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How to Make the Perfect

Freezer Meals for College Students

I think every time that my children walked out of the house to head back to college, I had this internal struggle to make sure they were going to have enough gas in their cars, money in their pockets and food to feed them.  Surely, I am not the only momma that struggled with this as they left each time.

I have to share with you about one time that Ryne, our son, was heading back to WKU. It was going to be a long time between him coming home and I was a little worried.  In my eyes, he wasn’t going to eat.  Now, let me remind you, he had a kitchen and he was well equipped on how to cook.  So as he was packing up his things, I was packing up practically my kitchen.  To the point, Gregg and Ryne both were just staring at me.  I even packed up a 1/2 bag of crackers to send back with him.  Ryne would just reject the food and put it back.  I thought I was helping.

The lesson I learned that day was he didn’t need stuff, he needed intentional items that would make meals easier for him.  Meals that he could take out of the freezer and place in the oven. Meals that were homemade and healthy.  Not that 1/2 bag of crackers that would just take up space on this small designated shelf in the kitchen.

The Perfect Freezer Meals for College Students

What makes up a good freezer meal?

• Freezer Meals needs to be intentional.  This is probably not the time to try a new recipe for your student.  Be intentional on what meals you send with them and what you know they will eat.
• Freezer Meals that will fuel their brains & packed full of nutrients.  As you probably know, college students are not usually the best to choose meals that are nutritious.  Meals that are fast can be eaten on the go and cheap are the meals students choose first.  When making your choices of what to prepare, choose freezer meals that will give them energy and nutrition.
• Freezer meals should be a quick fix and easy cleanup.  You need to put the meals in containers that are disposable or easy to wash and store.  I have used many containers for our children to take back.  My two favorite are the disposable foil trays as well as the plastic disposable trays and the Rubbermaid containers which all have the same colored lid.  I try to get a color that is not the typical red lid, that way the containers are easier to keep up with.

What Type of Food Are Best For Freezer Meals?

• Choose recipes that are freezable.  You will want to make sure you don’t use food items that do not free well.  Some of these items are milk sauces & greens.
• Pizza dough and pancakes are great to freeze.
• Rice and Pasta work great in freezer meals.  When you are cooking the rice and pasta, you just need to remember to not fully cook.  Stop the cooking process about 2-3 minutes before considered done.
• Broths & soups work great in the freezer.  Use plastic freezer bags to portion out the soups and then you can freeze them laying flat.
• Vegetables are easy to freeze in your meals.  You just need to prep the vegetables for freezing.

Where can I find recipes for freezer meals for college students?

Freezer meals for families are always easy to find.  They are big 9 X 13 pans and enough to feed a family of 4-6 easily.  When looking for recipes for your college student, you can take recipes and cut them in 1/4.  Recipes will then be a good size for your college student to use.

There have been a few times that I have cooked meals for my husband and I then make our college student a freezer meal from what I have cooked.  This is easy to just prepare a little extra and place it in the disposable trays and freeze.

I have also created a Pinterest board called College Life Tips that has some amazing tried and true recipes.  Recipes that have been made and tried and the thumbs up have been given.

Some of our all-time favorites are:

• Spaghetti bake
• Chicken and Rice
• Mini Meatloaves