7 Really Fast, Easy, Healthy Freezer Meals for Busy Teachers

In this blog post, I will give you links to fast, easy, healthy freezer meals for the whole family and other time-saving food tips to make your life more manageable. Because, it really IS impossible to do it all. We write lesson plans, teach, correct, parent, and spend time with our husbands and wives. Wait…husband? Right, the guy who’s there for me when I come up for air.

And then, we have to feed ourselves. Every. Single. Day. We write our list, grocery shop, cook, eat, clean up, and start all over the next day. For the rest of our lives.

Cook? Didn’t I do that yesterday?

Full disclosure: I am NOT Martha Stewart. In fact, I am domestically challenged. However, I CAN cook. I just never have the time and I always consider it an interruption. So, I really need ways to make the process more efficient and I thought you might too.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF FREEZER MEALS

Freezer meals are great time-savers. You can either make a double batch of a dish and put half of the already-cooked meal in the freezer for a later date or prepare it for freezing to begin with by putting the raw ingredients in the freezer.

Don’t make the mistake I did! I cooked the chicken cacciatore (listed below) and went to put the leftovers in the freezer when I read the rest of the instructions. (WHY will I never learn to read the recipe from beginning to end before I begin???)

It said to put the food into the freezer uncooked, then take out the freezer-friendly meals when you want to cook them.

7 Really fast, easy healthy Freezer Meals for Busy Teachers Putting container of food in freezer

HEALTHY FREEZER MEALS RECIPES

Since I am a health nut, I was quite selective about the recipes I included. If I wouldn’t eat it, it didn’t make the list. (You may notice an absence of beef, pork, dairy, and processed foods.)

I have found it essential to be PROACTIVE about eating. Otherwise, I find myself grabbing fast food when I am hungry or on busy nights when I have no time to cook. Freezer meals give me healthy, quick options. Dividing the freezer meals into individual portions is also great for lunches and snacks.

Below are the prepare-ahead meals I have chosen to help make your life easier.

FAST, EASY FREEZER MEALS

(Since I cannot eat dairy, corn, or soy, I substitute with coconut milk or almond milk products for cow’s milk, arrowroot for corn starch, and coconut aminos for soy sauce.)

Orange Chicken by Karrie at Happy Money Saver

5-ingredients Chicken Strips

CROCKPOT FREEZER MEALS (I LOVE crockpot recipes! So fast!)

Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore and four other slow cooker freezer meals from Saving You Dinero. Scroll down for the Chicken Cacciatore and the shopping list.

Crockpot Stuffed Bell Peppers with Ground Turkey with black beans by Family Freezer (I omit the corn.)

VEGAN FREEZER MEALS

Vegan Enchiladas (Healthy dinner!) from My Darling Vegan

Quinoa Fried Rice from The Simple Veganista

Spicy Peanut Soup with Peanut Butter and Kale from A Pinch of Yum (I would substitute almond butter since I can’t have peanuts.)

HOW TO PREVENT FREEZER BURN

Avoid putting hot food in the freezer. Put your easy meals in the refrigerator for a few hours to bring the temperature down. Then put them in the freezer.
When using a Ziplock bag, use a heavier freezer bag, not a regular storage bag to store your delicious dinner. You can also use an airtight container.
Use a vacuum sealer.
Squeeze out as much of the air as you can before placing the food in the freezer.

WHAT MEALS OR FOODS KEEP WELL IN THE FREEZER?

Sauces and soups
Spaghetti or tomato sauce
Meat, poultry, and fish
Stew
Produce
Nuts, seeds, and grains
Baked goods like cookies and muffins
Casseroles
Hummus

For a complete list, click on the following link: Lauren Grentman

WHAT FOODS DO NOT FREEZE WELL?

Cooked eggs
Cream-based soups and sauces
Fried food
Cooked rice
Lettuce
Cooked pasta

TIME-SAVING TIPS FOR THOSE WITH DIETARY RESTRICTIONS:

Do you ever feel like you spend your life in the kitchen? Because of my dietary restrictions, I must make many food items from scratch.

For example, I can’t use store-bought almond flour or beans because they are not soaked. I can only digest nuts and beans after they have been soaked for at least two days.

So, I REALLY spend more time in the kitchen than I would like. Recently, however, a company has emerged that has made feeding myself much easier and faster: Siete Foods

I am a HUGE fan! They have grain-free tortillas, delicious vegan CHEESE sauce made with cashews and plants, enchilada sauce, grain-free chips, taco seasoning, churros, cookies and more. Check them out if you, too, slave in the kitchen as you watch other family members enjoy their store-bought deliciousness. (No, they don’t pay me to advertise for them. I WISH!)

TRIFECTA MEALS

And the BEST way to feed yourself? Let someone else do all the work for you! I use Trifecta meals. They use science-based nutrition data to create their meals and they work with my gym, California Family Fitness, to prepare wholesome, healthy meals. I specify what I DON’T want in my meals and choose the best plan for me, the Paleo Meal Plan. I put the meal in the Air Fryer for nine minutes and, voila! A delicious meal with no prep whatsoever. I do not use affiliate links and no one from Trifecta pays me to advertise for them. I am just so happy with their restaurant-quality, super-fresh, vacuum-packed, affordable meals that I wholeheartedly recommend them.

Homemade freezer meals are a great way to feed your family healthy weeknight dinners in a short amount of time. I hope these recipes will be your favorite freezer meals and will make meal prep a bit easier at your house! Teachers have enough to do!

The best thing about freezer meals? Just a little bit of planning allows you to spend some quality time with your family instead of meal-prepping for hours!

Let me know if you try any of these recipes and the ones you liked!

SHORTCUTS FOR THE CLASSROOM

Wouldn’t it be great if there were shortcuts for teacher tasks, too? Great news! There are! You don’t have to be the last one out to the parking lot every day. Click on the following link to learn How To Do IT ALL

One more time saver: Autocorrecting tests! Check out this post on How Not To Correct Tests

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Happy teaching!

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