40 Make-Ahead Meals for Easy, Breezy Weeknight Dinners
Now dinner is ready when you are.
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Even if you love to cook, you may not love to prepare dinner from start to finish at the end of a long day (hello, Mondays). Enter: make-ahead meals designed to take the stress out of weeknight cooking and free up some precious hours in your after-work routine.
Our favorite easy dinners can either be fully prepared ahead of time or feature elements that can be made in advance and quickly put together before eating. We also included a few party-ready picks if you're looking for a potluck-style dish. So what food can be prepared in advance? Stash a family-friendly dinner such as a casserole, baked pasta, stew or soup in the freezer or stock your fridge with pre-cooked proteins, chopped veggies and homemade dips, dressings or sauces so you can make healthy (easy!) choices all week. Plus, everyone loves comfort food like homemade meatballs, lasagna and saucy enchiladas — and all of those dinners reheat well, meaning they're 100% meal-prep friendly.
These make-ahead dinners will streamline the cooking process so you can spend less time at the stove and more time lingering at the dinner table, lounging on the couch... the possibilities are (now) endless. And the joy of make-ahead meals isn't limited to dinner: Check out our easy make-ahead breakfasts so you never have to skip fueling up first thing.
![Headshot of Jamie Ballard Headshot of Jamie Ballard](https://hips.hearstapps.com/rover/profile_photos/59f1f687-f8e8-424f-9c1c-3f1c34314d7b_1648832874.jpg?fill=1:1&resize=120:*)
Jamie Ballard (she/her) is a freelance writer and editor who covers news, lifestyle, and entertainment topics, including sex and relationships, TV, movies, books, health, pets, food and drinks, pop culture, shopping, and personal finance. She regularly contributes to Cosmopolitan, Woman’s Day, Good Housekeeping, and YouGov, among other publications. When she’s not working, you can find her running, traveling, or scrolling TikTok. Follow her on Twitter.
Samantha (she/her) is an Assistant Editor in the Good Housekeeping Test Kitchen, where she writes about tasty recipes, must-try food products and top-tested secrets for home cooking success. She has taste-tasted hundreds of products and recipes since joining GH in 2020 (tough job!). A graduate of Fordham University, she considers the kitchen to be her happiest place.
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