Planning out meals for the week can be really difficult especially when you want to find something that will be somewhat healthy, keep you full, and won’t break the bank. It can be overwhelming to sift through the different sites and books, but we’ve compiled a good list for you to get started!
Dinner
Lasagna Rolls
- Total time: 1 1/2 hours
- Servings: 6
- Freezer life: 1-2 months
These rolls are a bit time consuming to make, but they will last you quite a few days and they’re filling enough, so you know you’ll be getting a good meal.
If you add in the time it takes to prepare, cook, and then about 10 minutes of cool down, lasagna rolls take an hour and a half to make. Finding the time to make these after work can be a little off-putting, but if you make them on the weekend you’ll have a good amount to last you through the week. You can get about six servings out of it too!
You’ll need to stock up on ingredients as well because the lasagna needs 11 and the sauce (should you choose to make your own) needs about six.
Spaghetti Sauce With Ground Beef
- Total time: 1 1/2 hours
- Servings: 4-6
- Freezing life: 2 weeks
As far as easy freezer meals go, spaghetti is a great one because you can stick in the freezer for up to two weeks, though it’s probably best within the range of three to five days.
Spaghetti sauce is a fun recipe to try because you can play around with the various recipes. This particular recipe calls for only 11 ingredients and when you factor in prep time and cooking, it’ll take about an hour and a half to make. The good news is that this is another freezer meal to last you throughout the week, especially because spaghetti is filling.
Of course, you can add meatballs if you’d like, which is another way to play around with this classic recipe and add more to your meals throughout the week.
Meatloaf
- Total time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
- Servings: 4-6
- Freezer life: 3-4 days
Meatloaf is one that’s fairly easy to make because it needs only a few ingredients, doesn’t take too long to make, and serves a family thereby making it a good meal to last you well into the week.
This particular meatloaf recipe only needs eight ingredients and the sauce only needs three. It should take you about 20 minutes to mix all the ingredients together and from there you just need to stick it into the oven for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes.
One of the best things about meatloaf is that it’s a traditional meal, which means there are a lot of recipes available to cater to your needs and make it an easy freezer meal.
Lunch
Pork Chops
- Total time: 25 minutes
- Servings: 8
- Freezer life: 2-3 months
Easy freezer meals don’t come easier than pork chops. Not only do they not take a very long time to marinate, but they’re easy to make and take very little time to cook. You can also pair pork chops with a side of veggies or salad too, which are sides that can easily be made the morning of or the night before.
If you’d like to add a little something to your chops, you can use the recipe that Taste of Home suggested, which invites you to glaze them with barbecue sauce, ketchup, honey, and French salad dressing.
You can also buy prepackaged pork chops, which will allow you to keep them going for a few days in the week at least.
Chicken Nuggets
- Total time: 40 minutes
- Can make up to 24 nuggets
- Freezer life: 1-3 months
One of the easiest freezer meals you can make comes in the form of chicken nuggets. There are several recipes out there that you can follow, but plenty of them call for just a few ingredients, minimal prep time, and only a few minutes of your time to cook.
This great four-ingredient recipe doesn’t even take an hour for everything and you can easily squeeze about 24 nuggets out of the recipe. What makes this even better is that you can freeze these nuggets for up to three months so you’ll have these at the ready for whenever you need.
Nuggets are a great food to have on deck because not only can you pair with a lot of sides like fries, veggies, or salad, but you can keep them for a long time thereby saving you the trouble of having to buy them.
Beef Stew
- Total time: 2 hours, 40 minutes
- Servings: 4 – 6
- Freezer life: 4 – 6 months
Beef stew definitely falls under easy freezer meals because you can keep this chilled for up to four to six months. You’ll need a few ingredients but this is one of those recipes that’s all about what you like. Though, if you need some inspiration, this beef stew recipe calls for 14 ingredients and the majority of the time it takes to make this comes from cooking.
The amount of stew you make really depends on how long you’d like the dish to last you during the week, but you can get up to six servings.
Mac And Cheese
- Total time: 30 minutes
- Servings: 6
- Freezer life: 2 months
Mac and cheese is a pretty big classic because it’s not only a dish that’s universally loved, but it’s one that easy to make. So, put down that box of Kraft and learn various recipes for mac and cheese that teach you how to make your own sauce and what to garnish the entire dish with.
There aren’t too many alterations you can make to this one, but there are different cheeses you can use to add to its creaminess or to offer people a different taste. With only ten minute prep time and 20 minute cook time, this is an easy recipe that lasts for a few days and can be stored in the freezer up to two months!
Breakfast
Of course, you don’t need to focus your efforts solely on lunch and dinner foods. There are lots of easy freezer meals you can make that are breakfast-based!
Waffles
- Total time: 30 minutes
- Servings: 4-5
- Freezer life: 3 months
Waffles are a fairly easy meal to make and can be stored in the freezer up to three months. This 12-ingredient recipe allows for you to make a hearty amount of waffles that’ll no doubt taste better than the processed stuff.
It’s also an easy meal to make because it doesn’t take that much time and people often make waffles for themselves in the morning let alone when they’re trying to make freezer meals.
No Bake Granola Bar
- Total time: 20 minutes
- Servings: 35
- Freezer life: 6 months
One of the best easy freezer meals is a no-bake granola bar that can be stored in the freezer for a whopping six months.
With only ten ingredients and 20 minutes total time to make them, these granola bars are great snacks that you can bring with you anywhere, These bars are also a wonderful choice because you can get about 35 bars from one recipe, especially this one from happymoneysaver. These are also great too because you don’t need to spend a ton of time waiting for them to bake in the oven.
