Here’s the age old question: is it really worth it to spend all day cooking up breakfast freezer meals? Should you do once-a-month breakfast freezer meal prep sessions, or is it better to just make breakfast every day? That’s what I’m trying to figure out, and I’m taking you along with me!
Well, I’m back at it again. I love doing freezer meal prep sessions, but at the same time, I HATE doing freezer meal prep sessions. If you catch my drift.
Truly, when you have a freezer full of ready-to-eat meals just waiting for you, there’s not much to complain about.
But…the actual work on meal prep day is…a real drag.
Okay, okay, I never was a great sales woman. But I wouldn’t be writing this post if I didn’t think it was worth your time to do it. In my opinion, freezer meal prep is worth the hours it might take to get everything cooked, packaged up, and cleaned. You just have to keep the end goal in mind. Your future self will thank you profusely.
But.
Yes, but.
Please proceed with caution. You need to decide what meals are worth it to you. Let me explain…
This particular breakfast freezer meal prep session I was hoping to get everything done in 2 hours.
What a pipe dream!!
After spending over 6 hours cooking, cleaning, and packaging up the meals, I honestly do NOT understand how people do meal prep so quickly. This is my second big meal prep session in the last year, and I should have learned from the first one to keep things very simple.
My issue this time was likely the fact that I had to make crepes and waffles one at a time. It’s not like when you make a big batch of muffins and all 12 cook at once or pancakes and you can cook at least 3 on the skillet at a time. No, one.at.a.time. That surely lengthened out the time I had to spend doing this meal prep session.
Is Breakfast Freezer Meal Prep Worth It?
Now that I’m sure you’re just dying to try this particular breakfast freezer meal prep session yourself, let’s get into the details! Hahaha
What did you make for this breakfast freezer meal prep session?
I was going to make two recipes this time because three felt like too much last time. But then I got a little cocky and upped it to three, lol.
The four recipes I chose were my favorite basic granola, sweet potato waffles, crepes, and oatmeal.
I thought I was so smart because the granola would take up the oven, the waffles would use the waffle maker, and the crepes and the oatmeal would cook on the stove. So I figured that with everything having it’s own space and not having to wait for the oven like last time that it would be faster.
Yes, I had to use the oven at the very beginning to cook the sweet potatoes for the waffles, but they came out just in time when I needed to put in the first batch of granola.
How many meals did you get from this meal prep session?
The granola made enough for at least 8 meals, the waffles made enough for 3 meals, the crepes made enough for 3 meals, and the oatmeal made enough for 3 meals. Altogether, that is 17 meals, which is more than half a month. Whoohoo!
How long did it really take you from start to finish?
From the time I got out ingredients until I finished packaging everything up and putting it away, 9 hours and 20 minutes had passed. That’s a reallllllly long day! I had to take breaks for both lunch and dinner, which added up to 1 hour and 58 minutes. I also had to take breaks to clean and that was 1 hour and 20 minutes. All-in-all, my hands-on cooking and packaging time was 6 hours and 2 minutes.
The time it took per meal (hands-on and cleaning combined) was 26 minutes (442 minutes/17 meals). I can tell you right now, on an average morning I would spend a lot more time cooking up one batch of waffles or crepes for my family, so I’m happy with the amount of time it took per meal. Now, does it take 26 minutes to make oatmeal and clean it up? Not usually. However, the point is I like doing freezer meal prep for the fact that the meals are done and all I have to do is reheat or add them to our meals.
What recipes did you make?
Before I had kids, I would try a new recipe every chance I got. After 11 years of being a mom, I’m not making fancy meals any more. I stick to meals we have tried and like. My recipe file is now full of simple, quick, and just really good recipes for the most part. Only one of the recipes I made, the waffles, was a fairly new one for us.
Granola
My granola recipe is delicious, simple, and versatile, so that’s why I keep on making it. I borrowed it from a fellow blogger years ago, and I fell in love with how good it was. I am very happy to share the link with you: Easy Simple Granola Recipe.
The original recipe calls for just brown sugar, but I like mine a little chunkier so I use both brown sugar and honey. I used to use wheat germ years ago, but I haven’t been able to find it since I moved to Texas so I just leave it out. You can probably substitute flax seed for the wheat germ. For the nuts I use sliced almonds instead of sunflower seeds. I don’t like the flavor of sunflower seeds in the granola, but the almonds are nice and subtle.
I scaled the recipe back just a bit on my meal prep cooking day. Instead of making enough for 24, I went down to 18. It made enough for two batches in the oven.
There is no need to remove the granola from the freezer to thaw. I use it straight from the freezer all the time and it tastes the same!
Sweet potato waffles
This is the second time I’ve made sweet potato waffles. I think they are perfect if you are trying to avoid sugar. The sweet potatoes make them sweet enough! Of course you can top them with syrup, jam, or fresh fruit for added sweetness, but I like that the sweetness in the waffle comes from a natural source. My kids really like Sweet Potato Waffles!
I used my mini waffle maker because it makes the perfect size of waffle for my kids; they only eat 2 or 3. If I had used my regular-sized waffle maker, I’m sure I would have spent far less time making waffles for freezer meal prep.
Thawing and reheating the waffles are a cinch. I take them out of the freezer the night before I plan to serve them. The next morning, I will place them on a sheet pan and put into a 200-250 F oven for 7-12 minutes until nice and warm.
Crepes
I have three different recipes for crepes that I cycle through. This particular crepe recipe is definitely easy and delicious. Although, if you will be using your blender to mix all the ingredients, you can really only double the recipe. What you could do is double the recipe, pour it into a large bowl, and then double it again and add it to the first in the large bowl so you have quadruple the recipe.
I tripled the recipe and it made about 32 crepes. To freeze them, I just stacked 10-11 and wrapped them with plastic wrap. Then I put them in a gallon-sized freezer bag.
Thawing and reheating is very easy. I take them out of the freezer the night before I plan to serve them for breakfast. In the morning, I take them out of the freezer bag and the plastic wrap and divide the pile of crepes into two stacks. I put the two stacks on a sheet pan and place in a 200-250 F oven for 12-15 minutes. They are nice and warm and ready to eat!
Oatmeal
You could really make just about any oatmeal recipe and freeze it, but I love steel cut oats for their texture, so this Maple Cinnamon Oatmeal recipe is one I’ve been making a lot lately. If you are dairy-free like us, you could use coconut milk or almond milk in place of the whole milk and buttermilk.
To freeze, I put the oatmeal in silicon muffin cups and freeze for 2-4 hours. Then I remove them from the muffin cups and put in a freezer bag. I do this same method with soup!
When I want to make the oatmeal for breakfast, I take it out of the freezer, preferably the night before. Then I put it into a medium saucepan (about 5 or 6 muffin cups for my 3 kids or up to 7 or 8 if I am eating it with them) over low heat. I will add a tablespoon or two of water or milk while it reheats. The whole process takes very little time if it’s had a chance to thaw in the fridge overnight. If I am throwing them in the pan straight from the freezer, it can take 20 minutes or more. Be sure to stir it often! You just don’t want to have the heat on too high or the oatmeal will start sticking to the bottom of the pan, especially if you don’t add enough liquid.
How are you going to serve these breakfast freezer meals?
Granola can be used in so many different ways. In our house, we love making yogurt parfaits with it. We also make something called Monkey Salad, which is kind of like a homemade cereal of sorts with cut up bananas, nut butter, nuts, coconut flakes, chocolate chips, granola, and milk.
The sweet potato waffles can be topped with fruit, jam, syrup, and nut butter. We might also serve it with eggs, bacon, sausage, a smoothie, or a side of fruit.
Crepes are delicious with fruit sauce, jam, syrup, and nut butter. Just like the waffles, you can serve them with eggs, bacon, sausage, a smoothie, or a side of fruit.
Finally, we usually eat our oatmeal with mashed bananas, nut butter, nuts, chia seeds, honey, coconut flakes, raisins, more fruit, and more cinnamon. We used to also add chocolate chips before we decided to eat mostly dairy-free.
Is it really worth it to make these meals and freeze them?
I think it is worth the time to make these meals all at once and freeze them. I love to cook, but mornings are so hard for me, so having meals ready to eat is invaluable.
I do think it would be smart to make these meals on different weeks, if that makes sense. So, for example, the first week you’d make the granola. Easy peasy, 30 minutes hands-on time and you’re good for that week. Then, the next week you can make the crepes. You would make enough to eat for that morning and then freeze the rest. So you’d have to make a triple or quadruple batch. And it might take you a couple hours, if I’m being honest, but at least it’s not an entire day’s worth of work. The other two weeks you could make the oatmeal and waffles.
So, really, doing freezer breakfast meal prep can fit into your schedule, whether you make several recipes all in one day or just one meal each week. It really just depends on what your schedule is like and what you prefer to do!
Related Posts
10 Steps to a Successful Breakfast Meal Prep Session- Make-Ahead Chicken and Spinach Mason Jar Salad
- How to Make Amazing Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Meatballs
- This Cooking System Could Save You Loads of Time During Busy Weeks
- Sweet Potato Muffins {Egg-Free, Dairy-Free} You Can Double and Freeze
- 25+ Delish – and healthier – Meal Ideas for January
Leave a Reply