Building The Ultimate Mix-and-Match Meal Strategy

Introduction

Mix and match meals, also sometimes referred to as Lego Meals* or Duplo Dinners, give you an opportunity to easily add variety to your meal planning process. Instead of freezing a finished dish that you might get tired of, you freeze individual components that can be snapped together in infinite combinations. You aren’t just reheating, you are assembling whatever you’re craving for the next meal. 

*Note: Creator Sarah Hart popularized the term Lego Meals on her social channels (@simplysarahhart) when she shared all the ways she uses her Souper Cubes trays to freeze in individual components. We credit her with this innovative way to rethink how to freeze your food so that you can enjoy it again later. 

Why Freeze Your Food in Components

• Zero Flavor Fatigue - When you freeze a complete dish, you lose the opportunity to adjust it depending on what you’re craving. Freezing in components lets you mix and match your meals so that you have greater variety with your meals and less fatigue from repeating the same dish again and again.
• Precision Portioning - Freezing your food in portioned Souper Cubes trays allows you to reheat the exact amount for each component of your meal.
• Rapid Assembly - Since the components are already cooked, you aren't "cooking" dinner; you're just assembling it and reheating it. Your meal should be ready in under 7 minutes.

Using Souper Cubes for Mix and Match Meals

One of the key tools you’ll need to successfully build your own mix and match meals is a meal prep system designed for the freezer. That’s where the Souper Cubes system comes in. Our portioned trays range in size from 2 tablespoon to 2-cup Silicone Freezer Trays so that you can easily freeze your food in a portion that makes sense for you. Additionally, our ceramic baking dishes are designed to reheat individual meals quickly and easily.

• 1-cup Trays - Ideal for proteins and grains, but can be used for sides too.
• Half-cup Trays - ideal for grains, proteins and side dishes, but can also be used for proteins
• 2 tablespoon Trays - ideal for sauces or condiments (such as pesto) where you need a small amount
• 5-inch Square Baking Dish - ideal for placing about 2 cups of food, three to four half-cup portions, two 1-cup portions or of food or one 1-cup & two half cup portions of food.

What to Freeze? Component Breakdown

To build a balanced meal using our mix and match strategy, we recommend picking one item from each category. This ensures you have a filling and delicious meal.

Starter Kit Ideas

Now that you’re experts on mix and match meals, let’s get started with some starter sets so that you can put together a cohesive and delicious meal that will be easy to reheat and delicious. 

The sets below are suggested items and quantities and should be adjusted depending on how many people you’re feeding and how hungry you might be. We put together suggestions on what we think an adult might want for a complete meal but you should feel free to adjust the quantities up or down depending on your preferences and dietary restrictions. 

Preparing, Freezing & Reheating Food for the Mix and Match Freezing Approach

The mix and match is not about cooking one giant meal; it’s about stocking your freezer to be a culinary warehouse. Asking “what’s for dinner or lunch?” doesn’t have to be stressful, you can simply pull what you need out of your freezer in an instant. It’s helpful to first focus on what building blocks you need. To start your mix and matching journey, pick one themed cuisine such as Mexican-inspired or Indian-Inspired, then decide the recipes you would like to make, shop, make and freeze.  

Ready to Meal Prep?

• Pick a Type of Cuisine -  Start by picking your favorite type of cuisine or similar types of meals to enable you to easily mix and match. For example, start with a Mexican theme.
• Decide what Recipes to Make -  Pick through recipes you like or get some inspiration from our chart to decide what food you will be prepping. To have some variety, it’s helpful to pick 2 proteins, 2 grains, 2 vegetables, and 2 sauces (optional) from either the list above or from your own library of recipes. For example, with the Mexican themed meal: you could prepare 2 proteins (ground taco meat & carne asada); 2 grains (lime cilantro rice & cooked black beans); 2 vegetables (sautéed peppers/onions & roasted corn); and 2 sauces (avocado crema & pineapple salsa).
• Shop & Make Recipes - Cook and freeze your recipes in Souper Cubes in the portion that you think makes the most sense for how you’ll realistically reheat the food. When possible, try to cook foods with overlapping ingredients at the same time to efficiently prepare the dishes.

Ready to Freeze your Cubes? 

• Freeze - Next steps are to place all your prepared foods into Souper Cubes trays and freeze overnight. Make sure to label your lids with our kitchen labeling tape so that you know what’s frozen in each tray.
• Pop & Bag - Once the cubes are frozen, pop them out and store them in labeled freezer- safe bags. If you’re going to use your food within 4 months, you can use any freezer-safe bag or keep it in the tray. If you’re going to keep the frozen food for longer than 4 months, consider vacuum sealing your cubes.
• Develop a freezer inventory list - Create a list of items you have available or use our provided inventory chart. If you’re using plastic bins to organize your frozen food, we like to use a piece of kitchen labeling tape for each food that is in the bin. Once the food has been eaten entirely, we remove the labeling tape.
• The "First In, First Out" Rule - When adding new cubes, move the older ones to the top or front of your bin or drawer.

Ready to reheat?

• Select Your Cubes - Grab any combination you would like from your freezer.  For example, you can pull one half-cup grain like cilantro lime rice, one half-cup protein like carne asada, and one half-cup vegetable like peppers & onions or black beans from the freezer.
• Place into the Baking Dish - Place the frozen cubes directly into the Souper Cubes 5-inch Baking Dish. They are designed to fit side-by-side like a puzzle.
  
• Add the Sauce - Pop a ½-cup or 2-tbsp sauce cube, such as avocado crema right on top of the stack. Depending on the sauce you may want to leave out overnight to thaw in a separate container or reheat separately in Souper Cubes 5-inch Rectangle Baking Dish.
• Reheat & Eat - Decide if you want to thaw the cubes overnight in the baking dish or heat from frozen. Oven - Place the ceramic baking dish in the oven at 375°F with the lid vented. The ceramic ensures even heating, so your protein doesn't dry out while your grains thaw. To help prevent it from drying out, put a splash of water in the baking dish with the cubes. Microwave - The ceramic baking is microwave-safe, making it the perfect vessel for a 5-minute desk lunch that looks (and tastes) like a 5-star meal. Most meals you can heat on 50% for about 3 minutes to thaw and then heat until warm throughout on high, about another 3 to 5 minutes.
• Toppings - Once hot, take it out and add your fresh toppings (such as lime, herbs, feta). While this is not required, it will give some freshness to your meal.

Conclusion

The beauty of the Mix-and-Match Meal Strategy is that it removes the pressure of traditional meal prep. By stocking your freezer with building blocks instead of large meal prep recipes, you gain the freedom to eat exactly what you are craving at the moment  and add variety to your weekly meal rotation. The key is that you have everything you need to pull together a meal in a snap that fits what you are craving at that moment and the bonus is you spend less time preparing it. Your perfect meal is just a few cubes away, clear some freezer space, grab your trays and start building. It’s time to mix, match and eat well. With the Souper Cubes meal prep system, you can say good-bye to eating the same meal day after day and instead add variety and freshness to your meal prep routine.