School holidays are lovely, but when you have a large family at home, one thing is guaranteed — everyone seems to be hungry all the time!
As a mum of seven, I’ve found that doing some meal prep before the children break up from school makes the holidays so much easier. Instead of spending a huge part of every day wondering what to cook, I can simply reach into the freezer and pull out something I’ve already prepared.
For this winter meal prep, I wanted a mixture of family dinners, quick lunches, breakfasts and easy snacks. I made everything from a big batch of curry sauce and marinated chicken to homemade spring rolls, kebabs and breakfast muffins.
The idea isn’t to cook absolutely everything in advance. It’s simply to give yourself a head start.
Here are all the recipes from my winter holiday meal prep.
1. Big Batch Curry Sauce
This is probably one of my most useful meal-prep staples.
Rather than making the base of a curry from scratch every time, I make a large batch and freeze it in portions. On the day I need it, I can add chicken, lamb or vegetables and turn it into a completely different meal.
Ingredients
- 9 onions
- 1 cup sunflower oil
- 12 tomatoes
- 4 tablespoons garlic & ginger paste
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 2 tablespoons garam masala
- 2 tablespoons ground coriander
- 2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
- 2 teaspoons red chilli powder
Method
Slice the onions and add them to a large pan with the sunflower oil.
Cook until the onions have softened.
Slice the tomatoes, add them to the pan and continue cooking over a medium heat until the onions and tomatoes are very soft. You should begin to see the oil separating from the mixture.
Add the garlic & ginger paste, salt and all the spices. Mix everything thoroughly and continue cooking until you have a rich curry base.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.
Divide the sauce between freezer bags, flatten them and freeze.
Meal prep tip: Freezer bags take up much less room than containers and can be stacked once frozen.
2. Salt & Vinegar Crisp Chicken Bites
This was one of those meal-prep ideas that came about simply because I didn’t want to waste food!
Whenever we buy multipacks of crisps, the salt & vinegar packets seem to get left behind. Instead of throwing them away, I crushed them and used them as a crispy coating for chicken.
And it works!
You will need
- Chicken thigh pieces
- Salt & vinegar crisps
- Plain flour
- Eggs, lightly beaten
Method
Crush the crisps until you have fine crumbs.
Prepare three bowls: one containing plain flour, one containing beaten egg and another containing the crushed crisps.
Coat each piece of chicken in flour, followed by egg and finally the crushed crisps.
Place the coated chicken onto a tray lined with greaseproof paper.
Freeze for a couple of hours until firm, then transfer the individual pieces to a freezer bag.
These make a really handy snack to cook in the air fryer.
3. Chicken, Sweetcorn & Soft Cheese Pasties
Pasties are another brilliant freezer snack, particularly during the school holidays when somebody inevitably announces they’re hungry between meals!
Ingredients
- 500g chicken thigh pieces
- 1 teaspoon sunflower oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- Sweetcorn
- Soft cheese
- Ready-rolled puff pastry
Method
Cut the chicken thighs into small pieces.
Heat the oil in a pan and add the chicken, salt, black pepper and paprika.
Cook until the chicken is completely cooked through.
Add some sweetcorn and soft cheese and mix until you have a creamy filling.
Allow the mixture to cool.
Cut your puff pastry into portions, add some filling and fold into triangle-shaped pasties. Seal the edges well.
Place onto a tray and freeze for a few hours before transferring to freezer bags.
When you’re ready to cook them, brush with egg or milk or spray lightly with oil before baking or air frying.
Any leftover filling is also lovely in a sandwich.
4. Freezer-Friendly Marinated Chicken Drumsticks
Sometimes meal prep doesn’t need to involve actually cooking anything.
Simply having meat already seasoned and marinated saves a surprising amount of time on busy days.
Ingredients
- 2kg chicken drumsticks, skin on
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 1 tablespoon red chilli flakes
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1 tablespoon onion granules
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 1 tablespoon garlic & ginger paste
Method
Add all the marinade ingredients to a large mixing bowl and combine.
Cut a few slits into each chicken drumstick. This helps the marinade get into the chicken.
Add the drumsticks and coat them thoroughly.
Transfer everything to a freezer bag and freeze until needed.
That’s one future dinner already halfway prepared!
5. Make-Ahead Breakfast Muffins
Meal prep isn’t just about dinner.
Having breakfast options in the freezer is particularly useful during the school holidays when everyone wakes up at different times.
Ingredients
- 8 eggs
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon coarse black pepper
- Breakfast muffins
- Cheese
- Salami
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan.
Crack the eggs into a bowl, season with salt and pepper and whisk well.
Spray a large baking dish with oil and pour in the eggs.
Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until the egg is set.
Allow to cool slightly before cutting into eight portions.
Slice the breakfast muffins and fill with cheese, egg and salami.
I froze some and air fried a couple straight away for breakfast.
6. Keema & Hidden Veg Spring Rolls
It wouldn’t be one of my big meal-prep sessions without spring rolls!
For this batch I combined lamb mince with plenty of vegetables. I processed the vegetables quite finely before adding them to the mince, which is also a handy way of getting more veg into the filling.
Ingredients
- 1kg lamb mince
- 500g frozen mixed vegetables
- 2 red onions
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic & ginger paste
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree
- Spring roll pastry sheets
- Plain flour and water for sealing
Method
Boil the mixed vegetables until tender, drain thoroughly and process into smaller pieces.
Cook the lamb mince until browned.
Chop the onions and add them to the mince.
Add the vegetables, salt, spices, garlic & ginger paste, lemon juice and tomato puree.
Mix well and cook until the filling is ready. Leave it to cool before assembling your spring rolls.
Mix a little plain flour with water to make a thick paste. This acts as your glue for sealing the pastry.
Add some filling to each spring roll sheet, roll and seal.
I made approximately 30 spring rolls from this batch.
Freeze until needed.
7. Easy Chicken Kebabs
These are another versatile freezer staple. They can be served as part of dinner, put into wraps or buns, or used for a quick lunch.
Ingredients
- 1kg chicken mince
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- ½ cup plain flour
- 1 teaspoon onion granules
- 1 teaspoon garlic granules
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
Method
Place all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
Mix thoroughly — I find using my hands eventually becomes much easier than trying to do it all with a spoon!
Shape the mixture into kebabs.
Place them onto baking paper in a single layer and freeze for a couple of hours.
Once firm, transfer them to freezer bags.
Freezing them individually first stops you ending up with one enormous frozen block of kebabs!
8. Vegetable Lasagne
The final meal I prepared was this comforting vegetable lasagne.
I used sweet potato, aubergine, courgettes, carrots and spinach, so it’s packed with vegetables and perfect for the colder months.
And when I went to assemble it, I discovered I didn’t have any lasagne sheets.
So I used tortilla wraps instead!
They worked surprisingly well.
Ingredients
- 1kg sweet potatoes
- 340g aubergine
- 2 courgettes (approximately 490g)
- 500g carrots
- 2 red onions
- 240g baby spinach
- 500g passata
- 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
- 1 tablespoon garlic & ginger paste
- Lasagne sheets or tortilla wraps
- Grated cheese for topping
For the White Sauce
- 50g butter
- 50g plain flour
- 500ml milk
- ½ cup grated cheddar
- ½ teaspoon salt
Method
Peel and prepare all the vegetables, then chop them into small pieces.
Heat the oil in a large pan and add the vegetables.
Cook over a medium heat for approximately 20–30 minutes, until everything has softened considerably and released its moisture.
Add the baby spinach and allow it to wilt.
Pour in the passata and add the salt, paprika, black pepper and garlic & ginger paste. Mix well.
Make the white sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Add the flour and stir together to form a paste.
Gradually add the milk, stirring continuously until the sauce thickens.
Add the cheddar and salt and mix until smooth.
Assemble the lasagne
Add a layer of vegetable filling to your baking dish, followed by white sauce and lasagne sheets — or tortilla wraps if you’ve run out like I did!
Continue layering until everything has been used.
Finish with white sauce and a generous amount of grated cheese.
Bake until piping hot and beautifully golden on top.
We actually ate ours for dinner that evening, but this is also a great dish to prepare for the freezer.
Why I Meal Prep Before the School Holidays
When you hear “mega meal prep”, it can sound like you’re committing yourself to spending your entire weekend cooking.
But I don’t think meal prep has to mean preparing every single meal your family will eat.
I prefer to think of it as making life easier for my future self.
A bag of homemade spring rolls means there’s a quick snack available. A curry base cuts several steps out of making dinner. Marinated chicken means I can simply get it cooking rather than starting from scratch. Breakfast muffins mean there’s something substantial to grab in the morning.
With seven children at home during the holidays, those little shortcuts add up!
And most importantly, I’d rather do the work beforehand so that during the holidays I can spend more time watching films, going on outings and enjoying time with the family instead of constantly being in the kitchen.
A Few Freezer Meal Prep Tips
- Freeze foods individually first. Spring rolls, kebabs, pasties and coated chicken can be frozen on trays before being transferred to bags. This prevents them sticking together.
- Use freezer bags where practical. Flattened bags take up much less freezer space than lots of containers.
- Cool cooked food before freezing.
- Label everything. Once several mysterious freezer bags accumulate, it’s surprisingly easy to forget what’s inside!
- Prep ingredients as well as complete meals. Curry bases and marinated meat can be just as useful as fully prepared dinners.
- Make foods your family actually eats. A beautifully organised freezer isn’t much use if nobody wants what’s in it.
A Stocked Freezer Makes the Holidays Easier
This meal prep gave us a lovely mixture of breakfasts, snacks, dinner components and complete family meals without needing to cook everything in advance.
That’s really what meal prep is about for me.
It’s not about having a perfectly organised freezer or spending an entire day preparing dozens of identical containers. It’s about doing a little extra work when you have the time so that life is easier when you don’t.
And with a family of nine, I’ll take every shortcut I can get! ❤️
