5 Easy Freezer Meals
These 5 easy freezer meals are all cost-effective and great ways to stock your freezer with meals that come in handy on busy nights when cooking from scratch just isn’t an option.
You’ve stocked your freezer with meatballs, marinated chicken and pasta sauce from my Freezer Series. But the most common request I’ve been getting is for complete meals that go straight from freezer to table without needing to cook anything else alongside them (with the exception of the chicken cutlets which is something I’ve been doing a lot lately and has made meal-times so much easier). So here they are.
The 5 Meals
Classic Cottage Pie
Seasoned beef mince in a rich red wine gravy with a mirepoix of onion, carrot and celery, topped with creamy mashed potato and a golden parmesan crust. This is comfort food at its most satisfying and it’s one of the best freezer meals there is because it goes straight from freezer to oven without defrosting. The mash gets golden and crispy on top while the filling heats through underneath. Assemble but don’t bake before freezing. On the night, it goes into the oven from frozen and comes out bubbling, golden and ready to eat.
Freezer details: Assemble unbaked, cover tightly with cling film and foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen in a cold oven at 375°F (190°C) for 60 to 75 minutes, increasing to 400°F (200°C) for the last 10 minutes for a golden top.
Roasted Butternut Soup
Whole butternut roasted until deeply caramelized, blended with aromatics, stock and a splash of cream until silky smooth. The cheapest meal of the five and one of the most satisfying. Roasting the butternut first is what separates a good butternut soup from an incredible one because it concentrates the natural sweetness and adds a depth that boiling can’t match. Portion into containers and freeze. Ten minutes from freezer to bowl.
Freezer details: Cool completely, portion into containers. Freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat from frozen on the stove over medium heat, adding a splash of stock or water if it’s too thick.
Chicken Chickpea Curry
Chicken thighs and drumsticks browned with onion, ginger, garlic and spices, then simmered with chickpeas, tomatoes and a splash of cream until the sauce is thick and the meat is falling off the bone. Thighs and drumsticks are significantly cheaper than breast and they stay juicier through the freeze-thaw-reheat cycle. The chickpeas stretch the curry further and add protein and fiber.
Freezer details: Cool completely, portion into containers without rice. Freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge. Reheat gently on the stove over medium-low heat. Cook fresh rice when serving.
Rotisserie Chicken Mushroom Soup
A store-bought rotisserie chicken shredded into a creamy soup with mushrooms, onion, celery, garlic, thyme, stock, cream and spinach wilted through at the end. This is a 20-minute soup because the chicken is already cooked. All you’re doing is building the broth, cooking the mushrooms and warming the chicken through. Rich, creamy and packed with flavor for almost no effort.
Freezer details:Â Freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat on the stove over medium-low heat, adding a splash of stock if it’s thickened.
Breaded Chicken Cutlets
Chicken breasts seasoned and coated in breadcrumbs, then frozen uncooked on a tray. These are the homemade version of those frozen crumbed chicken fillets from the store and they cost about half the price with twice the flavor. There’s no cooking involved on the prep day. You just bread them and freeze. When it’s time to eat, they cook from frozen in the air fryer, oven or pan in about 15 minutes. Crispy, golden and endlessly versatile: serve with pasta and a sauce, in a sandwich, in a wrap, with a salad or alongside mash and gravy.
Freezer details: Flash freeze on a lined tray, then transfer to a freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. Air fry from frozen at 400°F (200°C) for 12 to 15 minutes, flipping halfway. Oven: 425°F (220°C) for 18 to 20 minutes, flipping halfway. Pan fry from frozen over medium heat in a thin layer of oil for 4 to 5 minutes per side.
The Cooking Order
If you have an afternoon free and want to bang all these meals out in one go, this is how I would do it:
- Do all the veg prep first. Chop all the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, potatoes, mushrooms and other veg first. Portion them out and group them together so you know which goes with which recipe. This prep takes 20-30 minutes but makes the rest of the cooking a breeze.
- Start the cottage pie filling next. It needs 20 to 25 minutes of simmering. While it cooks boil the potatoes for the mash.
- Roast the butternut at the same time. The butternut goes into the oven while the cottage pie filling simmers and the potatoes boil. It needs about 40 to 45 minutes and is completely hands-off. Start the aromatics for the butternut soup while it roasts.
- Bread the chicken cutlets while you wait. Slice and bread the chicken breasts. Lay them on a tray and put them in the freezer. No cooking, just assembly. This takes about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Assemble the cottage pie. Once the filling is ready and the mash is made, assemble the pie, top with parmesan and cover for freezing.
- Make the mushroom soup. While the butternut finishes roasting, shred the rotisserie chicken and build the soup. Twenty minutes start to finish.
- Blend the butternut soup. Once the butternut is roasted and slightly cooled, add it to the aromatics with stock and cream. Blend and portion into containers.
- Make the chickpea curry last. Brown the chicken, build the sauce, simmer with the chickpeas. This can cook while you’re cleaning up and portioning the other meals.
Total time: about 3-3.5 hours, with most of that being hands-off simmering, roasting and cooling.
Freezer Tips
- Cool everything completely before freezing. Hot food raises the freezer temperature and creates condensation that turns into ice crystals.
- Label everything. Recipe name, date and reheating instructions. The more information on the label, the easier it is for anyone in your family to pull something out and know exactly what to do with it.
- Flash freeze the chicken cutlets. Freeze on the tray first, then transfer to bags. This prevents them sticking together so you can grab one or two at a time.
- Freeze soups and curries in portion sizes. Each container should be one dinner for your family. This way you defrost exactly what you need without thawing a massive batch. I love using silicone freezer cubes for this but any freezer-safe container will work. Alternatively, freeze the soup in freezer bags in 6-8 cup portions and freeze them flat for easy thawing.
- Cottage pie goes in unbaked. Don’t bake it first. Assemble completely, cover tightly and freeze. It bakes from frozen and the result is just as good as freshly assembled.
More Freezer Content
- Freezer Meals with Ground Beef: Bolognese, taco meat, burger patties and meatballs.
- Chicken Freezer Recipes: Shredded chicken, chicken pie, taquitos, baked meatballs and butter chicken.
- Make Ahead Freezer Breakfasts, Snacks and Staples: Pancakes, banana bread, smoothie packs, pigs in a blanket, cookie dough and chicken tenders.
- Freezer Soups and Sauces: Pasta sauce, basil pesto, vegetable soup, chicken noodle soup and more.
- What to Make with Leftover Taco Meat: Stuffed sweet potatoes, taco pasta bake, baked tacos and potato taco bowls.