Meet My Hyperfixation: Margo's Freezer Meals

I recently saw a TikTok video of a mom attempting to cook dinner with a toddler at her side, throwing a tantrum to be picked up. The caption read, “Respectfully, if your recipe wasn’t developed with this scenario in mind, I don’t want it.” I’ve never related to anything more in this season of my life, with an almost 2-year-old demanding all the mom attention she can get. 

Getting my family fed dinner ASAP in the evening has become a top priority, knowing my toddler comes home from daycare hangry every day, and prepping freezer meals is my go-to solution for nutritious, quick, easy cooking. It allows me to take a meal out of the freezer whenever we run out of leftovers in the fridge, let it thaw in the sink or fridge all day, dump it into the InstantPot before I do daycare pickup, and by the time we get home, dinner is cooked and ready for us to sit down and eat together. No fuss, no waiting, just extra quality time together before the bedtime routine starts a few hours later. 

I was intrigued by the idea of freezer meals a few years ago and bought into a mom-blogger’s cookbook during her Black Friday sale. She claimed that by following her process, you could prep 20 meals in around 4 hours with a grocery budget of $250. Anything that offers time and money efficiency is a win in my book. Since doing this the first time, I’ve been hooked!

Her process starts with the shopping list for all 20 meals, which is actually 10 recipes doubled. I’ve now saved these shopping lists in my grocery app to quickly add 'all to cart' whenever I am getting low on meals. The cookbook I bought has four different meal plan options, and I’ve cycled through them all a few times now. They’re all delicious. 

The process is super easy. Once you have your groceries picked up, you label freezer bags for all the meals and get to work. First, you dump all the canned ingredients into the corresponding bags, followed by the chopped veggies, then the spices, and finally the protein. She breaks down the prep sessions into two 2-hour blocks, which I like to tackle during a Saturday/Sunday naptime schedule. A few kitchen tools make the process so easy, I don’t think I’d do this without them - bag holders and a veggie chopper. Worth your investment if you ever want to try this!

I’ve become such an advocate for prepping freezer meals that I now have friends join in, and we do the whole process together. I’d only recommend this if you have a big kitchen, and it’s still a bit much. But still super fun! 

Since I can’t share the recipe book with anyone interested in doing this (legally at least), I wanted to see if ChatGPT could provide a similar grocery list and prep instructions. I prompted Chat to use the cookbook I have as an example to create a new recipe guide, and then clarified a few things. After that, I asked how anyone could prompt the same thing, so here’s the template prompt - modify everything in brackets with your own dietary restrictions or goals as needed if you want to give freezer meals a try!

I want you to create a printable freezer meal prep guide similar to a professional meal-planning PDF.

Structure requirements:

  • 10 freezer meals, each prepped twice (20 total meals)

  • 4-6 servings per meal

  • Designed for a 6-quart Instant Pot

  • Uses gallon-size freezer bags

  • Meals should be dump-and-go and cookable from frozen or thawed.

Recipe requirements:

  • Every meal must include animal protein

  • Preferred proteins: [list yours here, e.g., chicken, ground beef, pork sausage]

  • Avoid high-cost proteins unless specified

  • Focus on high protein, high fiber, with plenty of vegetables [list your own dietary requirements here]

  • Rice and pasta are allowed

  • Include a variety of cuisines (Mexican, Asian, Italian, American, Indian, etc.)

  • Aim for a total grocery budget of approximately [$___]

Workflow requirements:

  • Meals should be organized into two batch-prep days

  • Each batch day should include 5 recipes

  • Prep plan should prioritize efficiency (shared chopping, sauces, proteins)

Deliverables (in this order):

  1. A list of 15 Instant Pot freezer meal options for me to choose from

  2. After I select my 10 meals, provide:

    • A master grocery list for all meals (including spices)

    • A batch prep plan broken into two prep sessions

    • Individual recipe cards for each meal, including:

      • Ingredients (with spices listed)

      • Freezer dump instructions

      • Instant Pot cook times from frozen and thawed

  3. Compile everything into a printable PDF.

Ask me clarifying questions before building the final plan if anything is unclear.

CSG Studio