20 EASY FREEZER MEALS | Cheap & Tasty FAIL-PROOF Freezer Meal Planning Ideas | Julia Pacheco

[Music] hey there summer is right around the corner this year and let's be honest it is going to be super duper hot so what I am going to be doing today is I am going to be filling my freezer with about 20 freezer meals I'm going to be making a variety of like slow cooker meals cassero and sheep pan meals so that way when the summer hits and it's really hot and I don't know what I'm going to make for dinner I could just pull one of those meals out of my freezer cook it up and it just can't get any easier than that dinner is served and I'm also trying to make these meals as budget friendly as possible and as easy as possible so if you've never made freezer meals before I promise you could do it you got this let's go get started to start us off today we are making one of my favorites this fiesta chicken casserole and if you're new to meal prepping prepping cassero is super super easy I promise to get this recipe started you'll need about 4 lbs of cooked shredded chicken I'm just cooking my chicken up in the instant pot then I'll shred it from there but if you wanted to you could cook up your chicken on the stove or buy a rotisserie chicken and then I added a cup of water to my instant paw and 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning I'm going to cook this on high pressure for about 25 minutes now that my chicken is cooked through I removed any liquid from my instant paw then I just shredded it up once my chicken was nicely shredded I let it completely cool down and then I added it into this large bowl next I'm going to add in about four cans of drained corn and I do want to let you know for all of these recipes today I am timesing them by four so I am making four different meals out of all these recipes this is going to really help you save a lot of money when you're meal prepping and then it will save you time because you're making so many more meals just at one time so it's just great I definitely suggest that I also added in four cans of diced tomatoes with green chilies four cans of drained and rinsed black beans four cans of cream of chicken soup and four cups of instant white rice you do want to make sure you use the instant white rice it makes a difference then I added in about four tablespoons of taco seasoning and I gave this a really good stir I have my four aluminum tin right here I'm going to be adding the casserole in all of those tins I'm going to try to do it as even as possible and I definitely recommend you using aluminum tins when you're meal prepping just because you know sometimes when you put glass in the freezer and then you bake it from Frozen the glass will shatter so I definitely recommend the aluminum tins over the top I'm sprinkling one cup of shredded cheddar cheese over each casserole and then cover this tightly with aluminum foil and if you're wondering at all today well how long will these last in the freezer you know what that's a really good question I always like to leave them in my freezer for up to 3 months the quality of the food and the flavor and the texture is just best up to 3 months of course you could leave them in your freezer longer than that I just always recommend 3 months another thing that I like doing is I like to write on a little piece of paper what the meal is the cooking instructions and I just tape it right on top of the alumin foil the reason why I do this is because nine times out of 10 I just forget how long to cook it for and what's in my freezer but I put this in a preheated oven to 350° cover it in foil for 60 minutes then I uncover it and bake it for an additional 15 minutes and this is from Frozen and this tastes like it has not been frozen it is so good and flavorful we like to top it with our favorite kind of like taco toppings it is great now making this delicious fail prooof easy shepherd's pie you're going to want to start out with about 3 to 4 lbs of ground beef add it right into a large pot and break that ground beef up and cook it through once it's completely cooked through remove any excess grease in your pot now I'm going to add in about four diced yellow onions and then for the veggies I'm keeping it really easy I'm adding in two 12 oz Frozen bags of peas and carrots then you're going to want to add add in 1 6 oz can of tomato paste and I learned this little trick it is the best way to empty a can of tomato paste open both sides and take the lid off the top and then push the bottom part of the can out and then boom there you go all the Toano paste is out of the can and you have no waste I also added in 2 cups of beef broth 3 tablespoons of wores Shire sauce then for the seasonings 2 tbspoon of dried thyme 2 tspoons of dried rosemary I half a tablespoon of black pepper and a tablespoon of salt I gave this a really good stir to combine the ingredients now it's time to assemble our Shepherd's pies as you could see I'm making four Shepherd's pies today so I'm just going to evenly distribute the ground beef mixture out then I'll spread it out to the best of my abilities and as you probably know you put some mashed potatoes over the top of the shepherd's pie and making this much mashed potatoes wouldn't be super easy so I bought these pre-made mashed potato containers from Walmart they were right around $4 and I definitely recommend you doing it just because all you have to do is open the container of mashed potatoes and spread it out on top of the ground beef layer over the top of the mashed potatoes layer I'll add one cup of shredded cheddar cheese and then I'll cover each of these aluminum tins with a tight layer of aluminum foil and then make sure you write on a little piece of paper you know the cooking instructions and and what this shepherd's pie is so all I wrote is shepherd's pie and then how long to bake this for bake it from Frozen covered with foil in a preheated oven to 350° for 60 minutes then uncover the foil and bake it for an additional 10 minutes of course before you bake it make sure you take off the little label and the [Music] tape shf shepherd's pie is one of those meals that my infant and toddler both love also this shepherd's pie is so good when you bake it from Frozen it definitely does not have that Frozen taste about it it is delicious slow cooker freezer meals are another type of freezer meals that are so easy to prepare but they are just amazing when it comes time for dinner time so now we're making this chicken with wild rice and vegetables I started out by labeling all four of my large gallons size freezer bags and now as you see I am just hooking the freezer bags onto my baggie holders right here they're like the green clip things if you don't have bag holders I'll leave mine linked for you guys in the description box below this video If you want to get yourself some but if you don't have any you could also just use like large containers like this Nest quick container or this clear container to hold up your bags to make it easier to put some food in them so into each of my four bags I'm adding in two large chicken breasts my chicken breasts are frozen I found it is just easier to handle frozen chicken breasts when making a bunch of freezer meals like this then I added in about a tablespoon of minced garlic in each bag next add in one cup of wild rice make sure it's not the instant rice just the regular wild rice [Music] now I'm adding a half a cup of diced yellow onion into each bag and then you'll add in a half a cup of frozen peas next add in a half a cup of chopped celery and then the last veggie I'm adding in is one cup of sliced carrots I just kind of use like the carrot chips that they sell at the store but any type of carrots would really work and then for the seasonings I added in a teaspoon of pepper in each bag a half a tablespoon of salt a teaspoon of dried thyme and a teaspoon of dried oreg o that is all you have to do now you could just seal up your bags and place them in the freezer I do want to let you know I made sure to write on each of my bags to add in two cups of chicken broth when adding it into my slow cooker I've had a couple freezer bags in the past rip on me um when I add like broth or water into the bag so I just made sure to write on the bag so I didn't forget to add in my broth but here's what it looks like when it comes time to cooking your freezer meal so I just add the chicken and the veggies and rice right into my slow cooker and then I am adding in the two cups of chicken broth right now that is all you have to do I am going to cook this on high for about 2 and 1/2 hours or until my chicken's cooked and the rice is tender I just shredded my chicken up in a separate bowl once it was cooked and now I'm going to add in about 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese the cheese is optional but I do like adding it in and then there you go all you have to do is serve up now this is so good and flavorful I know it's not the most gorgeous meal in the world but seriously you'll be eating bowls and bowls of this like me now we're prepping a sheet pan dinner and if you know me you know how much I love sheep hand meals we're making this sausage with veggies so I have four packages of kabasa sausage right here I'm slicing it into smaller discs just like this now for my veggies I'm just going to cut up about five yellow onions and eight bell peppers I'm slicing those veggies and now I have my large gallon siiz bags right here I made sure to label my bags and now I'm placing the bags in my baggie holder and then my clear container and I was planning on eating one of these sheet pan meals in the next couple days so I just prepared one of the sheet pan meals just on a sheet pan with parchment paper and then I froze it from there but into each of the bags and on my sheet pan I added some some of the onions the peppers and then about a pound of golden potatoes in each bag make sure you cut the potatoes into smaller pieces and then I placed some of the sausage evenly into each bag and then I added my seasonings in I kept it simple with the seasonings just added some salt pepper garlic powder and oregano and then that is all you have to do for this sheet pan dinner seal up the bags and then place it into your freezer and then for the sheet pan dinner that I was eating in a couple days I just placed it into the freezer after giving it a good [Music] stir this is how I recommend baking sheet pan dinners from Frozen so just pull out a sheet pan line it with parchment paper spray the parchment paper with a little bit of oil spray and then I like to take out the freezer bag about 10 minutes before I bake it in the oven just that way it gives it a little bit of time to thaw so the sausage and the peppers just don't stick together and then after placing on on the sheet pan I like to spray the top of everything with a little bit of oil spray then bake this in a preheated oven to 350° for about 30 to 40 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and seriously this sheet pan dinner is so easy to prepare it really is delicious and this dinner is a total crowd pleaser I love barbecue chicken so much at this time of year so now we're preparing this slow cooker barbecue chicken it is my favorite slow cooker barbecue chicken recipe after I labeled my bags and placed them on my bag holders I added about two large chicken breasts into each bag I do want to let you know if you need more chicken for your family or less chicken you could always add more or less then I added in a half a cup of barbecue sauce into each bag any type or any brand of barbecue sauce will work next add in a third cup of Italian dressing in each bag again any type of Italian dressing will work seal up the bags and then that is all you have to do you have four Dinners Ready to Go on a crazy busy day it really can't get any easier than this to meal prep this dinner I knew the other day was going to be an extra busy day I had to take my car to the shop so in the morning I pulled out this freezer meal placed it in my slow cook in this cooked on low for 6 hours once it was through cooking I just shredded up the chicken and gave this a really good stir we like to serve this in hamburger buns but you could serve this barbecue chicken over salads or any way you want to it is so good I have plenty more videos like this on my channel so make sure you're subscribed down below the video I'll see you in the next one bye for now

Channel: Julia Pacheco

Views: 336,905

Keywords: cheap freezer meals, cheap meal ideas, cheap meals, cooking channel, easy crockpot recipes, easy dinner ideas, easy freezer meals, freezer meal prep, freezer meals, frozen meal prep, julia pacheco, meal prep, simple freezer meals, what to make for dinner, whats for dinner, freezer meals recipes, julia pacheco recipes, meal prep for the week, meal prep ideas, meal planning

Id: DKuevDf9q9M

Length: 13min 22sec (802 seconds)

Published: Sun May 28 2023