14 Meals That Freeze Well (2024)

Food
Cooking Techniques

Stock your freezer with tomato sauce, soups, chili, and more.

Bridget Hallinan

As an Associate Food Editor, Bridget Hallinan primarily focuses on home cooking content for Food & Wine.com. She writes and edits recipe content, interviews chefs for helpful tips and tricks, and works on franchises such as our cookbook roundups and taste tests.

Updated on August 29, 2023

Having a well-stocked freezer is always a good idea. You can have prepared meals at the ready for busy nights, or whip out a dish when you don't have time to make the trek to the grocery store. Portioned sauces also come in handy, in case you're craving a comforting bowl of pasta — just defrost on demand and dig in.

Luckily, there are several meals that happen to freeze particularly well, from lasagna and tomato sauce to stews and chilis. We like to have a few in our back pocket for all of the scenarios above and more — besides, if you have leftovers, it's easy to save them and make sure they don't go to waste. Check out some of our favorite freezable meals with the recipes below, supplemented with tips from our test kitchen.

A note about food safety

If you're cooking something and plan to freeze it, cool it quickly to room temperature — you can do this using an ice water bath or by putting the food in a shallow container, so it spreads out and cools faster. (Metal is particularly good for conducting hot and cold temperatures.) Then, cover and freeze the dish. Don't put hot food right in the refrigerator or freezer. If you do, the temperature will lower. The danger zone for food is 40°–140°F, the range in which bacteria grows.

If you're planning on freezing a lot of food at once, chill it in the refrigerator first so the temperature in the freezer doesn't rise. For thawing food, make sure it thaws evenly and keep it below 40°F or above 140°F. You can thaw slowly in the fridge or quickly under cold running water.

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Basic Tomato Sauce

Tomato sauce is a great freezer staple, and we like to have a few containers on hand for quick spaghetti dinners, ziti, and more. Chef Hugh Acheson adds a little fresh oregano and grated carrot to offset the acidity. If you'd preferBolognese, the sauce can be frozen for up to one month, and pesto also freezes well.

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Lasagna

Lasagnas and other baked pasta dishes, likeziti, can easily be frozen — simply bake, freeze, and then reheat once you're ready. This particular recipe from Andrea Slonecker includes Italian sausage, mushrooms, and three kinds of cheese: Parmigiano-Reggiano, whole-milk mozzarella, and whole-milk ricotta. It's the perfect hearty, stick-to-your-ribs kind of meal.

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Biscuits

These buttermilk biscuits are incredibly moist and tender, thanks to the butter-to-shortening ratio. You can freeze the portioned biscuit dough and bake at your convenience.

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Chili

Our classic beef chili, which makes eight servings, can be frozen — reserve the toppings for when you reheat and eat. The same goes for ourvegetarian chilifrom nutritionist Ellie Krieger, which gets a warm, sweet note from fresh orange juice and zest.

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Birria Tacos

To do a little prep for these tacos, shred the meat and toss with 1 1/2 cups of the broth (enough so that the meat is submerged) and freeze (freeze the remaining broth separately). You can also pre-make and freeze the adobo before you braise the meat.

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Gnocchi

The uncooked shaped sweet potato gnocchi in this recipe can be frozen for up to one month. First, freeze them uncovered on a baking sheet for one hour; then transfer them to a large zip-close bag and store them in the freezer.

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Burger Patties

These turkey burger patties can be made in advance and frozen (uncooked) for up to one month. (Thaw in the refrigerator before cooking.) The same idea applies toclassic beef burger patties,black bean patties, and more.

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Parsley Egg Noodles with Squash-and-Tomato Sugo

Thecut egg noodlesin this recipe can be frozen for up to three weeks; the sauce also freezes well and is tasty on any pasta.

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Potato-Leek Soup

It's helpful to have a few frozen soups ready to go. Once this potato-leek soup is defrosted, you can top it with anything you like, from roasted broccoli florets and shredded cheddar to crème fraîche and smoked salmon.

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Coconut-Creamed Swiss Chard

Television Chef Rocco DiSpirito's vegan side dish gets its creaminess from unsweetened coconut milk and refined coconut oil. If you want to make a few batches and freeze it, make sure the greens are submerged in the liquid. (You might need to press down a little bit to achieve this.)

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Beef Stew

This recipe serves six, and it can easily be doubled. Feel free to freeze leftovers — just make sure it's cooled first.

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Gougères

Gougères freeze well. Just bake them, cool them, and freeze until firm on a baking sheet. Then they can be stored in the freezer in a Ziploc bag for several months.

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Hand Pies

Prepare these apple hand pies up through step four in the recipe — rolling out the dough and adding/sealing in the filling. Then, cut three small (1/3-inch-long) vents in the top of each pie, and freeze them uncovered on a baking sheet for one hour. After that, you can transfer them to a large Ziploc bag and freeze for up to one month. Once you're ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 375°F, arrange them on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, brush them lightly with one beaten egg, and sprinkle evenly with 1 1/4 teaspoons of granulated sugar. Then you're all set to finish up the recipe.

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Enchiladas

Just like lasagna, enchiladas can also be pre-baked and then frozen for future use. These red chile-chicken enchiladas get flavor from smoky guajillo chiles and fruity ancho chiles.

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FAQs

What foods can be meal prepped and frozen? ›

Can You Freeze Anything for Meal Prep? The short answer is that pretty much any food can be frozen. The US Department of Agriculture explains that you can freeze almost any food, except eggs in their shell and canned products. However, you may not want to eat every food after it has been frozen.

What foods cannot be frozen? ›

Foods That Do Not Freeze Well

Foods	Usual Use	Condition After Thawing
Icings made from egg whites	Cakes, cookies	Frothy, weeps
Cream or custard fillings	Pies, baked goods	Separates, watery, lumpy
Milk sauces	For casseroles or gravies	May curdle or separate
Sour cream	As topping, in salads	Separates, watery

11 more rows

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What meals can you batch cook and freeze? ›

Freezable family recipes

Sausage pasta bake. A star rating of 4.4 out of 5. ...
Meatballs in tomato, cardamom & lime sauce. A star rating of 3.8 out of 5. ...
Chicken & chorizo ragu. ...
Broccoli stem falafel bowl. ...
Creamy halloumi & tomato curry. ...
Chicken & bacon pie. ...
App onlyCheesy potato patchwork pie. ...
Peanut butter chicken.

More items...

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What foods are quick freezing? ›

Products commonly frozen with IQF technologies are typically smaller pieces of food, and can include berries, fruits and vegetables both diced or sliced, seafood such as shrimp and small fish, meat, poultry, pasta, cheese and grains.

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What pasta can be frozen? ›

Best Pastas to Freeze

This is because they're already assembled and can be cooked from frozen—easy peasy! But you don't just have to save stuffed and layered dishes for freezing. Small, sturdy pasta shapes like cavatappi, penne and rigatoni hold up really well to freezing and thawing too.

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What to avoid in frozen foods? ›

Certain frozen foods, such as those containing cheese, cream, or red and processed meats, may be high in unhealthy fats like saturated fats, which can increase the risk of heart disease and other health issues. Try to stick with meals with around 3 grams of saturated fat or less.

Which of the following foods should not be frozen? ›

Milk, yogurt, cream, sour cream, buttermilk, and soft cheeses all become inedible once frozen, since they separate and curdle upon defrosting, changing the texture and consistency entirely. Your milk will separate into a watery mess, for example, and your yogurt will become grainy, curdle, and separate when defrosted.

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What cooked meats freeze well? ›

Meat: Yes! Briskets, pot roasts, and most other red meat dishes do freeze quite well. Cook the meat till it's just a few minutes away from being done, then freeze.

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What makes a good frozen meal? ›

Emphasize quality

“The most important thing to look at is the ingredients list,” says Taylor. If you can find meals with fewer than seven ingredients, she says, you're more likely to be eating whole foods and less likely to be eating additives and preservatives.

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Can I freeze scrambled eggs? ›

Scrambled eggs are easy to freeze, and they taste great when reheated. We like to cook them so they're slightly runny, which helps retain a soft texture when they're warmed through. Let your scrambled eggs fully cool before packing them into individual portions in freezer-safe bags.

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What foods Cannot be meal prepped? ›

What foods should you not meal prep?

Food	Reason
Milk-based sauces	The milk may separate from other ingredients when defrosted or it may curdle when reheated.
Egg-based sauces and mayonnaise	The ingredients may separate or curdle when defrosted or reheated.

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Sep 1, 2022

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What meals freeze dry the best? ›

Fresh fruits and vegetables are the most basic, but you can also freeze dry full meals, like a plate of lasagna or your favorite soups or stews. Even meat! I freeze dried a bunch of rotisserie chicken and then added it to soups during the week. You can freeze-dry cheeses, and dairy as well.

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What leftovers freeze the best? ›

Some of the best leftover foods to freeze include cooked chopped meats, casseroles, pizza, soup, tomato sauce, breads and baked goods. Leftovers that don't like the freezer include hard boiled eggs, stuffed and uncooked meats like chicken breast and pork chops, cold tuna and pasta salads.

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How to make meals ahead of time and freeze? ›

To prepare a meal for the freezer, you'll want to fully prepare it ahead of time. Be sure to let it cool fully, and then transfer it to an airtight container or freezer bag. Date it, pop it in the freezer, and it'll be ready to go in a pinch! Most freezer meals keep for around 2 months.

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