On the three days a week I work, I get home at 5:45 with two hungry 2-year-olds hanging off my legs. That is not the moment to start chopping onions. So every other Sunday, I spend about three hours filling our freezer, and on those workdays dinner is basically "reheat and put on plates."
These are the five meals I make almost every time. They're toddler-friendly, they freeze well, and none of them requires any special equipment beyond a big pot, a sheet pan, and a slow cooker.
1. Turkey and black bean chili
Brown 2 pounds of ground turkey with a diced onion and 3 cloves of garlic. Add 2 cans of black beans (drained), 1 can of kidney beans, a 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes, 1 cup of frozen corn, 2 tablespoons of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of cumin, and salt. Simmer 30 minutes. I keep the spice mild and add hot sauce to the grown-up bowls.
Makes about 10 servings. Freezes in quart bags laid flat.
2. Chicken and veggie meatballs
Mix 2 pounds of ground chicken with 1 grated zucchini (squeeze out the water), 1 grated carrot, 3/4 cup of breadcrumbs, 1 egg, 1/2 cup of grated parmesan, garlic powder, and salt. Roll into about 40 small meatballs and bake at 400 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes on a lined sheet pan.
Freeze them on the pan first, then dump them into a bag so they don't clump. We eat them with pasta and marinara, or just plain with rice. The twins call them "balls" and eat an alarming number.
3. Slow cooker pulled pork
A 3 to 4 pound pork shoulder, rubbed with brown sugar, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Put it on a sliced onion in the slow cooker with 1/2 cup of broth and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Cook on low for 8 hours. I start this Saturday night so it's done by Sunday morning, then shred it and portion it with some of the juices.
This one turns into tacos, sandwiches, or rice bowls. Very flexible.
4. Baked ziti with spinach
Cook 1 pound of ziti until just barely al dente, since it will soften more when you reheat it. Mix with a jar of marinara, 15 ounces of ricotta, a big handful of chopped frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed), and half a bag of shredded mozzarella. Split between two foil pans, top with the rest of the mozzarella, cover tightly with foil, and freeze unbaked.
To cook: bake from frozen, covered, at 375 degrees for about an hour, then uncover for 10 minutes. I put it in the oven the second I walk through the door.
5. Lentil and vegetable soup
Saute a diced onion, 2 carrots, and 2 celery stalks in olive oil. Add 1 1/2 cups of rinsed brown lentils, a can of diced tomatoes, 8 cups of broth, 1 teaspoon of cumin, a bay leaf, and salt. Simmer 35 to 40 minutes. Stir in a couple of handfuls of spinach at the end.
The cheapest meal of the bunch, and the one Dan is most likely to take to work for lunch.
How I time the Sunday
Here's roughly how the three hours go. Dan takes the twins to the park for the first chunk, which helps enormously.
- 9:00 Pulled pork is already done. Shred it and portion it into containers.
- 9:20 Start the chili and the lentil soup on two back burners.
- 9:40 Mix and roll the meatballs. Into the oven.
- 10:00 Boil the pasta for the ziti while the meatballs bake.
- 10:30 Assemble the ziti pans. Pull the meatballs to cool.
- 11:00 Everything cools. I clean up and label bags with a marker: name, date, and reheating instructions.
- 12:00 All of it goes into the freezer.
Let things cool before bagging, and lay soups and chili flat so they stack like files. Our freezer is the small one on top of a regular apartment fridge, and flat bags are the only reason this works.
What it costs
These are my rough numbers from our last grocery run in the East Bay. Prices move around, so treat them as ballpark.
| Meal | Total cost | Servings | Per serving |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey chili | $19 | 10 | $1.90 |
| Chicken meatballs | $17 | 8 | $2.13 |
| Pulled pork | $18 | 10 | $1.80 |
| Baked ziti (2 pans) | $16 | 10 | $1.60 |
| Lentil soup | $9 | 8 | $1.13 |
So about $79 for 46 servings, which covers most of our workday dinners and several lunches for two weeks. Toddler portions stretch it further.
A few lessons learned
- Label everything. Frozen chili and frozen lentil soup look identical at 5:45 p.m.
- Thaw soups in the fridge the night before if you can. It cuts reheating time in half.
- Don't try to make seven meals. I did once and I was a wreck by 2 p.m.
Five is the sweet spot for me. Enough to make weeknights easy, not so many that Sunday disappears.
