I'm a big fan of spending my Sunday afternoons meal prepping for the week. It gives me something to do, plus I thoroughly hate cooking during the week after I get home from work. This means my fridge and freezer are constantly full of plastic containers stuffed with prepared meals. Each of the 20+ recipes here can also be prepped over the weekend and shoved in your freezer for the next night you don't feel like cooking. Bonus: they're all vegetarian, to suit anyone who's veggie or anyone (like me) who just really doesn't like cooking meat. Keep reading for meal-prep inspiration.
Stuffed shells are super easy to prepare and store either in freezer bags or in containers. When you're ready to eat them, pull out what you want, pop them in a baking dish, and cover with sauce.
A tortellini bake can be quickly prepared before freezing. When you're ready to eat it, put it back in the oven and then cover with the cheese to top it so it's good and gooey and fresh.
Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Anna Monette Roberts
I love how well quinoa reheats — and how quickly. You can make this quinoa tabbouleh and freeze it in whatever size servings work for you. To reheat, I like to heat up some olive oil in a skillet and toss the quinoa in it until warmed through.
You can line up these enchiladas across an entire casserole dish to freeze and bake them when you're ready to eat them. Save the cheese and avocado for when you're ready to eat them, though!
I love making a huge batch of pasta sauce and freezing it in portions. When I want to eat it, I throw a portion into a pot on the stovetop to heat it back up. So simple!
Soups are one of the easiest foods to make ahead of time and freeze. This one is no exception! Make a big pot and store it in the freezer to pick away at all week.
Make this squash soup in one big pot and portion it out into plastic baggies you can freeze flat. They'll take up less room, and then you've got a perfect portion ready to be heated back up.
For soups with pasta in them, I like to make everything except the pasta to freeze. Once I'm ready to devour the soup, I whip up some pasta to dump in. However, you can easily freeze the pasta in the soup as well. Either option works.
This soup recipe is so simple to throw together while you're accomplishing other things on a lazy Sunday. It's even easier to freeze and heat back up during the week. I suspect it'll be in heavy rotation for many of you!
Get the stuffing ready for the peppers and pack it into your uncooked peppers in a casserole dish. Freeze them, and when you're ready to eat them, bake the peppers all at once.