Here at Living Well Spending Less we are 100% committed to bringing you easy recipes that taste great and don’t take a lot of time, effort, or expensive ingredients to throw together. As a busy mom, I also want meals that can be made and frozen ahead of time to save time on hectic weeknights, especially as part of a Sunday Prep plan. My goal is to spend less time in the kitchen, not more, but I still want to be able to provide tasty meals that my family loves (and avoid eating out when we can!)
Over the past year we have shared five different 10 Meals in One Hour™ plans, which have each included 5 great freezer recipes that can be prepared together in about sixty minutes. (You can find the previous plans here: Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3 , Part 4 and Part 5 ) They have been a huge hit, not only with our own families, but with many of your families as well, and we’ve absolutely loved hearing how much you all are enjoying these tasty recipes!
Today I am super excited to share with you a new series of internationally inspired recipes–we’re calling it “Global Flavors.” And believe me when I tell you it is our yummiest–and easiest–plan yet!
As usual, in order to make the cut, each recipe must meet ALL of the following criteria:
- Deemed delicious by both my kids and husband
- No pre-cooking required
- Freezer friendly
- Easy to cook
- Uses budget-friendly ingredients and pantry staples
In this one post you will find everything you need to prep 10 awesome freezer meals in about an hour of hands-on time (not including grocery shopping.) Just think, in just one quick weekend session you could have almost two weeks worth of absolutely delicious, family-friendly meals all ready to go!
Before you begin, you will need to gather your tools & supplies and also make sure that you have all your groceries on hand. I find it is easiest to go grocery shopping the day before I do my cooking. To save time unloading, only put away the items that need to be refrigerated. Finally, make sure your kitchen counters are cleared of clutter and sanitized and empty your dishwasher and sink of any dishes. (Check out this post for more tips on freezer cooking like a pro!)
10 Meals in an Hour™: Part 6
Here are the five recipes we will be making:
- Easy Thai Chicken
- Easy Pesto Chicken
- Grilled Steak Tacos
- Easy Greek Chicken
- Easy Freezer Bacon & Blue Cheese Burgers
Here are the supplies you will need:
- 10 gallon size zipper freezer bags
- Avery 8163 shipping labels or permanent marker
- large mixing bowl
- cutting board
- sharp knife
- garlic press
- can opener
- dry measuring cups
- liquid measuring cups
- dry measuring spoons
- liquid measuring spoons
Here are the ingredients you will need:
Produce
- 2 sweet onions
- 2 bunches green onions
- 5 limes
- 2 lemons
- 2 packages shredded lettuce (optional; only needed for cooking day, not for prep)
- 2 avocado(optional; only needed for cooking day, not for prep)
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro
- 1 bunch fresh rosemary
- 12 cloves garlic
- 2 plum tomatoes ( optional; only needed for cooking day, not for prep)
- 1 beefsteak tomato (optional; only needed for cooking day, not for prep)
- 1 head lettuce (optional; only needed for cooking day, not for prep)
Pantry Staples
- Olive oil
- Worcestershire sauce
- Ketchup (optional; only needed for cooking day, not for prep)
- Mayonnaise (optional; only needed for cooking day, not for prep)
- Rice (optional; only needed for cooking day, not for prep)
- Black pepper
- Salt
- McCormick Grill Mates Montreal steak seasoning
- chili powder
- Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
- ginger(freeze dried or fresh)
- apple cider vinegar
Canned/Dry Goods
- 1 13.5oz can coconut milk
- 1 bottle fish sauce (found in Asian food section)
- 1 bottle Sriracha
- 1 can cola
- 1 16oz jar chunky salsa (only needed for cooking day, not for prep)
- 2 8oz jars pesto
Bread
- hamburger buns (cooking day only)
- taco shells (cooking day only)
Dairy
- 1 package shredded mozzarella cheese (optional,cooking day only)
- 5oz blue cheese crumbles
- 1 package shredded cheddar cheese (optional, cooking day only)
Meat
- 6-8 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts
- 2-3 pounds lean ground beef sirloin
- 1 pound bacon
- 2 3-4 pounds skirt steak
Be sure to print the following recipes:
- Easy Thai Chicken
- Easy Pesto Chicken
- Grilled Steak Tacos
- Easy Greek Chicken
- Easy Freezer Bacon & Blue Cheese Burgers
PREP
- Prep your bags—either print labels using these ready-made printable labels or use a permanent marker to label each bag with the name of the recipe, date prepared, and cooking instructions. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! While you might think that you’ll remember what is in every bag, I promise you will forget!
- Cook bacon and set aside
- Chop onion and set aside
- Chop green onion and set aside
- Juice lemons and set aside
- Juice limes and set aside.
- Chop rosemary and set aside.
- Peel and mince garlic and set aside
- Prep raw chicken
PREPARE
- Prep Easy Thai Chicken using instructions found here. Divide mixture into 2 freezer bags, press out excess air, and seal well. Place bags in refrigerator.
- Prep Easy Pesto Chicken using instructions found here. Divide mixture into 2 freezer bags, press out excess air, and seal well. Place bags in refrigerator.
- Prep Grilled Steak Tacos using instructions found here. Place meat into 2 freezer bags and cover with marinade, then press out excess air and seal well. Place bags in refrigerator.
- Prep Easy Greek Chicken using instructions found here. Place chicken into 2 freezer bags and cover with marinade, then press out excess air and seal well. Place bags in refrigerator.
- Prep Easy Freezer Bacon & Blue Cheese Burgers using instructions found Here. Place chicken into 2 freezer bags and cover with marinade, then press out excess air and seal well. Place bags in refrigerator.
- Once all prep is complete, place all bags in freezer until needed. After you’ve made your meal plan for the coming week, consider setting an alert on your phone to remind you to take your bag out to thaw the day before you plan to make it.
Want more 10 Meals in an Hour? Check out the entire series!
- 10 Meals in an Hour
- 10 Meals in an Hour Part 2
- 10 Meals in an Hour Part 3
- 10 Meals in an Hour Part 4
- 10 Meals in an Hour Part 5
- 10 Meals in an Hour Part 6
- 10 Meals in an Hour Part 7
- 10 Meals in an Hour Part 8
- 10 Meals in an Hour Part 9
- 10 Meals in an Hour Part 10
- 10 Meals in an Hour Part 11
Have you tried making 10 meals in an hour yet? What tricks or tips can you share?
TAKE BACK CONTROL OF YOUR HOME LIFE
Ever feel like you just can't keep up? Our Living Well Starter Guide will show you how to start streamlining your life in just 3 simple steps. It's a game changer--get it free for a limited time!
If you love this resource, be sure to check out our digital library of helpful tools and resources for cleaning faster, taking control of your budget, organizing your schedule, and getting food on the table easier than ever before.
I can’t find the link to print the labels? Help please
Hi Jen,
Please click on the Dig Deeper box and enter your email to have the information for the 6th 10 Meals in an Hour Plan sent to your email. 🙂
Love the sheet you made for easy shopping, I just added to it at the end what else I needed and it made shopping easier:)
Made my freezer meals for the first time yesterday and looking forward to trying them as we eat. Greek Chicken I just completed for dinner last night as it was the last thing I put together and everyone loved them!
Thank you so much
keep sharing new recepies !!!
Your 10 meals in 1 hour sections sound AWESOME! But I have a slow cooker question — I leave for work at 6:15am and don’t get home until almost 5 pm. If a meal only needs to cook for 4-5 hours, how do I do that? I have concerns about putting it on a timer and leaving food just sitting and coming to room temp. My slow cooker does have a “warm” setting that it switches to after the cook time is up, but things still continue to cook some. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Hi Jessica,
Does your slow cooker have a low setting? You might want to do a test run on the weekend or a day your not working just to see how it will turn out and then adjust the time, temperature and settings used. 🙂
Ruth,
I just downloaded Freezer Meal Plans 4-6. Thanks so much for these! I have really enjoyed Plans 1-3, and am excited about trying the new ones!
I have mentioned your Plans several times to friends, and a couple of times in my Weight Watcher meetings. (Most of the recipes aren’t WW-friendly, but they are easily adjustable.) Just before my meeting this morning, a lady thanked me for telling the group about Freezer Meals, and that she had run out of ink printing hers yesterday. Then another lady, overhearing, asked what we were talking about, so I told her too! She was excited about looking into them, too!
I am such an ambassador for your website–that is so easy to do with a site that has such quality posts! Thanks so much for sharing such helpful things with us all! ~k
I was just telling my sister in law how freezer cooking got us through the first month of having a newborn at home. This is excellent! She responded that stuff tends to go into their freezer and never come out. I am that way a little bit too. I always forget the meals I have available in the freezer. Why is that? To help me out, I’m going to take one of my super sticky post it notes, write which meals I have available and stick it to the front of the freezer. Hopefully, the visual reminder will help me remember when I meal plan for the week to include a few freezer meals.