If you’ve ever been disappointed in the results of a frozen meal, you’re in luck! Experts from the Betty Crocker Test Kitchens have shared their meal-freezing know-how, and we’ve broken down their advice into six simple steps. Follow these steps and you can be sure your will meals stay fresh—we’ll tell you how to avoid freezer burn—and reheat beautifully.

If you’ve ever been stumped on which foods to freeze and how exactly to freeze them, you’re in luck! Maggie Lyon of the Betty Crocker Test Kitchens is here to share her meal-freezing know-how. Maggie isn’t just an extraordinary recipe developer, she’s also a busy mom and an absolute master of meal prep, so these tips for preparing, storing and reheating your frozen meals aren’t just test-kitchen approved, they’re real-life approved too!

According to Betty Crocker recipe developer Maggie Lyon, freezing make-ahead meals is an easy five-step process that includes preparing a freezer-friendly meal, cooling the meal and popping it in your freezer. Once you’re ready to eat your meal, all that’s left is thawing and reheating! Read on for a breakdown of each of these simple steps.

One of the questions we get most frequently from our community members is whether a recipe will freeze well, and because of that, it’s also a frequent topic of discussion in the Test Kitchens. Through lots (and lots) of testing, we’ve found a rule thumb that’ll help you be able to tell at a glance whether a meal is freezer-friendly.

Starchy foods like noodles and potatoes help prevent dairy from separating and curdling—think: cheesy lasagnas and other high-in-starch recipes, such as the following:

• Make-Ahead Cheesy Southwest Chicken and Pasta Casserole
• Make-Ahead Creamy Spinach Lasagna
• One-Pot Cheesy Chili-Mac

It’s the foe of every cook who wants to save time or get ahead by freezing food: freezer burn. Once it takes hold, your food just won’t reheat as well—the texture will be off and the flavor will be muted or funky. Freezer burn happens when you place food in containers and seal them while the food is still hot. The steam that forms inside will freeze into ice, causing freezer burn, which in turn leads to a soggy result when you thaw and reheat the meal.

Cooling Tips:

• Cover food with plastic wrap, venting it so that moisture can escape.
• Allow food to cool completely in the refrigerator.
• Transfer food to storage container(s).

Whether you’re freezing leftovers or a meal you’ve prepped for future use, the pros know that there’s a bit more to it than just popping it all in a bag and throwing it in the freezer. Of course, you’ll want to package it up in a durable container that’ll keep moisture in and pesky odors out, but you’ll also want to use a container that’s appropriate to the meal and quantity of food.

Food safety is a serious matter in the Test Kitchens, and we want it to be in your home, too. Knowing safe techniques for thawing your food will save you a lot of headaches (and stomachaches). Packaging food as described above is the first step.

Banish cold middles and dried-out edges from your experience of reheating freezer meals! Those pitfalls are common, but if you know the right tricks, they’ll never be an issue again.