Vegetarian Freezer Meals that will Make Future You Happy

Vegetarian freezer meals are a little work up front, but very useful down the road. Let’s say you know you’ll be busy sometime in the next couple months, and cooking is going to be more difficult. Or maybe you know someone who is about to undergo a medical treatment or surgery that will keep them from being able to prepare meals. Or maybe you just have time to cook one weekend, and want to make your life easier in the next several weeks. Now for me, with a baby on the way, I knew some freezer meals would be a necessity. But why just vegetarian meals you may ask? Well as more people try to follow a plant-based way of eating, we thought having a round up of our favorite vegetarian freezer meals would come in handy!

Before we dive into the recipes, let’s talk logistics. Now most foods last about 3-6 months in the freezer, and it definitely depends on how you store it. So for us, baby due in April, we made our freezer meals in March, to ensure they would still be perfectly delicious when we reheated them. I also stocked up on gallon-size freezer zip top bags, heavy duty aluminum foil, plastic wrap, and disposable aluminum pans. A gadget that can definitely be useful for freezing food is the Food Saver, which helps remove more air to keep your foods from getting freezer burned.

Now that we have what we need to store the food, let’s talk recipes.

Double Chocolate Kodiak Muffins

vegetarian freezer meals
Muffins and quick breads are a perfect addition to the breakfast routine, and they freeze so well! I saved a few steps (and ingredients) by using a box mix. For these double chocolate muffins, I used the Kodiak brand dark chocolate pancake mix. I like this brand because their products are whole grain and higher in protein. You can easily make these in muffin form, or bake in a loaf pan.
Once the muffins are completely cooled, place on a baking sheet and stick them right in the freezer until they are frozen. Then place them in a zip top bag, squeeze out excess air, and back into the freezer they go. If you make a loaf, you can let it cool completely before wrapping in plastic wrap and then foil (I like to do both for more protection).

Roasted Vegetable Quiche

Eggs are such a versatile protein and are great for any meal of the day. Our Roasted Vegetable Quiche can be paired with fruit for breakfast, or a fresh salad for lunch or dinner. Quiches can be easy make ahead meals as well. Bake and let cool completely before wrapping it up and storing in the freezer. A simple thaw in the fridge, and reheat in the oven, and the meal is ready!
vegetarian freezer meals

Black Bean Enchiladas

vegetarian freezer meals
Casserole-type dishes just tend to work well for our vegetarian freezer meals. For a Mexican-inspired dish, I made black bean enchiladas. I like to make a big pot of black beans in the slow cooker. The texture is just so much better than canned, in my opinion. I’ll usually freeze cooked black beans in a few jars to be used later on for tacos or burritos.
This time, however, I used them all for the enchiladas! This simple recipe only has a few ingredients and keeps well in the freezer. I assembled in disposable pans, covered, then wrapped in plastic wrap and foil. When you’re ready to eat, let thaw, remove the foil/plastic, and bake. Dinner is served, and there’s no clean up!

Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells

When it comes to Italian night, pasta bakes, lasagna, and stuffed shells make for delicious freezer meals. Our stuffed shells freezer meal is the perfect make ahead meal. The shells are stuffed with a spinach and ricotta mixture, then slathered with a jar of marinara, and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.
vegetarian freezer meals
You can make this two different ways. You can either assemble the entire casserole in a disposable aluminum pan, or you can freeze the individual stuffed shells, and store in a zip top bag. If assembling the casserole, layer the ingredients in the pan (don’t bake it), then cover, and wrap in plastic wrap and foil. If freezing the individual shells, place the shells on a wax paper lined baking sheet and place in the freezer until completely frozen. Then place in a zip top bag, squeeze out excess air, and seal. You can also freeze shredded cheese with it for future assembly, and make sure to have a jar of marinara in the pantry!

Thai-Inspired Pumpkin Soup

vegetarian freezer meals
Soups in general make great freezer meals as most reheat really well. I know a typical dinner is tomato soup and grilled cheese, but in our house, we pair our grilled cheese with this Thai-inspired pumpkin soup. I like to freeze my soups in zip top bags because you can lay them flat in the freezer and they don’t take up much room. Just thaw in the fridge and then reheat on the stove or in the microwave when you’re ready to eat!

Creamy Vegetarian Tortellini Soup

This is one of my favorite soups in general so I wanted to make it into a freezer meal. Biggest thing with tortellini soup is you can’t add the tortellini yet. I made our Creamy Vegetarian Tortellini Soup but omitted the tortellini and the cream. I usually purchase tortellini from the refrigerated pasta section, but for this meal, I like to grab a bag of already frozen cheese tortellini.
vegetarian freezer meals
The soup gets cooled completely and stored in a zip top bag (laid flat in the freezer), and the tortellini just stays in it’s own bag until ready to eat. When you reheat the soup, add the tortellini and finish with a splash of cream. Delicious!

Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie

vegetarian freezer meals
Shepherd’s pie is traditionally made with ground lamb (and cottage pie is the ground beef version that most of us refer to as shepherd’s pie). However this time, we’re going all veggie with a meatless version. Not every shepherd’s pie has shredded cheese on top, but that’s how we do it in our house. Like the other casseroles, assemble this Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie in a disposable pan, let cool completely, then cover and wrap tightly before sticking in the freezer.
Whether you follow a vegetarian diet, or are just trying to eat more meatless meals, we hope these tasty freezer meals help make your meal prep easier and delicious! Looking for more vegetarian meal ideas? You can find all of our vegetarian recipes on our recipe database!

An award winning recipe developer, Dietitian Kaitlin’s mission is to empower others to reach their health goals by encouraging them to get back into the kitchen. Co-author of Nourished: 10 Ingredients to Happy, Healthy Eating and Cooking with Diabetes.