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A favorite way to get ahead for dinner is to stock your freezer with make-ahead meals. Then you can pull one out the night before you need it and let it defrost in the refrigerator. When you get home the following day, dinner is almost ready; it just needs reheating—and maybe you'll want to cook a vegetable to go on the side.
Making dishes to freeze not only gives you dinner on demand, but it also means you don't end up spending money on takeout. Our collection of freezer-friendly recipes will give you inspiration for what to cook to fill your freezer. Baked pasta, casseroles, chili, and pot pies are just some of the crowd-pleasing options.
Easy Chili
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Not only is this chili easy to make, it's also versatile—you can use ground beef, pork, or turkey. And it freezes well for up to three months. It's definitely a dish to stock your freezer with.
Crunchy Panko Salmon
Make-ahead, crispy, and very kid-friendly, these panko-breaded salmon fillets are easy to prepare and store in the freezer to cook whenever you need something speedy to serve. To cook, pull them straight from the freezer and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.
Sausage and Kale Stuffed Shells
Super hearty and guaranteed to be devoured by your family, you'll be so thankful to discover this delicious pasta casserole in your freezer. You can prepare the entire dish in advance, wrap it tightly, and store it in the freezer for up to three months.
Curry Chickpea Handpies
You can make these freezer-friendly hand pies in two parts—start by making our favorite pâte brisée and keeping it in the freezer. When you're ready to roll, make the spicy vegetarian filling with potatoes, chickpeas, Thai red curry paste, and spinach. Form into individual handpies, then freeze for up to one month. They can be cooked in the oven straight from the freezer.
Breaded Chicken Cutlets
These easy-to-love chicken cutlets can be frozen for up to two months. With a batch in the freezer, the dinner possibilities are endless. Bake them and serve atop a salad, turn them into chicken parmesan, or use them as the base for chicken Milanese.
Classic Beef Stew
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Truly a classic, our beef stew is a robust, balanced meal packed with beef chuck, carrots, potatoes, and peas. It's truly a meal in one. It freezes wonderfully for up to three months.
Freezer Burritos
Choose your own adventure with these hearty burritos—use whatever shredded cooked meat you have, such as chicken, beef, or pork, or reach for tofu or roasted vegetables. Layer with rice, beans, and chopped baby greens in a tortilla, fold, and freeze for up to three months.
Turkey Burgers
Wrap these lean-but-moist turkey patties—made with sour cream, mango chutney, Dijon mustard, and chili powder—individually before freezing. Once it's time for dinner, take out what you need and quickly thaw before cooking.
Potato Feta Bourekas
Black sesame seeds dress up the exterior of these savory pastries filled with russet potatoes and crumbled feta cheese. Make the preparation even easier by using store-bought all-butter puff pastry.
Mozzarella Sticks
When you need a kid-friendly treat or a quick appetizer for a special dinner at home, these ready-to-freeze mozzarella sticks are the answer. The breading is made from scratch using plain breadcrumbs, Parmesan, and mixed dried herbs, which means that it has fewer additives than the store-bought mozzarella sticks.
Lasagna With Meat Sauce
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Brie Goldman
Our classic lasagna with layers of meat sauce and cheese is a meal you want to come home to. Cover and freeze the pan of lasagna—or cut it into individual portions, wrapping them in parchment-lined foil inside a freezer bag if you want smaller portions.
Late Summer Vegetable Minestrone
Minestrone soup is made with a hodge-podge of vegetables—this one features produce such as tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, and Swiss chard, but you can use whatever you have on hand to make a substantial, vibrant minestrone that will brighten chilly evenings.
Roasted Beet and Potato Borscht
This Eastern European soup is known for its bright red-purple color and earthy flavor. In this version, russet potatoes and red beets combine to create a rich and creamy base. Use water instead of chicken broth to make it vegan. Because it's cream-free, you can safely transfer the purée to quart containers and freeze.
Broccoli and Potato Samosa Pie
This vegetarian, free-form pie can be prepared fully and stored in the freezer. The filling is made with a delicious mixture of Yukon Gold potatoes, broccoli, and spices.
Basil Pesto
Stash pesto in the freezer to bring fresh earthy flavor to all sorts of dishes, including pizza, pasta, soups, and sandwiches. It's a smart way to preserve fresh basil before it goes bad. Unlike other pesto recipes, this one doesn't contain parmesan cheese, which makes it freezer-friendly.
Freeze-Ahead Lasagna Primavera
A light béchamel instead of the usual tomato sauce enriches the layers of this carrot, pea, and spinach lasagna. This dish freezes beautifully, so you always have a family dinner at your fingertips.
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