Want to freeze that meatloaf, but you need your pan later in the week?! Or want to make double (or triple) batches on meatloaf night?
Simply line the pan with foil and then add your meatloaf.
Fold the foil around the meatloaf.
And pop it into the freezer!
After the meatloaf has frozen, take it out of the pan and place the foil-wrapped meatloaf into a plastic freezer bag. (I prefer to double wrap with both foil and plastic bag to help with freezer burn.) When you are ready to cook it, simply place the foil back into the pan that you used to freeze it and then bake. If you want to thaw it first, place it into the fridge to thaw, at least 1 day ahead of time.
To bake from frozen, add 1.5 to 2 times longer than the time suggested in the recipe. I have found that my meatloaves take about 1 hour, 45 minutes to cook from frozen (from a regular baking time of 1 hour).
Some of my favorite meatloaf recipes:
- Stuffing Meatloaf
- Bacon Topped Meatloaf
- Zesty Mini Meatloaves
- BBQ Meatloaf
- Lentil Meatloaf (gluten-free)
We’d love to check our your best meatloaf recipe! Please leave a link!!!
Thanks for the link-up. I love meatloaf but I am picky about it. This recipe, I adore!
Wondering why you don’t cook them then freeze? Are they better this way?
I usually cook mine then freeze them so that they are creating a time saver for our family and we’re not running too to the nearest fast food place when we are short on time on school and practice nights.
Amy
How long can you freeze these for? I know I can store my regular hamburger for a while- but when you mix everything into it, does it store as long? Thanks
Better yet, don’t freeze your meatloaf. It takes almost no time to make one fresh, with most of the delay being cooking time. Freezing makes it take longer to cook, or adds the hassle of remembering to de-thaw it in time for dinner tomorrow, at which point you are stuck in the same boat waiting for it to cook.
The reason that most people do the meatloaf in this manner is if they are doing freezer meals or deal with bulk meats. I do meatloaf anytime I am dealing with 10lbs of hamburger. I cook 5# with onions and garlic and bag it by the pound. The rest I make meatloaf out of. It saves me time because I can just drop it into the crockpot on low in the morning. I do not use traditional loaf pans but just my crockpot itself. I line it with foil, pull and freeze in a ziplock bag.