Make Ahead Foods You Can Freeze Until the Holidays
On the big day, instead of overloading your range (and your sanity) with too many foods cooking at once, why not prep a few things ahead? It’s relatively simple to freeze foods after making, so you can start cooking a week or two ahead of time. What foods freeze best? We have some recommendations.
Mashed Potatoes
You won’t have to peel one potato on turkey day if you make them the week before. Here’s how:
- Follow our recipe for Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes (or use your own recipe), but before adding the dotted butter, let it cool completely.
- Cover well with plastic wrap and place into the freezer.
- Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
- Add dots of butter to the top and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.
Gravy
Make your gravy days ahead and all you’ll have to do is warm it up and fill your gravy boat.
- Make your gravy according to recipe, then completely cool it.
- Put the gravy into a freezer bag and lay it flat so it takes up less space in the freezer.
- Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
- Warm it up on the stove or in the microwave until hot.
Casseroles
So many easy casseroles freeze well, including green bean casserole and mac-n-cheese. Follow these tips to get the best results.
- Make your casserole recipe, but do not add any crunchy or breadcrumb topping yet.
- Cool completely.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap and freeze.
- Remove from the freezer and add your crunchy or breadcrumb topping.
- Cover frozen casserole with foil and bake.
- Remove the foil for the last 15 minutes to get some browning.
Dressing/Stuffing
No matter what you call it, dressing or stuffing freezes easily and is a snap to heat and eat.
- Mix up your dressing per your recipe.
- Wrap it up tightly with plastic wrap and then freeze it.
- To eat, put it into your casserole dish and bake.
*Looking for a great dressing recipe? Make our Homemade Holiday Dressing. The instructions for freezing them are in the Chef’s Notes at the bottom.
Pies
An easily freezable dessert is apple and pecan pie. Both freeze and thaw very well when you follow our tips.
- Bake your pie per your recipe.
- Let it cool completely.
- Freezing it in an aluminum pie pan will ensure it freezes faster and more evenly, but tightly wrap it in layers of plastic wrap first.
- Thaw in fridge overnight.
- Warm up your apple pie in the oven before serving; let your pecan pie come to room temp before serving.