October Fall Freezer Meals Are Here!
A few months ago, I discovered what feels like a little life hack.
I started spending an hour each month getting a few meals prepped for the month ahead. We’re talking just assembling stuff for my favorite recipes into bags and freezing it!
And I canāt tell you how much this system makes me feel like I have my life together! Itās the best.
What I Prepped:
What I Got:
The recipes this month are absolute family favorites for fall!
And they all have cook times for Crockpot, Instant Pot, and stovetop methods. š
Hope these help make your life easier this month like they have for us!
Here Are The Bag Labels + Grocery List:
They’re free! Aren’t they so fun?!
Everything you need is right on them. I print the cards out and attach them to the bags so I don’t have to use my phone at all for the prep or cooking.
Here Are All The Recipes:
Apple Streusel Muffins
16-18 muffins total
Click here for printable version!
Blend in a BLender:
- 1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
- 3 eggs
- 3 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 cups chopped Honeycrisp apples
- 1 1/2 tsps. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. salt
For the streusel: mix 4 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup brown sugar, and 3/4 cup flour into small crumbles.
Bake
Spray a muffin tin with avocado oil. Fill tins two-thirds of the way full with batter; top with streusel.
FReeze
Store muffins in an airtight container or bag in the freezer (or fridge). To reheat from frozen, microwave 45-60 seconds.
Chicken Tinga Tacos
4 servings
Freeze Together
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- half of an onion, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 2 individual chipotles in adobo sauce
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 14-oz. can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 1/4 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1/4 cup water
Cooking Methods
Finish
Remove chicken from the sauce and shred. Blend sauce until smooth. Add chicken back in. Serve in tortillas with all the taco fixings you want!
Chicken Wild Rice Soup
10 servings
Freeze Together
- 3 cups mirepoix (chopped celery, carrot, and onion)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup uncooked wild rice
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. poultry seasoning
- 1 lb. chicken breasts
- 1 tbsp. chicken bouillon paste
Cooking Methods
Add 5 cups chicken broth before cooking.
Finish
Shred chicken; return to pot.
Add 1-2 cups heavy cream and 1-2 cups chicken broth (as needed). To thicken: whisk 2 tbsp. cornstarch with 2 tbsp. cold water; add and simmer.
Steph’s Chickpea Curry
4 servings
Freeze Together
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp. red curry paste
- 1 1/2 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. brown sugar
- 2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 cup chicken broth
Cooking Methods
Finish
Whisk 1 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch in 1 1/2 tbsp. cold water; add to bubbling pot and let simmer until slightly thickened.
Stir in 2 cups of fresh spinach and fresh cilantro just before serving.
Serve with rice and chili crisp. I also love this with cucumber salad (thinly sliced cucumber and red onion, tossed with vinegar, avocado oil, salt, and sugar).
By the way, freezer meals in the fall are such a sanity save once schedules fill up again. The fact that the prep is genuinely effortless instead of “easy” in food-blog terms makes this a real keeper. Keep it up!
I love the variety of flavors in these fall freezer meals! The butternut squash and sage combo sounds perfect for cozy nights. Canāt wait to give these recipes a tryāthank you for sharing!
Freezer meals that still taste good after thawing are the only way school nights stay sane here. Bookmarking this batch for next Sundayās prep.
Just wanted to say, adore a freezer-meal roundup that uses actual fall flavors instead of just repackaging summer recipes. The one with butternut squash is going on that week’s list. Thanks for sharing!
For what it’s worth, freezer meals in the fall are such a sanity save once schedules fill up again. The fact that the prep is genuinely straightforward instead of “simple” in food-blog terms makes this a real keeper.
Hi there, how long do these recipes stay good for in the freezer? I would like to have these as back ups. Thank you.
2 to 3 months!
Love your recipes! I love curry and the recipe for Chickpea curry looks fabulous, but, my husband is not a chickpea for protein kind of guy. Can I use chicken or shrimp instead and how much would I use?
Can you clarify the liquid added to the chicken and wild rice soup? Iām reading 5 cups broth for cooking and then another 2.5 to finish with 2 cups cream, is that right?
Hello! Yes, it is another 1-2 cups of broth added, as needed, with the cream. You can adjust depending on how thick you like your soup.
Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful ideas! I love your recipes. For the Chicken Wild Rice Soup- Would a combination of Heavy Cream and Whole Milk work here like in the original blog post? What ratio do you think would be best if I did that? Thank you!
I love both the original bechamel (butter / flour / milk) method, and the heavy cream method! š For this version, I opted for the heavy cream just because it’s easier to put onto the small cards. But the bechamel is great and it will get a bit thicker than just using cream. If you want that version, I’d just make the bechamel and add it at the end, using the same quantities as in this post: https://pinchofyum.com/crockpot-chicken-wild-rice-soup
Hi there! Always wondering about the prep for chicken thighs, how much do you trim the fat and gristle from them? It takes me so long and I’m always wondering if it’s worth doing.
Unless it’s a big piece of fat that you can easily cut off, you can definitely skip the trimming.
Love the recipes I have tried! Going to try the freezer prep soup and muffins. Thanks for the recipes
Can you use chicken breast instead of chicken thighs in the tinga tacos?
Yep! I prefer thighs because they stay a bit juicier, but chicken breasts can absolutely work. š I would pull them out of the sauce when they’re done and really kind of -chop them into shreddy chunks rather than straight shred them – maybe it’s just me, but I find that sometimes the shredding with chicken breasts can get a bit stringy.
Hi Lindsay,
Thank you so much for all of your great recipes and ideas! I really appreciate all the hard work.
You’re so welcome! I really have enjoyed doing these for myself these last few months, so it’s fun to share them!
Lindsay – LOVE your recipes! Question about the freezer meals. There are a couple that you say you freeze the chicken separately but on the Chicken Wild Rice Soup it looks like you put the chicken in the same bag with everything. Can you please clarify for me? Thank you!!
Yes! š Short answer – you can put the chicken in the bag, or add it later. Either can work. Long answer – With the first batch I did in September, I left the chicken out and added it at the time of cooking (and I wrote that into those recipe cards). I liked how it cooked, but I found it was a little bit inconvenient because I didn’t always have chicken on hand when I needed it. So for round two / the set of recipes in this post, I decided to include the chicken in the bag. All these recipes now have chicken going into the bag with everything else, and all the cook times are listed with that in mind.
These were so easy and awesome. I prepped one of everything for my friend who just had a major surgery, and another batch for my family. I hope you keep coming out with these!
Love that you are sharing these meals with others!
Any replacement ideas for chipotles in adobo? Worried too spicy for the kids.
You can just keep out!
Freezer crockpot meals are great for camping. Prep is pretty much done. Put them in the crockpot and enjoy after a day of hiking and fun. Delicious!
So smart!
Girl!
I’ve been freezer cooking for years and have seen nearly all the websites on the topic.
Yours are simply THE BEST label layout I’ve ever come across! Kudos to you!
Thank you so much Jerri! I work on these freezer meals with Jenna on our team, and the two of us really try to make them feel as user friendly as possible! š