Quick Meal Ideas to Prep or Freeze
One of my YouTube friends asked a question and it made me think other people may benefit from this as well. This post is one to keep in your back pocket for quick meal ideas to prep or freeze.
This list is not all-inclusive or exhaustive and of course, take your specific sensitivities into account.
One of the easiest ways to get food on the table quickly is to batch-cook or purchase proteins. Since protein is one of the best ways to meat your body’s needs, it’s most satiating, and meals can be created around them this is my go-to approach.
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Here are some of the meal-makers I like to keep on-hand.
Make Quick Meals with These Proteins
Make quick meals with these proteins. I love to batch-cook meats that are easy to freeze and incorporate into other meals. Batch-cook these for easy meals that you can put together quickly.
- Ground meat – use grass-fed ground beef, ground turkey, ground lamb, or ground chicken. Fry it up in a pan ( I like to do 2lbs at a time). Keep the spices simple by using only ground garlic (which goes with so many preparations) which helps the meat to marinate even as it freezes. Freeze it by allowing it to cool completely and add it to a freezer-safe bag, lay it flat, and spread it out in a layer within the bag. Then place it flat in your freezer with a label of what it is. Write things like “Ground Beef with garlic.” This will let you know that you can use it in Spaghetti, Tacos, Soups, or Chilli for example.
- Roasted Whole Chickens or Rotisserie Chickens– Place two roaster chickens in your oven (I like to spatchcock mine so it cooks evenly) and roast with, you guessed it, simple seasonings like salt and garlic. Once roasted allow to cool completely and separate quarters, and wings, and add those to a freezer-safe container or bag, Next, pull all the chicken breast meat add that to another bag, and lay flat. Repeat for the second chicken. Put these 4 bags in your freezer and lay them flat. Now you have chicken quarters that you can pull out and add a baked potato and a salad to and dinner is on the table. Use the pulled chicken for quick meals like soup, white chicken chili or my favorite, taco Tuesday. I like to add the pulled chicken to a pan with some water or broth and toss in my favorite seasonings. You can add a bag of frozen peppers and onions and top my Grain-Free Almond Flour Tortillas and some avocado and dinner is done.
- Canned Salmon or Tuna – Make quick salmon patties or Tuna Cakes and freeze these. When you’re ready to eat pop them in the Air Fryer to crisp up and pair them with a salad, or your favorite side. Canned fish is an amazing way to get in a high-quality source of Omega-3’s. Be sure to get wild-caught. If you want a cold meal and don’t want to make the patties make tuna or salmon salad. To reduce exposure to Mercury grab the canned salmon.
- Eggs – If you can tolerate eggs this is an amazing source of complete protein, meaning it has all the 9 essential amino acids that your body needs and Must get from food. You can boil a batch of these and they can be stored for up to 4 days in the coldest part of your fridge.
You can also make these sheet pan meatballs and freeze them. You can swap the ground meat for your preference.
Make them into a meatloaf if you prefer.
These grain-free gluten-free chicken nuggets are great to batch and freeze too! You can watch me make these easy nuggets here.
Sides are easier to make a simply pair with the proteins you have prepped but those can be prepped and frozen as well.
Sides to prep or purchase:
- Quinoa
- Rice
- Oats
- Potatoes
- Tortillas
Frozen:
- Mixed Berries
- Riced Cauliflower
- Vegetables
Quick Snacks with Protein
If you are anything like me, you may enjoy a snack or two (winks). In that case here are a few that you can make quickly or batch for freezing!
These energy protein balls are great to make ahead and freeze they can be made with your favorite nut butter, and protein powder, and omit the coconut if you prefer. When you are ready to enjoy them allow them to sit at room temperature for a few minutes and you have a tasty and versatile snack.
Muffins are a go-to for easy options to batch, freeze, and enjoy later! I make some version every week. Sometimes I make a double-batch and freeze them with 2 in each freezer bag. Here are two gluten-free options:
Gluten-Free Banana Muffins without Rice Flour or Check out these other muffin recipes
Paleo Ginger-Spiced Carrot Cake
This carrot cake can easily be made into muffins and frozen.
Pancakes are perfect to prep and freeze. Simply make these grain-free gluten-free pancakes, allow them to cool, place them on a parchment lined pan and flash freeze in one layer for about an hour. Remove them from the pan wrap them in parchment and freeze.
I also love meat sticks as an option *if you can tolerate it. Chomps and Epic Venison are my family’s favorites. They sell the Chomps in so many stores now. My Aldi and Walmart now carry them but you can get them on Amazon if they are not easy to find.
Easy Snack ideas
I shared this healthy snack video years ago and it has several simple and healthy snack options that you can get at just about any store.
Nuts, nut butter, and seeds are also a great way to get in micro-nutrients, healthy fats, and some protein.
Hemp Hearts: I absolutely love hemp hearts as they contain some great benefits, phytonutrients, and plant protein without soy or nuts. I like to put nut butter on rice cakes, and then top them with hemp hearts for protein, minerals, and healthy fats. I spoke about hemp hearts here in this short-form video.
Chia Seeds : Chia seeds are a great way to get in fiber (go slow if you are new to this and please drink plenty of water) they also contain a bit of protein and are packed with minerals. Chia seeds can hold 10x their weight in liquids. I love making a chia seed pudding since this freezes so well and will last in the fridge for days. It is also very filling because of the fiber. Need more protein; simply add a tablespoon or more of your favorite protein powder and mix it in. Allow the pudding to soak for at least 1 hour this will allow the nutrients to be absorbed by your body and makes them easier to digest.
Almond Flour Crackers dipped in guac or eaten with tuna is a great option. You can also pair these crackers with slices of turkey breast. I love to get the turkey breast from Sam’s Club or Costco and shave it myself to cut down on many of the unnecessary additives and preservatives.
Other Snacks Ideas
- Cassava Flour Chips with Guacamole
- Apples with Nut Butter
- Homemade Trail Mix
- Vegetables with Hummus
- Rice Cakes with Meat Sticks or Nuts
These are just a few options that are easy to prep, batch, freeze, or purchase. You can check out other healthy recipes, batch-cooking, meal ideas on the Style and Stewardship YouTube Channel.
