How I meal plan from my freezer before I go shopping
When I’m meal planning properly, I always start with what we already have.
Before I think about what I fancy cooking or start writing a shopping list, I check the freezer, fridge and cupboards so I know what needs using, what meals I can already make and where the actual gaps are.
This week I did a full freezer audit before writing the meal plan, which was especially useful because we’ve got three freezers now and it’s surprisingly easy to forget what’s hiding in them.
From there, the process was simple: work out what needed using first, turn those ingredients into meals we actually wanted to eat, then write the shopping list around the gaps.
Start with a proper freezer audit
I went drawer by drawer and made a note of everything useful.
There was mince, chicken, bacon, mushrooms, sausages, pork, homemade tomato soup, frozen vegetables, pastry, pizza bases, garlic bread, mashed potato and various odds and ends that had been pushed to the back.
There were also a few things I’d completely forgotten about, including some fish pie mix and a bag of sausages I genuinely don’t remember buying.
That’s exactly why a proper freezer check is so useful before meal planning.
You don’t need to use everything you find straight away. The point is simply to know what you already have before you start bringing more food into the house.
Look for the things that need using first
Once I know what’s there, I look for anything that needs dealing with sooner rather than later.
This week that included some chicken I’d already taken out to defrost, a couple of portions of leftover corned beef hash, a mystery pork fillet and a pack of fish pie mix that had been hanging around for far too long.
Those are the things I try to build into the plan first because there’s no point making a lovely meal plan while ignoring food that already needs eating.
Turn ingredients into meals you actually want
The next step is where I start turning the freezer contents into actual meals.
The mince became mince and dumplings, the chicken became chicken curry, the Bolognese mix became spaghetti Bolognese, the sausages became toad in the hole and the bacon and mushrooms became a frittata.
The important thing for me is that I don’t let the freezer dictate the whole week.
I still want to eat meals we actually fancy.
Using what you have should make meal planning easier, not make the week feel like one long clear-out of random freezer food.
Keep frozen vegetables in the mix
One thing I always like to have plenty of is frozen veg.
Frozen vegetables can be just as nutritious as fresh and, in some cases, can retain nutrients really well because they’re frozen soon after harvesting. Fresh vegetables can gradually lose some nutrients during transport and storage, so frozen veg is absolutely not a second-best option.
It’s also brilliant for reducing waste because you can take out exactly what you need and leave the rest in the freezer rather than opening a fresh bag and finding half of it going limp in the fridge a few days later.
For meal planning, that means I know I’ve nearly always got something on hand to add alongside dinner without needing to buy fresh vegetables for every single meal.
Plan for batch cooking while you’re already cooking
This is probably one of the easiest ways to make meal planning work harder for you.
Rather than setting aside a whole day to batch cook, I usually prefer to make extra while I’m already cooking something.
If I’m making chicken curry, Bolognese or mince and dumplings, it barely takes any more effort to make a bigger batch and freeze a couple of portions.
That means the freezer gradually fills up with proper homemade meals without me needing to spend hours cooking ten different things in one go.
It also makes future meal planning much easier because those portions become quick meals for busy work days.
Write the shopping list last
Only once the meal plan is written do I make the shopping list.
By that point I already know which meals are coming from the freezer, what I’ve got in the fridge and cupboards and what I genuinely need to buy.
That makes the shopping list much more focused because I’m filling gaps rather than buying ingredients for seven completely new meals from scratch.
It also helps stop those random purchases that look useful in the supermarket and then end up sitting in the freezer for months because I never actually had a plan for them.
This week’s meal plan
After going through the freezer, this is what I ended up with:
Monday is Yorkshire pudding wraps with mini roasties.
Tuesday I’m having bacon and mushroom frittata while my partner has pork.
Wednesday is mince and dumplings with mash.
Thursday is chicken curry with fried rice.
Friday is spaghetti Bolognese with garlic bread.
Saturday is toad in the hole with mash.
Sunday I’m planning to finally use the fish pie mix and make myself a homemade fish pie while my partner has pork fried rice.
We also have a couple of portions of corned beef hash left over, so those will probably become lunches during the week rather than going back into the freezer.
Keep track of what’s in there
I also use my free freezer inventory printable to keep track of what we’ve got, because meal planning is much easier when you can see what’s in the freezer without having to empty half a drawer onto the kitchen floor.
It’s especially useful now we’ve got more than one freezer because otherwise it’s very easy to forget where things are or assume you’ve run out of something when you’ve actually got another packet hiding somewhere else.
I usually update mine as I add or use things, and when I keep on top of it, it makes the next meal plan much quicker because I already have a good idea of what I’m working with.
Why freezer-first meal planning works
Starting with the freezer means I’m not staring at a blank meal planner trying to think of seven completely different ideas.
I’m starting with ingredients, leftovers and meals that are already halfway decided.
It helps us waste less food, makes the shopping list more focused and gives me a natural way to build batch cooking into the week without turning it into a separate job.
And once you get into the habit of checking what you have before deciding what to eat, meal planning becomes much less about inventing seven dinners from scratch and much more about making the food you already have work for you.
