12 Easy Freezer Meals in 2 Hours

ByMissy Rakes
12 Easy Freezer Meals in 2 Hours for $50 on gracefullittlehoneybee.com

Check out this list of 12 easy freezer meals that you can make in under two hours. Also, be sure to download your free printable shopping and recipe lists to get started.

Learn how to make 12 freezer meals in 2 hours for $50! Recipes included!

 How to Make 12 Easy Freezer Meals in Two Hours:

I finally jumped on the freezer cooking bandwagon. I’ve done freezer cooking before, but not this many meals at once.

I tried to keep things as simple and frugal (I spent around $50) as possible. I feel so accomplished knowing I have a freezer full of meals to use over the next few weeks and I know you’re going to love these recipes. So here are the recipes for the 12 easy freezer meals that I made in 2 hours:

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup (make recipe x 4)

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken (make recipe x 2)

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken & Veggies (make recipe x 1 and split into two bags)

Creamy Baked Pasta (make recipe x 2)

Chili Mac Casserole (make recipe x 2)

I’m pretty picky when it comes to slow cooker and freezer meals. Normally, it seems like they’re all centered around expensive meats that you still have to add side dishes to make a meal, so I picked two meatless casseroles and for the rest I used frozen chicken breasts (do not thaw!).

Here’s a picture of everything before I got started. As you can probably tell I bought almost everything from Aldi and used some things (potatoes, peppers and corn) from my garden.

*I just want to add that everyone has access to a different set of resources so do the best you can with what you have. Also, I was able to do this in 2 hours because I’m used to making most of these recipes, but if they’re new to you then it may take a bit longer the first time.

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The only pre-cooking required for the recipes that I chose was boiling the noodles. So I put the water on while I was gathering all of my ingredients and labeling my freezer bags. Once I got everything together, I chopped my onions and put the Chicken Taco Soup and Teriyaki Chicken bags together.

Then, I chopped the veggies for the BBQ Chicken & Veggies and made those bags. Then I drained the noodles and put the Creamy Baked Pasta and Chili Mac Casseroles together. PHEW. Here are the recipes that I used:

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken and Veggies (this recipe makes 2 meals)
2 green peppers, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
3 onions chopped
6 red potatoes, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
4 frozen chicken breasts

1 15 oz. can of tomato sauce

1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 bottle of BBQ sauce
(Split ingredients into two bags and freeze)
Cook in slow cooker on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours

 

Teriyaki Chicken (you will make this recipe x 2)
3 frozen chicken breasts
1 cup Teriyaki sauce
1 cup water
2/3 cup brown sugar
3 cloves of garlic
Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Serve over rice.

*This recipe ended up being pretty runny because I reduced the amount of chicken from the original recipe. So I added cooked rice and veggies after it was done to make it a complete one bowl meal. These extra ingredients are not on the shopping list below.

 

Chicken Taco Soup (you will make this recipe x 4)
2 Frozen Chicken Breasts
1 Can Black Beans
1 Can Corn
1 Can Rotel
1 Onion, chopped
1 packet taco seasoning
1 packet ranch dip mix
Cook in slow cooker on low 8 hours.

 

Creamy Baked Pasta (you will make this recipe x 2)
16 oz pasta, cooked and drained
1 jar pasta sauce
8 oz tub sour cream
1/4 c parm. cheese
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella

Saute Onions
Mix all ingredients in pot over medium heat until all ingredients are combined.

Pour in casserole dish. Sprinkle cheese on top.

Bake @ 350 for 30 min (45 min – 1 hr if frozen)

 

Chili Mac Casserole (you will make recipe x 2)
16 oz pasta, cooked and drained
1 can chili beans
1 packet chili seasoning
1 onion, chopped
1 can Rotel or stewed tomatoes
1  15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar
Mix all ingredients in casserole dish.

Sprinkle cheese on top.
Bake @ 350 for 30 min (45-1 hr if frozen)

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It was quite a bit of work, especially since I chose to do it alone with a toddler and baby in the house, but it was definitely worth it! I will probably do this again sometime soon.

NOTE: For safety reasons all meat should be fully thawed before placing in the slow cooker.

 

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181 Comments

  1. Thank you soooooo much. This is just what I was looking for in cooking for my family. I'm a stay at home mom and am always looking for ways to stretch our dollar. The recipes look very tasty and healthy. I actually look forward to my shopping trip this week. God bless you and your family.
    Reply
  2. Love these, yes more freezer meals. A note for you, if you change or note, use gluten free pasta and read lables you open your self up to a whole new world of very interested cooks. Not sure how I got to your site, yes searching gluten free, but sure glad I did. Aldis has a wonderful selection of GF foods and the best mac and cheese I have found. please add me to your list.
    Reply
  3. I have the pickiest 12 year old ever and tonight we had the teriyaki chicken over rice and she ate all of it! It was delicious! One question though. I cooked the chicken in my crockpot on low, but we are gone from the house sometimes for upwards of 12 hours. Does anyone have any suggestions on not come home to burned crock pot food? I suppose I could buy a crock pot that has a timer. :) Thank you so much!!
    Reply
    1. if you go to just about any home improvement store you will find a timer that you plug your slow cooker/crock pot into. you are able to program what time it comes on and what time it will go off. if you have a cooker that isn't the standard turn knob crockpot, I suggest starting it before you leave the house and it will turn itself off. then you just have to warm it up slightly. Also, crock pot liners are the BEST
      Reply
      1. Whoa wait-there are crock pot liners? Tell me more!! Do they just go on the bottom? Paper? Plastic? Thank you in advance!!
        Reply
  4. Feeling dumb to ask questions about the cheese you have in a couple of these recipes. It says to put the cheese on top. So im guessing that means you don't put that in the freezer meal. Just add cheese once you have cooked the meal, right? Thanks for posting!
    Reply
  5. This is awesome! I do freezer meals occasionally but usually I just double recipes that I'm making for one dinner so that I have a second one for the freezer. I keep wanting to try a freezer cooking session like this though! I love how you kept it easy and inexpensive- two things that are always a plus in my mind!
    Reply
  6. Could you put the crockpot meals directly in the crockpot without thawing? How much longer on the cooking time?
    Reply
  7. Hi Missy, these are some great ideas for freezer meals. I was wondering how much more it would cost to double the recipes? I have 2 growing teenage boys a nine year old daughter and a 6'1 husband to feed plus myself. We can go through the food. I figure it would cost me about 100 dollars to double it. I wonder if there is another way to save money on these and other recipes and still get a good amount of food? Thanks :)
    Reply
    1. You could easily add more beans to the Taco Soup and Chili Mac Casserole to make them go further. Another idea would be to try and reduce the amount of meat and cheese since those are the most expensive ingredients. You might have to add in more veggies and serve with a filling starch such as bread to make up for the changes.
      Reply
  8. Your teriyaki chicken recipe you said turned out runny so you added rice and veggies to it, what kind of veggies and how much of each did you add? thanks :)
    Reply
    1. The pans that I use are around 9"x11". I used a 12 oz broccoli, cauliflower and carrot mix that you steam in the microwave and then just added it right before serving.
      Reply
  10. Hey! I'm excited to try these for myself and also to cook some in prep for my bachelor uncle. Do these meals go into quart or freezer bags? Along the lines of the same question, will they warm in a 1.5 Q slow cooker or does it need a larger one?
    Reply
  11. Hi Missy, Thanks for the great recipes! This might be a stupid question, but I was wondering if you put the chicken in the freezer bag with the other ingredients? And do you cut it up and/or cook it first? Thanks!
    Reply
  12. Haven't seen any comments about the safety issues using frozen meat especially poultry. When using a slow cooker one can't use frozen meat as it takes too long to reach a temp high enough to kill bacteria. Please consult USDA expert advice because you may not have gotten sick yet but this practice is extremely dangerous!
    Reply
    1. Thank you for the safety information! I was unaware of this until now. I will amend the above advice about dumping the meals in the slow cooker without being fully thawed.
      Reply
  13. when you say pasta sauce, exactly what kind do you mean, there's tomato pasta sauce and the there more along the lines of an Alfredo sauce. Just asking
    Reply
  14. I have made the taco soup with ground beef but am going to try with chicken and my recipe calls for 4-5 cups of water. I will double all recipes since we have teenagers and you never know how many will be there for dinner, but I love left overs too!
    Reply
  16. Looking forward to this!!! I just bought enough for these 12 meals and the 6 beef ones! I've never frozen before, but at the very least, your awesome shipping lists enabled me to have all of the ingredients on hand without worrying I forgot stuff! Thanks super much!
    Reply
  17. I have so wanted to try doing some freezer meals and have barely used my slow cooker at all, but when I read the recipe and ingredient lists of many of them I get turned off! I like what I know and I'm hesitant to try anything too out of my usual or anything too complicated (I also like things simple! lol). But these look like meals I would actually been willing to try! So I think I will :) lol I just wish I had an Aldi :( I keep reading about it, but alas, I am Canadian.
    Reply
    1. Christina, I agree, a lot of freezer meals turn me off as well because they aren't things I normally eat and they usually use lots of meat which is expensive. I tried to make these as frugal and simple as possible. I hope you enjoy!
      Reply
  18. I have finally tried all of these recipes. For our family of 3 big eaters I should have used both bags of the bbq chicken and taco soup. My families opinions of the bbq was just barley ok couldn't tell there was zucchini in it which is a plus. I loved the flavor of the taco soup but didn't like corn in it and one didn't like the beans. The baked creamy pasta had a good flavor but wasn't very creamy and I didn't saute the onions which for this dish was ok but the chili mac I really should have cooked the onions first. both casseroles needed to be baked way longer than stated. My absolute favorite was the teriyaki chicken. I added the broccoli, cauliflower, carrot mix that was suggested and that was fine but the second time I added stir fry veggies and that was better but I think next time I make it I'll just add the water chestnuts to give it a bit of crunch. Over all these were good but I would cook those onions in the chili mac before adding and I will definitely be making the creamy pasta and teriyaki chicken again. :)
    Reply
  20. Unfortunately, I would have to double or triple these meals to make enough for my family. I wish people would post how many the meals serve along with the title so that those of us with bigger families would know which ones to skip over.
    Reply
  21. Are you using bags of frozen chicken to make the meals, not fresh chicken (trays)? Fresh chicken in my grocery would cost about $10 for six breasts, which would mean I would already be spending $30 for the amount called for in the shopping list. Thanks!
    Reply
  22. When you say "make recipe x2", does that mean I need to double the ingredients listed or does that just mean what's listed will make 2 "bags" full?
    Reply
  24. how do the potatoes turn out after being frozen? I am always leery of freezing potatoes. Recipes look great! I love freezer cooking, but my husband and I are getting tired of my recipes that I'm currently making... I'm excited to try out some new recipes!
    Reply
  25. I LOVE how you respond to everyone! Sooo...I am fairly new at cooking especially the prep cooking thing. So for the pasta and the casserole; you cook it then freeze it, when its time to eat it you bake it?
    Reply
  26. Loooooved this post! Finally some freezer meals that aren't just for the crockpot. I played around and added mixed veggies to the chicken crockpot recipes. I was able to make all of these meals (for our family it will provide 26 suppers) for $135! So impressed, thanks for sharing! Also, I should mention, I made beef enchiladas while I was at it. I browned 6 pounds of ground beef. I used some for enchiladas, and set 3 pounds aside to add to spaghetti sauce and used the rest for taco meat for the freezer :) Thanks again!!!
    Reply
    1. There is liquid in the canned veggies, also a lot of liquid comes out of the chicken breasts. It's a pretty thick soup. You can always add beef broth or water if you would like it too be runnier.
      Reply
  28. someone may have asked this already but for the pasta casserole at what point do you freeze it?? do you still mix it on the stove until its combined and then freeze it after that?
    Reply
  29. I found you on Pinterest and made these last fall and we still have two dishes sitting in the freezer. Thank you for sharing your recipes!
    Reply
  30. I'm a little confused, because you say use frozen chicken and then at the bottom you say for safety reasons thaw chicken before putting in crock pot. Which one is it?
    Reply
    1. When assembling the meals for the freezer you can use either frozen or fresh chicken. When you go to cook the slow cooker meals from the freezer you need to make sure the chicken is thawed before placing in slow cooker.
      Reply

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