Healthy freezer meals are a staple for our weekly meal planning and a great way to navigate those oh sh*t moments when plans just don’t go to plan. To be honest, I have never been a huge fan of prepping meals, freezing them, and then reheating for dinner. A few years back I did one of those WildTree parties where you get together and put the freezer bags of food together with friends and I was certain I was going to be obsessed, but I found the meals were just ok and that I kind of dreaded putting them on the menu for the week.
With that in mind, I set out to find freezer meals that my family actually wanted to eat and I actually wanted to put on the our meal plan for the week. I feel WAY different about these healthy freezer meal recipes. At least one of the main ingredients, or all of the ingredients, are hanging out in the freezer ready when we are. And. They are a delicious, really tasty meal! Check out 7 of our favorites!
Healthy freezer meals to keep on hand
Shrimp stir fry
You could totally make this with a different protein too, but we like to mix in some seafood and frozen shrimp is an easy win!
Ingredients
- Frozen shrimp. Cooked or uncooked, whatever you’re into.
- Frozen stir fry vegetables. My favorite are from Costco because it’s a giant bag and it includes water chesnuts which are totally underrated in my opinion. I also like the bag from Aldi, which comes with a little seasoning packet!
- Avocado oil. Any oil will do! We usually switch between avocado oil, butter, and olive oil depending on the dish.
- Sauce. This is totally optional, but we usually drizzle teryaki or liquid aminos (soy sauce) during the cooking process or overtop at the end.
- Rice. Optional, but a great option if you or your kiddos want a carbohydrate in the meal. You could also swap for cauliflower rice if that’s your thing.
Directions
Sautee shrimp, seat aside. Sautee vegetables. Make rice. Layer everything in a bowl. Drizzle sauce over top. Enjoy!
Potstickers + stir fry vegetables
Same concept as the shrimp stir fry, but with potstickers. This healthy freezer meal just entered our rotation and I’m not mad about it! The girls were a little unsure at first, but now they are into it.
Ingredients
- Frozen potstickers. There is a giant bag of chicken potstickers we like from Costco that is great for this recipe.
- Frozen stir fry vegetables. My favorite are from Costco because it’s a giant bag and it includes water chesnuts which are totally underrated in my opinion. I also like the bag from Aldi, which comes with a little seasoning packet.
- Rice. Optional, but a great option if you or your kiddos want a carbohydrate in the meal. You could also swap for cauliflower rice if that’s your thing.
- Avocado oil. Any oil will do! We usually switch between avocado oil, butter, and olive oil depending on the dish.
- Sauce. This is totally optional, but we usually have teryaki or liquid aminos (soy sauce) to dip the potstickers in.
Directions
Cook potstickers based on package (we usually cook them on the stovetop). Sautee vegetables. Make rice. Layer rice + vegetables, serve with potstickers and sauce.
Healthy freezer meals: Pancakes with wild blueberries + sausage
Breakfast for dinner is a Nordquist family favorite. Our girls will house some breakfast food anytime of day.
Ingredients
- Pancake mix of choice. We usually just grab it at Aldi, I’ve never really been like “THIS PANCAKE MIX IS THE BEST”, but if you know of one, will you leave a comment? I’d love to know what it is.
- Frozen wild blueberries. All the antioxidants in these little beauties! We like them cold overtop of the pancakes, but you could heat them up too if that’s your thing.
- Frozen sausage patties. We LOVE the frozen sausage patties from Costco. The brand is Jones Dairy Farm. They have all of the good stuff and none of the yuck and they are never gamey or strange. We haven’t tried the links so I can only speak for the patties.
Directions
Make pancakes. Heat up sausage (I just use the microwave, but you can on the stovetop too!). Thaw blueberries in cool water. I use a small strainer and let them sit in a bowl of cool/warm water, refreshing the water a few times to make sure they thaw.
Pasta with meatballs
I kind of forgot how easy and yummy meatballs are until recently when some friends dropped off a giant grocery order for us when we had covid, which included meatballs (thanks, Mar + Molly!).
Ingredients
- Frozen meatballs. We get the big bag of frozen italian style meatballs from Costco.
- Pasta of choice. We have recently gotten into Banza noodles (They sell a big box at Costco, but I think they are in a lot of stores now). But we also really like regular angel hair pasta. Something about angel hair is better than regular spaghettti noodles, agree?
- Sauce of choice. Lots of options here depending on what you like and what you have on hand. We usually have Raos marinara sauce or Costco’s pesto, but regular old butter and seasoned salt is delicious too!
- Parmesan. Optional to sprinkle on top!
Directions
Make pasta. Heat up meatballs according to the package, (might even be yummy to heat them up in the sauce or not depending on what version you’re making). Mix and sprinkle with parmesan.
Healthy freezer meals: Orange chicken + stir fry cauliflower rice
A personal favorite of mine!
Ingredients
- Orange chicken. We get the orange chicken from Trader Joe’s and it’s not always in stock because everyone loves it so we always grab a few when we’re there.
- Frozen Stir Fry Cauliflower Rice. A easy and healthy freezer meals list is not complete these days until it includes cauliflower rice. My favorite cauliflower rice for this recipe is also from Trader Joe’s, it’s literally called Stir Fry Cauliflower Rice. I recently saw that Costco has a similar product so I’ll be giving that a try soon.
- Avocado oil. Any oil will do! We usually switch between avocado oil, butter, and olive oil depending on the dish.
- Rice. Optional, but we like to have a mix of the cauliflower rice + regular rice.
Directions
Make the orange chicken and the cauliflower rice according to the package (we use two different large pans on the stovetop with avocado oil). Make your rice. Layer and serve!
Taco meat + spicy Mexican cauliflower rice*
This particular spicy cauliflower rice is too much for my girls to handle. You could definitely make it with regular cauliflower rice instead if you need the whole family to eat it and you have little ones, or just reserve it for lunches and adult only dinners.
Ingredients
- Ground beef. This year we bought a quarter cow so we have a bunch of grass-fed ground beef stored in our deep freezer in 1 pounds bags. I have liked it waaay more than I thought I would.
- Taco seasoning packet. I really like the taco seasoning in the jar at Costco, but it has a little too much heat for my girls so we stopped buying it. What’s your go-to taco seasoning?
- Frozen Spicy Mexican Cauliflower Rice. I haven’t seen this “Spicy Mexican” style cauliflower rice anywhere but Trader Joe’s.
- Avocado oil. Any oil will do! We usually switch between avocado oil, butter, and olive oil depending on the dish.
- Optional. Easy healthy freezer meals, yes. But keep it yummy and interesting please! There are lots of optional add ons for this dish. Chips to dip. Salsa, guac, shredded cheese, or greek yogurt/sour cream to top.
Directions
Brown the ground beef and make according to taco seasoning packet. and the cauliflower rice according to the package (we use two different large pans on the stovetop with avocado oil). Make your rice. Layer and serve!
Healthy freezer meals: Pizza + vegetables
I love a good pizza night! Hayes isn’t a huge fan, but our kids eat what we eat (unless it’s spicy, like when we make Thai curry) and our rule is that you have to at least give everything on your plate a try. Is she the only 3-year-old in the world that doesn’t care for pizza?
Ingredients
- Frozen pizza of choice. I wouldn’t say we have a go-to frozen pizza, we rotate what we have available. Jack’s thin crust is a classic from my childhood, Mama Cozzi’s is pretty good from Aldi, and there was a Detroit Deep Dish variety that my sister introduced us to at Costco recently that was delicious. Pick your favorite!
- Raw vegetables. If I’ve shopped right, we will at least have a bag of raw carrots in the fridge at any given time. And, in a pinch or not, carrots and pizza are a completely acceptable meal in this household!
- Dip of choice. Chick-Fil-A sauce and Chipotle Bitchin’ Sauce (for the adults) are our favorites over here! Ranch is a good backup that we usually have on hand.
Directions
It doesn’t get more simple. Bake the pizza. Serve with raw veggies and dip.
Add these simple healthy freezer meals to your next meal plan!
I’m hoping from the 7 to choose from here you’ve found something you can add to next week’s meal plan. Or a few items you can keep stocked in your freezer from here on out. Let me know when you end up trying!