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Hello friend, it’s me, Jamerrill. 

I’m so glad you found me here. I help mommas live their best lives for God’s Glory! I’m a Jesus loving, long-time homeschool mom to 9. I only know MEGA and LOTS. Here I share all about easy home cooking for a house full, homeschooling, and motherhood for God’s glory.

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Easy Homemade Mac and Cheese Freezer Meal with Beef

This new mac and cheese freezer meal with beef is an even bigger variation of my original Homemade Baked Macaroni and Cheese. My original recipe was for about three 9×13 pans full. This super mega version is enough for three 19 x 11 deep dish pans!

Mac and Cheese with Beef in a baking pan

Homemade Mac and Cheese Freezer Meal with Beef

Our large family gobbled up this freezer mac and cheese with beef. One of the 19 x 11 deep dish pans is 2-3 meals for our large family of ten. Dish out this same volume recipe into the more standard size 9 x 13 pans and you should yield about 8 pans full of the ultimate comfort food.

The ground beef makes this a very hearty meal and helps to fill up all those bellies you need to feed.

How to Make Freezer Mac and Cheese with Beef

This baked mac and cheese with beef is a family favorite. You will want to make this large batch so that you can have plenty of meals to pull out of the freezer for the whole family to enjoy during a busy day.

  1. Cook, crumble and drain 10 lbs of ground beef.
  2. In a separate large stockpot melt butter in the pot. Stir continuously so you don’t burn your butter
  3. Pour 2 cups flour into melted butter and stir together until flour is thoroughly moist. This happens quickly so stir, stir, stir!
  4. Whisk in 16 cups of milk (yes, an entire gallon!). Stir constantly at a medium-high heat for several minutes until boiling.
  5. Using a metal or wooden spoon, stir in 16 cups of cheese until completely melted. This takes about 2-3 minutes of additional stirring. Remove from heat when thoroughly melted.
  6. Pour in 96 oz of cooked and drained elbow macaroni and the 10 lbs of precooked, drained, and crumbled ground beef into your large stock pot of homemade cheese sauce. Stir gently, so you don’t mash your noodles.
  7. Spray your baking dish with non-stick spray. Fill each dish 3/4 of the way full with the baked mac and cheese mixture. Top with remaining shredded cheese.
  8. If using the 19 x 11 large deep dish pans fill three about 3/4 of the way full with your beef mac and cheese mixture. Top each pan with about two additional cups of shredded cheese.
  9. If using 9 x 13 pans fill up to 8 pans 3/4 of the way full with your beef mac and cheese mixture. Top each pan with remaining shredded cheese (more or less as you prefer).

Freezer Mac and Cheese Ingredients

These ingredients are very simple and many of them you may already have on hand in your freezers and fridge.

  • 10 lbs. of ground beef
  • 2 cup butter (or margarine)
  • 2 cups flour
  • 16 cups whole milk (one gallon)
  • 2 tsp salt/black pepper to taste
  • 16 cups shredded cheese (for creamy cheese sauce)
  • 6 cups of shredded cheese (for topping)
  • 96 oz cooked and drained elbow macaroni (this would be similar to three of these 32 oz boxes of elbow macaroni from Walmart).

What other cheeses can I use?

You can put many different cheeses in homemade macaroni and cheese. These are some popular options:

  • sharp cheddar cheese (best cheese that kids love)
  • monterey jack (great option to add strong flavor)
  • gruyere (for a fancier mac n cheese)
  • types of cheese
  • parmesan cheese (for an italian flavor)
  • cream cheese (makes a super creamy sauce)

It doesn’t matter which types of cheese you choose, any cheese freezes perfectly fine and reheats great in any style of macaroni and cheese dish.

How to Thaw Freezer Macaroni and Cheese

The best way to thaw out frozen mac and cheese is by taking your pan out of the freezer the night before. Set it in the fridge and it should be thawed out enough to bake the next evening. If you are using giant pans, you will need to thaw out 24 hours in advance.

Frozen mac and cheese makes the perfect freezer meal as it thaws out nicely, and reheats very well and is not soggy.

Below is a picture of how my Macaroni and Cheese freezer meal looked after it was defrosted for 24 hours and before it went into the oven.

thawed out macaroni and cheese large pan

What are the best pans to use for freezer mac and cheese?

I wanted to try these 19 x 11 deep dish pans I picked up during my last large family Costco haul. I had a few concerns about doing large family recipes in these size pans.

In order to get them to cook all the way through I needed to set them out from the freezer into the refrigerator at least 24 hours in advance. Be aware of that if you tackle cooking in this much bigger size.

I also had to place these large deep-dish pans on my middle oven rack and check-in on them a few more time than I normally would. Also be aware that these big deep dish pans take up more freezer room. I had space for it since my freezer meal stash was nearly zero.

If you’re tight on freezer space you may want to make the 9 x13 variations. Here’s my affiliate link to see a big list of freezer meal pans on Amazon! You can also see my personal large family “must have” freezer cooking supply list here.

My husband nerded out with me and did the math on the 9 x 13 average baking pan and these 19 x 11 deep dish pans. One of these 19 x11 deep dish ends up being approximately 2 1/2 9 x13 pans in volume (we did look up the depth of each pan to do this properly.) Each pan is more than a double batch of one meal!

Now below is how this big deep dish Macaroni and Cheese freezer meal looks hot out of the oven!

 

Freezing Unbaked Mac and Cheese

Freezing unbaked mac and cheese is so easy! Follow these simple instructions to get yourself organized and many meals in your freezer.

  1. Allow your meals to cool completely before placing in the freezer.
  2. Wrap each pan with two layers of aluminum foil.
  3. Label the top of each pan with recipe name and date.
  4. Wrap each pan with a few layers of plastic wrap.
  5. Set each pan to freeze in the freezer. Do not stack the pans on top of one another until each pan is individually frozen.

This frozen mac and cheese recipe is good for about 3 months or so in the freezer, so cook ahead for when real life happens.

Freezer Cooking and Reheating Instructions

As long as you remember to take it out the night before, thawed mac and cheese with beef is super simple to reheat for your family on a busy day.

  1. Set the desired pans in the refrigerator 24 hours before you’d like to serve them.
  2. Preheat your oven to 375 (oven cooking time may vary).
  3. Remove plastic wrap and one layer of foil. Leave a tented foil layer on top of your pan.
  4. Place the big deep dish pan on the middle oven rack in preheated oven for up to 2 hours or until heated through and hot and bubbly.
  5. Check on your deep dish about an hour into the cooking time. Remove the foil tented layer about 30-minutes before cooking time is complete. This will give your dish a nice golden brown color.
  6. For the smaller 9 x13 pans follow the same directions, however, cooking time total should come in no more than an hour.

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Large Family Freezer Meals

Here are a few more large family freezer meals and great recipes you might enjoy.

Chicken Fried Rice Freezer Meal

Slow Cooker Homemade Sloppy Joes

Shepherd’s Pie Freezer Meal Recipe

Large Family Freezer Meals: Easy Baked Spaghetti Recipe

Rosemary Garlic Chicken

This Macaroni and Cheese Freezer Meal was part of my FREEZER MEALS FOR DAYZZZZZ! Bulk Cooking for a Large Family post and YouTube video if you’d like to see it made in action!

Click here for many more freezer meals for a big family!

You can find so many more great freezer meals in my Large Family Freezer Meals 1-15 Digital Bundle!! It includes packs 1-15 of my best-selling large family freezer meals. You will have everything you need to make over 270 large family freezer meals (make as little or as much as you want ) including 15 batch cooking meal prep guides, 15 pack-specific freezer meal grocery shopping lists, freezer meal tips, freezer meal printables including a freezer meal planner and more.
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Baked Beef Macaroni and Cheese Freezer Meal

  • Author: Jamerrill Stewart
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 40 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
  • Yield: Eight 9x13 pans
  • Category: Dinners
  • Method: Oven

Description

Our large family gobbled up this baked beef macaroni and cheese freezer meal.  One of the 19 x 11 deep dish pans is 2-3 meals for our large family of ten. Dish out this same volume recipe into the more standard size 9 x 13 pans and you should yield about 8 pans full. This recipe is good for about 3 months or so in the freezer, so cook ahead for when real life happens!


Ingredients

  • 10 lb ground beef
  • 2 cup butter (or margarine)
  • 2 cup flour
  • 16 cups milk (one gallon)
  • 2 tsp salt/pepper to taste
  • 16 cups shredded cheese (for cheese sauce)
  • 6 cups of shredded cheese (for topping)
  • 96 oz cooked and drained elbow macaroni (this would be similar to three of these 32 oz boxes of elbow macaroni from Walmart).

Instructions

  1. Cook, crumble and drain 10 lbs of ground beef.
  2. In a separate large stockpot melt 2 cups butter in the pot. Stir continuously so you don’t burn your butter (ask me how I know it happens 🙂
  3. Pour 2 cups flour into melted butter and stir together until flour is thoroughly moist. This happens quickly so stir, stir, stir!
  4. Whisk in 16 cups of milk (yes, an entire gallon!). Stir constantly for several minutes until boiling. This is where having a strong-armed teen can come in handy.
  5. Using a metal or wooden spoon, stir in 16 cups of cheese until completely melted. This takes about 2-3 minutes of additional stirring. Remove from heat when thoroughly melted.
  6. Pour in 96 oz of cooked and drained elbow macaroni and the 10 lbs of precooked, drained, and crumbled ground beef into your large stock pot of homemade cheese sauce. Stir gently, so you don’t mash your noodles.
  7. Spray your baking dishes with non-stick spray. Fill each dish 3/4 of the way full with Baked Mac and Cheese mixture. Top with remaining shredded cheese if you’d like. I didn’t have any more on hand and it still turned out nice and bubbly.
  8. If using the 19 x 11 large deep dish pans fill three about 3/4 of the way full with your beef mac and cheese mixture. Top each pan with about two additional cups of shredded cheese.
  9. If using 9 x 13 pans fill up to 8 pans 3/4 of the way full with your beef mac and cheese mixture. Top each pan with remaining shredded cheese (more or less as you prefer).
  10. If you bake one now, you will bake it in a preheated oven at 375 for 30-45 minutes or until brown and melted.

FREEZER MEAL STORAGE DIRECTIONS

  1. Allow your meals to cool completely before placing in the freezer.
  2. Wrap each pan with two layers of foil.
  3. Label the top of each pan with recipe name and date.
  4. Wrap each pan with a few layers of plastic wrap.
  5. Set each pan to freeze in the freezer. Do not stack the pans on top of one another until each pan is individually frozen.

FREEZER COOKING DIRECTIONS

  1. Set the desired pans in the refrigerator 24 hours before you’d like to serve them.
  2. Preheat your oven to 375 (oven times may vary).
  3. Remove plastic wrap and one layer of foil. Leave a tented foil layer on top of your pan.
  4. Place the big deep dish pan on the middle oven rack in preheated oven for up to 2 hours or until heated through and hot and bubbly. Check on your deep dish about an hour into the cooking time. Remove the foil tented layer about 30-minutes before cooking time is complete.
  5. For the smaller 9 x13 pans follow the same directions, however, cooking time total should come in no more than an hour.

Keywords: mac and cheese with beef

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