The Freezer Meal Method of Meal Prep: The Ultimate Guide to Freezer Cooking

What is the Freezer Meal Method?

The freezer meal method is a new approach to cooking.  Instead of cooking dinner every night, you plan ahead and cook in bulk, then portion and freeze the meals to eat over a period of time, usually a month or two.  

Why Use the Freezer Meal Method?

You wouldn’t do laundry every day, washing just the clothes you wore that day.  So why spend time cooking every day, when there is a better way that will save you time and money?!

When you cook using the Freezer Meal Method, you’re able to buy items in bulk and use ingredients more efficiently.  If a recipe calls for a half a can of beans, what the heck do you do with the other half of the can to use it up before it goes bad?  Make another batch of that meal, and freeze it!  This isn’t to say that doubling the recipe is always the solution – the Freezer Meal Method is about optimizing recipes to use ingredients efficiently.  Maybe you use that half can of beans in a completely different recipe instead!  Buying in bulk and using ingredients efficiently allows you to get better prices on food and avoid food waste, and plan to eat seasonal produce to maximize health benefits and minimize cost.

The Freezer Meal Method also allows you to cook more efficiently.  Instead of turning the oven on just for one meal, you can roast sheet pans of 4-5 meals all at once.  You can cook 8 servings of quinoa instead of just 1 or 2, dirtying the pot once instead of 8 different times!  If you’re making chicken for 2 servings in the crock pot, but the crock pot is only half full, why not double the recipe and freeze half?  

This method definitely requires a shift in mindset and a change in the approach we take to cooking.  But life is BUSY, y’all!  We are working professionals, parents, spouses, friends, and sometimes all of the above.  We don’t always have time to slave over a fresh, healthy, and delicious dinner every night, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still EAT one every night!  

It took me awhile to realize there was an easier cooking method than just making dinner every night.  I was getting home from a long day of work around 6:30 and sometimes struggling to get dinner on the table before 9…aka 30 minutes before my bedtime!  You can read more about my struggle and discovery of the freezer meal method here.

How is this different from regular meal prep?

Regular meal prep, or “meal prep Sunday,” involves making a week’s worth of lunches or dinners on Sunday, then eating them throughout the week.  While this is a great way to stay healthy and works for many, it didn’t work for me because a) I find eating the same thing every day booooring and I just love food too much to not have some variety! and b) by the end of the week, that Sunday prepped food is not the freshest, and who wants to eat sad gray food…?

But does the food taste different?

NO!  ALL the pictures on my site are of meals that were frozen before serving, and they don’t look any different than freshly prepared meals.  Here are a few pro-tips for keeping everything tasting amazing:

• Follow the safety tips below.  Not only does this ensure safe meals, but the slower transition from warm to frozen back to warm will avoid freezer burn and those ice crystals that, for ~science-y~ reasons I won’t get into, can negatively impact taste, texture, and color of food.
• Minimize the air in your containers.  Vacuum sealing or ziplock bags are best for this, but other meal prep containers can work as well.  This helps prevent freezer burn and seals in all those flavors!
• Use freezer space wisely.  During a meal prep weekend, it may be tempting to stack all the meals you just made on top of each other.  Don’t make this mistake!  It’s important to get the meal from cold to frozen ASAP, and piling a bunch of meals on top of each other will slow this process down.  I like to pre-freeze cookie sheets and use those as separators in the freezer, or just place the meals on different shelves or on top of food that’s already nice and frozen.

But is it safe?

YES!  The Freezer Meal Method is perfectly safe for food prep.  There are a few food safety guidelines to follow, such as:

• Freeze safely:  Let your cooked meals cool to room temp, then refrigerate, then freeze.  The faster the transition, the better the food quality and the less opportunity for bacteria to grow.
• Thaw safely:  Follow the same process in reverse when you’re ready to eat.  A meal that is put in the fridge to thaw rather than left sitting on the counter or in a bowl of warm water is safe from bacteria that grow and thrive in room temperatures.
• Bonus!  If something is frozen and thawed in the fridge, it’s safe to re-freeze that meal if your plans change.  If you thaw a meal at room temp, it’s not safe to re-freeze.

How do I get started?

The hardest part of this method is the planning.  You have to find all the recipes, find common ingredients, cooking efficiencies, and make an attack plan for cooking all that food in one weekend.  That’s where I come in!  Check out my meal prep guides page, which includes:

• Meal plans for 2 months of meals
• Meal prep shopping lists for everything you need to get all the meals into the freezer
• A weekly shopping list for any perishables or items that won’t go in the freezer portion of the meal
• An ingredient list by meal, and all the recipes in printable format so you can have them in the kitchen with you
• A master timetable mapping out how to cook all the meals in one weekend!  I think you’ll be surprised at how quickly it all comes together!

What do you think of the freezer meal method?  Will you give it a try?  I’d love to hear your experiences so far on this freezer meal prep journey.  Let me know in the comments!