5 Easy Freezer Meals [Printable Recipes & Grocery List] (2024)

When life is as hectic as it has been recently, the thought of preparing an elaborate or time-consuming meal for dinner can be daunting. Imagine how relieved you would feel if you had a delicious, fully assembled meal stored away for just such occasions, and that all you had to do was cook it through!

Related: The Best Way To Keep Track Of What’s In Your Freezer

On days when you don’t have a lot of energy or mental capacity to spare, the thought of preparing an elaborate or time-consuming meal can be daunting. Having a few freezer meals on hand makes a great safety net for such occasions! (They can also save you money, and I’ll explain how very shortly!)

In this post, I’ll tell you everything you need to know to make 5 easy freezer meals — all in around one hour, no less! I did as much of the legwork as I could on my end in order to ensure your meal assembly process would be as quick and painless as possible.

Don’t miss the free printable I’ve included for you at the bottom of this post — it includes all 5 easy freezer meal recipes, cooking instructions, and a grocery list!

4 Ways Freezer Meals Can Save You Money

1. Score Sale Prices

When you’re preparing freezer meals to eat down the road, you can take sale prices into consideration. And since meat is always one of the more expensive ingredients in a meal, buying it on sale can save you a lot of money!

If pork happens to be on sale this week, take advantage of that fact by getting enough to make a few batches of Teriyaki Pork Chops (recipe provided below!)

2. Eat Out Less

When you have a few freezer meals on hand, you’ll be much less tempted to swing through the drive-thru or pickup take out when life gets hectic. And when you’re eating out less often, that means more money stays in your pocket.

3. Waste Less Food

Preparing freezer meals requires a lot less guess work than standard grocery shopping. You can get exactly what you need to make each meal, so you won’t end up with a lot of extra ingredients going to waste.

4. No Emergency Shopping

It can be so frustrating to realize you’re all out of a crucial ingredient for a recipe you were planning to make. You’re left either figuring out something else to make, or you have to spend time, money, and gas going to the store for that one ingredient!

But when it comes to cooking freezer meals, you never have to worry about making an emergency shopping trip. Everything you need is already in the bag, ready to go!

How To Assemble 5 Easy Freezer Meals At Once

Step 1 – Prep

Grab a Sharpie and label a one-gallon freezer storage bag for each of the five recipe names:

• Hawaiian Chicken
• Garlic Honey Chicken
• Teriyaki Pork Chops
• Chicken Fajitas
• Beef Burritos

You can also write the cooking times and instructions on the bag, so you don’t have to look them up later on. (See below for cooking times.)

Step 2 – Divide The Meat

Start by sprinkling salt and pepper liberally onto all of the meat.

Then divide your chicken breasts into the three bags for chicken-based recipes. Next, place the beef in the beef burrito bag, and place the pork chops in their bag.

(If you plan on cooking these meals in your crockpot and not an Instant Pot, you can assemble these meals in slow cooker liners, then place the liners inside of the freezer bags for storage.)

Step 3 – Add Other Ingredients

Then grab your measuring cups and spoons, and start adding the other ingredients to the bags according to the recipes provided below.

When the bags have been fully assembled, seal them up and store them in the freezer (or fridge, depending on how soon you’ll eat them).

Step 4 – Cook!

Defrost the meals in your fridge for up to a day before cooking. When done thawing just dump the contents of the bag into your crockpot or Instant Pot and follow the cooking instructions below.

(Note: If you’d prefer shredded chicken in the chicken dishes instead of whole breasts, just shred it and then return it to the sauce for a few minutes before serving.)

5 Freezer Meal Recipes

1. Crock Pot Hawaiian Chicken

Ingredients:

2-4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 large can pineapple chunks (with liquid)

2. Beef Burritos

Ingredients:

2 lb. lean beef (London broil, flank steak, or top round)
1 diced onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
15 oz can tomato sauce
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
1 1/2 tsp chili powder

Optional: cheddar cheese, sour cream

3. Garlic Honey Chicken

Ingredients:

2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup honey

4. Teriyaki Pork Chops

Ingredients:

4 pork chops, about 1-inch thick
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup chicken broth

5. Chicken Fajitas

Ingredients:

2 bell peppers
1 onion, sliced
2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 taco seasoning packet
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp paprika

Optional: sour cream, cilantro, lime juice

Cooking Instructions (Instant Pot & Slow Cooker)

To cook the chicken and pork recipes…

• …in your Instant Pot – Pressure cook on high pressure for 8 minutes, quick release
• …in your slow cooker – Cook on low heat for 5-6 hours; or high heat for 3 hours.

To cook Beef Burritos…

• …in your Instant Pot – Pressure cook on high pressure for 30 minutes, 10 minutes natural release
• …in your slow cooker – Cook on low heat for 6-7 hours; or high heat for 4 hours.

To make your freezer meal assembly even easier for you, I’ve put together a shopping list! The tortillas for the fajitas and burritos are included in the shopping list, along with cheese, sour cream, lettuce, cilantro and tomatoes for topping them.

For the other meals, I usually keep it simple and serve them over rice, or with a side of veggies. Feel free to adjust this list according to your own preferences! :-)

Meat

• 2 lb. lean beef (London broil, flank steak, or top round)
• 5-6 lbs. chicken (or enough for 3 meals)
• 4 pork chops (enough for 1 meal)

Optional: substitute for ground beef or turkey

Produce

• Head of garlic
• 2 onions
• 2 bell peppers
• Head of lettuce
• 3-4 tomatoes
• Cilantro (optional)
• limes

Grocery & Misc.

• Large can of pineapple chunks
• 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo
• 16 oz plain tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup soy sauce
• 2/3 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• Pepper
• Salt
• Paprika
• Chili powder
• 5 one-gallon freezer bags, or other freezer-safe containers
• Slow cooker liners (optional)
• Sour Cream (optional)
• Cheese (optional)

Download The “5 Easy Freezer Meals” Printable

To make it even easier, I’ve included all of the information above (the recipes, instructions, and grocery list) into one free-to-download printable. Get the PDF below!

Share your favorite freezer meals with us in a comment below!