladas
my mom makes these so I don’t have a link, but know these are awesome dishes for the freezer.
a note on pasta dishes:
Know that there are a ton of great freezer-friendly pasta dishes. I’ve learned that Brett just doesn’t really care for them - he would much prefer a simple batch of spaghetti with jarred sauce and gooood parmesan. So I rarely freeze pasta dishes. unless it’s for a toddler - but more on that at the end.
soup:
see my post on how I freeze (and reheat!) soup here
I love to freeze soup, but am currently drawing a blank on my long list of favorites. but if you peek at all my weekly menu plans, it becomes pretty apparent pretty quickly the soups I love to freeze. basically unless a soup is potato or pasta heavy, I’ll try to freeze the leftovers of it at least once to see how it goes.
smoothie cups
you know those Daily Harvest cups? I love that idea, so I make my own smoothie cups using these plastic containers. I always have several in my freezer and I’m always so grateful.
see the three things that revolutionized my daily smoothie routine - including a picture of my smoothie cups if you’re a visual person.
looking for more details on my smoothies? see my “smoothies” highlight on my Instagram or see this blogpost.
probably my favorite things to freeze:
Don’t get me wrong: everything I’ve posted above are my top favorite things to freeze. But if I were to choose a Hall of Fame, the below stuff would be it.
And I will say this: the things I froze that were the most helpful for postpartum with KK were the below items. (Hence why I’m not going out of my way to freeze a ton of dinners this time for postpartum - while dinners were nice to have, it was those filling, any-time-of-day foods that could’ve made me weep with joy.) So that - and the aforementioned smoothie cups - is where I’m investing my limited energy for freezer prep this pregnancy.
muffins
while we love to freeze any and all muffins, I feel like our personal favorites would be Costco’s muffins and Yummy Toddler Food’s muffins.
my favorite favorite muffin? Yummy Toddler Food’s yogurt muffins. I eat it like this and it’s divine.
Yummy Toddler Food has a great tutorial on how to freeze muffins, too.
breakfast sandwiches
there are lots of freezer ideas out there for breakfast sandwiches, but my favorite is taking Costco croissants and adding life-changing soft scrambled eggs and American cheese, a la my favorite college dorm cafeteria. very similar to - albeit a much trashier version of - Damn Delicious’s Freezer Croissant Breakfast Sandwiches!
my favorite pancakes
no link since it’s my mom’s oatmeal pancake recipe, but know that any kind of pancake (or waffle!) freezes beautifully. i’ve also been known to turn leftover pancake batter into mini muffins, and that was just divine when I gave birth to KK. a pancake muffin dipped in syrup when ravenous from nursing? heavenly.
(or any waffles, really)
bagels + kolaches + English muffins
do not laugh. hear me out. when I was 73928379 weeks pregnant with KK, we went to our favorite kolache shop forty minutes away, and spent an astounding amount of money in kolaches, I kid you not. and we froze them. then we did the same with our favorite bagel shop. and my favorite bakery English muffins at an Austin grocery store. THE AMOUNT OF HAPPINESS THESE SEEMINGLY RIDICULOUS PURCHASES BROUGHT ME POSTPARTUM IS ASTRONOMICAL. 10/10 plan to do it again with Baby Boy.
all that to say, give your Future Self a gift and freeze your favorite specialty baked goods.
my favorite things to freeze for KK:
anything in the previous section, especially any type of muffin
and pasta frozen in toddler portions
see my quick Instagram post here on how I always freeze any sort of leftover pasta in a silicone muffin pan to make the easiest meal for Future KK. but really it’s the best gift for Future Haley. a filling meal that KK loves! already prepped!
so I’ll definitely be doing this for Postpartum Haley. 1000%.
And that’s it! My list of favorite things to freeze. But know there are tons of freezer recipes and resources out there - my personal favorites being Naptime Kitchen and Thriving Home. And I’m always discovering new recipes I love to freeze, so consider my list a starting point. Happy freezing!
Want to see my full list of how I’m prepping for Baby Boy? Click here!
See my weekly menu plans for how I implement freezer meals into our weeks.
Follow me on Instagram - I’m always sharing a peek into our daily lives on Stories, including what we’re eating (and freezing!).
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