You can see my past slow cooker freezer meal posts here and here!
Slow cooker freezer meals have remained as my main method of cooking, which has really changed the way our household eats. We have a home cooked meal almost every day during the week, and we almost always pack leftovers for lunch the next day for all four of us. We also stock up on frozen vegetables that steam in their own bags in the microwave whenever they’re on sale.
Here’s the step by step of what happens each night when we get home from work and daycare pickup. It’s a bit tough to prep dinner with Lil Miss Wagon at my ankles, so Wagon Sr. does his best to distract the kids while I get dinner on the table.
- I throw a bag of frozen steamed vegetables into the microwave. Wagon Jr.’s favorite is carrots, and Lil Miss Wagon’s favorite is… everything. She always eats the vegetables first and screeches for more.
- I portion out the meal from the crock pot and put it out to cool for the kids.
- I add a bit of butter and salt to the steamed veggies and assemble everyone’s plates. We usually have rice in the rice cooker or some pre-made pasta tossed with olive oil in the fridge.
- We all eat!
- I usually finish first since Wagon Sr. helps the kids eat their meals, so I start cleanup, dishes, and packing up leftovers for our lunches.
- I take out the next day’s freezer meal to thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
With this constant stream of home cooking, we’ve fallen into a pretty good groove mixing in quick cooked meals and a pizza night each week (yeah Domino’s $7.99 large 3 topping special!). Here’s a sample of a weekly meal plan:
- Monday: Italian lemon chicken over rice, side of mixed veggies
- Tuesday: Pasta and turkey meatballs, side of broccoli
- Wednesday: Beef tips and gravy over mashed potatoes, side of carrots
- Thursday: pizza night! (usually beef, spinach, and tomato for toppings)
- Friday: Teriyaki pork chops over rice, side of peas
We’ve identified family favorite recipes, but I still try to mix in a new recipe or two each time I prep about 2 weeks’ worth of meals. I’ve learned my lesson of only preparing one bag of a new recipe (nothing worse than not liking a recipe and knowing you have another one waiting in the freezer!) and adding a cup of water in the crockpot if I know it’s going to be waiting for an hour or two before we get home (especially with chicken, which gets dried out easily). Here are two new recipes that were both a hit with everyone in the family!
Creamy Ranch Pork Chops and Potatoes
- 4-6 pork chops
- 6-8 medium potatoes, chopped into large pieces
- 2 cans fat-free cream of chicken soup
- 2 packages dry Ranch dressing mix
- 1 cup milk
Add all the ingredients to a freezer bag. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low 6-7 hours.
- 3 lbs stew meat, cubed
- 1 (10.75 oz) can cream of mushroom soup
- 2 (4 oz each) cans mushrooms, with liquid
- 1/2 cup apple juice
- 1 (1 oz) packet dry onion soup mix
Combine all ingredients in a resealable gallon-sized freezer bag. Zip closed. When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook on HIGH for 6 hours or LOW for 10 hours. Serve over rice.
Do you have any slow cooker freezer meal recipes to share?
blogger / nectarine / 2010 posts
I love this. Freezer meals are the besssst. Italian chicken needs to get in mah belleh.
persimmon / 1165 posts
You have converted me to freezer slow cooker meals! We were really struggling on how to have dinner made every night to eat and this is the best solution.
Here is one of my favorite recipes: Beef Stroganoff. So yummy!!
Ingredients:
2 pounds of cubed beef
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup chopped onion
2 T Worcestershire sauce
½ c water
1 c. sour cream
2T minced garlic
packet of onion soup mix
chopped mushrooms (optional)
egg noodles (to serve over the day you cook)
Instructions:
Add all ingredients to a gallon size freezer bag except egg noodles. When ready to use thaw in fridge overnight. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Serve over egg noodles.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
I’ve just finished up my meal plan for November (i know, the month has already begun) but it features three of your recipes!
Do you eat fish? If so, how do you incorporate it into your meal planning?
pomegranate / 3595 posts
Thanks so much for sharing this! You have me tempted to put a crock pot on my xmas list and take the plunge. We have been scrambling for healthy meals as DH and I enter a busy season and have been relying too heavily on frozen pre-packaged stuff and take out.
So, do you have recommendations about what to look for in a crock pot? Size, brand, etc? I will look at amazon reviews too but wondering what you and other HB crock pot mamas prefer. Thanks!
pomelo / 5628 posts
I think this is just simple enough for me to try! Thank you
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@Mrs. Polish: omg the italian lemon chicken. Sometimes I have to leave it in the pot for too long and it gets dried out, but it’s still perfect for shredding and putting in salads. It almost tastes like tuna.
@sunshineandsushi: totally gonna try your stroganoff this week!!! thank you!!
@looch: hurray for meal planning and freezer meals!!
We don’t eat a lot of fish, although we like it a lot. I have never tried fish in the slow cooker!
@MamaCate: hurray!! I had my crock pot for YEARS before I started actually using it. I had the best of intentions, but believe it or not, the space the crock took up in my fridge storing the meal for the night was too much. Then I discovered freezer meals… and I am in love!! I purchased mine at Costco and I believe it’s an 8 quart size, which seems to be perfect for a family of four to eat dinner and have leftovers for lunch. I believe Costco has a coupon right now for the same crock pot, which also comes with a little mini crock pot for fondue!
@Mrs Green Grass: trust me, when it comes to cooking, if I can do it, ANYONE can do it
persimmon / 1128 posts
I love LMW. That is all.
blogger / persimmon / 1398 posts
Oh man… so making some of these up! I actually went to a freezer meal workshop last month and was telling them all about how integrated this has become into your lifestyle! One of the mamas was in awe of you.
blogger / pomelo / 5361 posts
I love, love, love freezer crock pot meals. We’ve tried all the recipes from your last two posts and found some on our own. I’m excited to try these two!
guest
This might be a stupid question, but I’m prepping for baby number 1’s arrival and trying to get meals like this to help us out. On the ranch chicken it just says put in the freezer bag and then cook…but the bag doesn’t go in the crock pot right?
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@Nikki: Hi there! nope no freezer bag into the crock pot.. I empty the freezer bag into the crock pot. I use a crock pot liner to reduce clean up. Even if the meal is still frozen you can still peel it out of the freezer bag, break it up and place it in the crock pot and it’ll cook up just fine! Good luck!!
guest
Hi! love your blog, just wanted to verify, are the meats/poultry frozen raw or cooked? I can’t wait to try!
blogger / watermelon / 14218 posts
@Jess: Thanks! I put the meats in raw! Good luck!