I was excited for “freezer meals round 2” after getting so many meals into my freezer in January! This month, I made 16 meals in about 45 minutes for about $80!
I spent around $90 – and was able to make these meals plus two types of protein balls! Check out my “Mar Freezer Meals” board on Pinterest to see the recipes. I had a few things already at home, which helped cut costs even more. I’m loving that my freezer is filling up with meals that will make life post-baby so much easier!
I chose to use chicken for all the recipes but one. This made it a lot simpler and a lot faster. I just put the ground turkey and the rice on the stove when we started, and came back to it once we were finished with the chicken recipes. We altered the Chicken Broccoli Rice recipe just a little so that it required no cooking and could be thrown in a crockpot later. The only recipe we didn’t put into freezer bags was the taco rice casserole. Also, the original chicken recipes from Humorous Homemaking call for 2 chicken breasts per bag. The chicken breasts that I can get at our Sams Club are literally two of a normal breast, so I only used one per bag (which cut costs!).
I shopped, then went to visit my mom. The next day we just labeled the bags, set the ingredients for each recipe next to the bags and dumped them in one by one. We put the chicken breasts in last, all at once so that we only had to touch raw poultry one time! It went SO fast!
By that time, the meat and the rice were cooked, so we just dumped that into the four 8×8 pans, added the rest of the ingredients, put some foil on top and stuck the plastic lid over that.
All the of the following recipes are on my March Freezer Meals board on Pinterest, and the original sources are linked below!
Scroll to the bottom for the master shopping list.
Happy freezer meal making!
Taco Rice Casserole from Eating on a Dime
(Recipe makes two 9×13 pans. Because there are only two of us, I split it into four 8×8 pans)
- 2 pound of ground turkey (or ground beef)
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 zucchini shredded (optional – when I make this when we have some growing, I will definitely add it!)
- 2 cups of corn
- 2 cans of black beans (Hubbs doesn’t like beans so we left these out.)
- 2 cans of diced tomatoes with green chilis (We used Rotel)
- 1 package of Taco seasoning
- salt
- 4 cups of cooked rice (We used instant brown.)
- handfuls of shredded cheese (I used about a cup of shredded cheese for each 8×8 casserole pan.)
- 4 8×8 pans OR 2 9×13 pans
Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole from Money Saving Mom
(Recipe makes four 8×8 pan servings.)
We left out the rice (I just bought small boxes of instant rice and labeled the box for when I make the meals later.), mixed up the cream of chicken, mushroom and broccoli and added chicken breasts at the end, just like with the other meals.
- 10 cups rice
- 2 – 4 chicken breasts (We used the 2 we had left and added a half to each bag.)
- 2 bags of frozen broccoli
- 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
- 2 cans cream of chicken soup
- 4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
The following meals are all from Humorous Homemaking. The ingredients below are for a double batch of each recipe.
Pesto Chicken and Green Beans x2
- 2 chicken breasts (We used one per bag, instead of 2.)
- 2 bags frozen green beans
- 2 small jars of Pesto
- 2 chicken breasts (We used one per bag, instead of 2.)
- 2 bottle of Ranch dressing
- 2 small box of au gratin potatoes (She suggests just the potatoes, not the mix. I added the mix and will add milk when I throw it in to cook. If you are gluten free, leave out the mix.)
- 2 chicken breasts (We used one per bag, instead of 2.)
- 2 bags of frozen stir-fry vegetables.
- 2 bottles of Italian dressing
Italian Chicken Potatoes and Green Beans x2
- 2 chicken Breasts (We used one per bag, instead of 2.)
- 2 boxes of au gratin potatoes (She suggests just the potatoes, not the mix. I added the mix and will add milk when I throw it in to cook. If you are gluten free, leave out the mix.)
- 2 bags of frozen green beans
- 2 bottles of Italian dressing
Master Grocery List
- 2 pound ground turkey (or ground beef)
- 10-12 chicken breasts
- 1 onion
- 1 zucchini
- 2 cans black beans
- 2 cans diced tomatoes with green chilis
- 2 cans cream of mushroom soup
- 2 cans cream of chicken soup
- 1 package Taco seasoning
- 14 cups of rice
- 8 cups shredded cheese
- 2 bags frozen broccoli
- 2 bags frozen stir-fry vegetables
- 4 bags frozen green beans
- 2 small jars Pesto
- 2 bottles Ranch dressing
- 4 bottles Italian dressing
- 4 boxes au gratin potatoes
- 4 8×8 pans OR 2 9×13 pans
- Freezer bags
What is your experience with freezer meals? Have you given it a try? Have any tips?
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