5 Family Freezer Meals That Are SO Good | Budget Meal Prep for Busy Moms

Hey there, friends. Welcome back. So, today I'm making five of our family's absolute favorite freezer meals, and trust me, they are so good. So, let me show you what we're going to make. We are going to do some loaded cheddar potato soup, taco chicken filling, budget-friendly lasagna that has a gluten-free option, as well as cottage pie, and an Asian-inspired barbecue chicken. We're going to start out by dicing the potatoes for that really yummy loaded potato soup, and this one is going to go on first because it needs the most time to simmer. This loaded cheddar potato soup is one of my daughter's absolute favorites. And a quick budget tip, potatoes are one of the most affordable ways to build a filling meal. Plus, a bonus, if you're like us and you have some with gluten sensitivity, they're great gluten-free filler. This is a one-pot meal that has big yield and freezes beautifully. And always remember, when it comes to soups or any other dish with dairy, you want to reheat very slowly to prevent separation. >> [music] [music] >> We're going to be using some ButcherBox bacon because this soup is literally built around this bacon. It's the flavor base, and we're going to also use the drippings, as well as the bacon to make bacon bits. This is all going to make your whole kitchen smell amazing. While that bacon is frying, we're going to start into our next recipe because today is all about multitasking. This is a dump and go crock-pot freezer meal and it's so simple. I love having these types of meals on hand. We're going to need some salsa and a few spices just to pull it all together. I don't measure anything because it's going to depend on how many pieces of chicken you have, but I'm using a pint of my home canned salsa. We're going to add in some onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, smoked paprika and salt. You literally just mix the marinade, add your chicken, and then when you pull it out of the freezer, you may want to give it an overnight thaw time just so it marinates those flavors into the chicken all the more, and then you're going to dump it right into your crock-pot. This is so budget-friendly just due to the fact that it has very few ingredients. You can use this chicken in so many different ways. Tacos, burrito bowls, on top of salads or nachos. Our family has used this in many different ways. Now we're going to use that same pan with all the good bacon flavor and we're going to add in some onions to start caramelizing them. And while those onions are caramelizing, I want to take a second to tell you about ButcherBox. I want to say a big thank you to ButcherBox for sponsoring today's video. We have loved ButcherBox for years and as you're seeing me use the different proteins throughout this video, they come from ButcherBox. And I know that I can count on high-quality meat and seafood that is responsibly sourced. Plus ButcherBox protein has no antibiotics or added hormones ever and they include free shipping, flexible delivery schedule, and easy online management so you can pause as you need to and change up your delivery dates. It's a great anchor for all of your hosting meals. So, whether you're flame-grilling, reverse-searing, smoking, as you all know we love to use our smoker, or just using your backyard kitchen, ButcherBox is there for all of the delicious recipes and your summer activities. Upgrade your grilling and get $60 off ButcherBox with my link or code Madeline Zook at checkout, plus free protein for a year. All right, we are back to our prep. So, I've got my onions caramelizing and now I'm going to add some garlic in with those. It only takes a few seconds, believe me. I've burnt my fair share of garlic in my day. So, you just want to watch it as it gets nice and toasty and you start to smell it and then those onions are going to be ready to go into the soup. We're adding in some broth and seasonings as well in the soup to pull it all together. I will have the recipe linked in the description box below, but just take note, I did tweak this to work with what I had in my kitchen and my pantry to keep everything nice and budget-friendly. I always like to look for those good swaps so that I don't have to buy extra ingredients at the store. >> [music] [music] >> Now, we're going to start on our lasagna. This one is a favorite because it's really budget-friendly compared to certain lasagna recipes that have a lot of ingredients and I've swapped out the regular lasagna noodles for gluten-free ones. So, you could either use regular or gluten-free for this recipe. We're going to use a pound of ground sausage and a pound of ButcherBox ground beef together. Using the two together gives so much flavor and it also leans into the budget-friendly side because sausage generally costs less per pound than beef. So, if you're using a little bit of both, you're definitely being easy on your pocketbook. While the meat browns, you're going to start cutting up your veggies for the [music] cottage pie. And to be totally honest, guys, to stay in budget and keep most of what I bought from the store under $50 for this meal prep, I just went to my refrigerator and looked if I had veggies that could work with this. So, I had some carrots and I already had some onions and I think I had the celery. I'm not sure if I picked that up in my groceries or not, but either way, just working with cleaning out the veggies I had in my refrigerator instead of buying new ingredients. Adding in cheddar, heavy cream, and bacon to the soup, this is all the richness and yumminess of this soup. I always shred my own cheese because it melts so much better. After adding those things in, we're going to stir it and let it simmer just so the flavors combine and your soup is [music] done. Because I'm currently out of my own home-canned crushed tomatoes, I'm just using some from the grocery store. So, we're just going to cut those cans open and dump them in. Again, this is a really budget-friendly ingredient. And then we're going to add in spices. I also just worked with spices I had in my cabinet. Didn't get anything extra special for this. And then we're going to go ahead and start layering everything. Now, this is where you would have a lot of extra things added into a lot of lasagna recipes. There would be eggs or other types of cheeses. We are just working with absolute basics here, you guys. So, we're going to just use the mozzarella cheese. We're going to just use the meat mixture with the seasoning and the crushed tomatoes. And then, we're also just using ricotta cheese layered in between. Some people will take egg and mix it with the ricotta cheese and add in Parmesan. Those things all make a very delicious dish, but if we're trying to lean into budget-friendly, these are just things that we can exclude and still get a really yummy tasting [music] dish. >> [music] [music] >> All right. Now, we're going to start assembling our shepherd's pie. But, I think most people call this cottage pie because it doesn't have lamb in it and I am using ground beef. Either way, it's such a cozy, yummy comfort food in our house. Again, like I mentioned, this is where we can just use the veggies we have on hand. You're going to stir-fry them a bit and I always add just a little bit of water as well to help steam those carrots because they can take a bit longer. All right. We're going to get started on another recipe. This is our Asian-inspired barbecue chicken marinade that we're going to make up. And guys, again, I just went to my refrigerator and pulled things out. There's lots more you can add to this, but this is what I had on hand to work with. So, I'm starting off with a good olive oil base, and I have a sugar-free Japanese barbecue sauce I had in the refrigerator, but you could exclude this and just use soy sauce if that's what you have on hand. I also added in coconut aminos, which is a soy sauce alternative, and we're adding some good brown sugar to get great caramelization on this chicken when we put it on the grill. I'm also putting some garlic and ginger powder in as well. This could also have some hot sauce or any type of spicy pepper added to it to amp up the heat. Since I have children, we just kind of kept it as is. I did use affordable chicken thighs for this recipe. They are such a budget-friendly thing [music] to add into your week, especially if you have other ingredients in your grocery cart [music] that are a bit on the pricey side, like a roast or something like that. I always like to lean into those good chicken thighs that don't cost me much. So, to round out this meal, this is really good over rice, and you could also serve some steamed broccoli on the side. >> [music] >> Now, we're going to mash the potatoes for the cottage pie. We're going to add in butter, sour cream, and some seasonings I had on hand, but you could do this without the sour cream and just add in butter if you're trying to stay on the budget [music] side. >> [music] >> Quick side note, I actually like to add W sauce into this, but I didn't have any on hand, so I drizzled a little bit of steak sauce in. And you guys, it actually turned out so, so good. Now we're going to layer this all into a greased pan, and this freezes so well. I've made this as a freezer meal for years. So, you're just going to put the meat in the bottom, and you're going to spread your mashed potatoes over the top. >> One thing I love about freezer meals is you can make several at once and your freezer just feels so stocked and ready. I always feel like it's such a win when I'm prepping ahead and still have room to grow. So, there you have it. Five freezer meals done. Loaded cheddar potato soup, taco chicken filling, budget-friendly gluten-free option, lasagna, cottage pie, and our Asian-inspired barbecue chicken. All of these are going straight into the freezer and I feel so good knowing that dinner is handled for our family on crazy days. If you've tried any of these, leave me a comment below. I would love to know which one is your favorite. If you're new here, don't forget to subscribe. Have an amazing day and I'll see you guys in the next one.