This weekend I knew that I needed to do some smart food prep for the week ahead & beyond – later this week I’ll be gone for a fun weekend & a few days of work at the start of next week. A major project at work is really cranking up as a deadline nears – so the days are long & I know that cooking in the evenings can’t be counted on for meals.

As I started to make a list of possible make ahead meals I noticed that all of the entrees could be baked in muffin cups so that a portion of each could be frozen & ready for smart meals later.

First up, a new to me variation on baked oatmeal: Cinnamon Roll Baked Oatmeal. This was a THM pin-spiration. I “made it mine” by adding some chopped pecans & shredded (unsweetened) coconut to the mix. These baked for about 22 minutes. The cottage cheese “frosting” makes these seem like an indulgence – a clever way to add some protein to the meal.

Next, a recipe from the Whole30 recipe feed on Instagram: Buffalo Chicken Breakfast Casserole from Living Loving Paleo. I added some diced mini peppers into each muffin. Even though there recipe has breakfast in the title, they are an any meal muffin for me. These baked for 25 minutes.

And then, a new favorite – Cheese Dog Pie – was given the muffin treatment. I mixed about 75% of the hot dogs into the muffin batter and these baked for 25 minutes.

As the week begins, I have 8 muffins from each batch tucked away in the freezer & ready to provide me smart meal options in the coming days & weeks. And, as work zaniness ratchets up in the next 2 weeks the answer to “what to eat” is one less thing to worry about.

What non-muffin recipes have you turned into muffins? What are some of your favorite make & freeze meals?