Sometimes, the spirit of meal-planning motivation finds us. When that happens, we embrace it and prepare ourselves some freezer meals—big batches of recipes that freeze well, leftovers stowed away—to make future weeknights easier.
For whatever reason, freezer meals and frozen meals have come to mean different things to us. Frozen meals, such as these instant noodles and pizzas, are store-bought; freezer meal recipes are ones you cook yourself. (Dunno; just works for us.) Some of the latter, like this classic cilantro-heavy sofrito, will help future you cut down on cooking time when making sauces, stews, and dips, and some, like this lasagna, take care of 100% of your meal prep. All are blessings on those busy nights when you need the assist.
Now, before we get off our soapbox, four more statements: Your freezer should never be without tortillas or Parmesan rinds. How you defrost does matter. While it will affect the taste of your food, freezer burn is safe to eat, as long as the food item hasn’t been frozen for longer than the FDA-recommended time period. Sometimes, frozen produce is better.
Okay, speech over. Here are our 37 favorite freezer meals.