Have you heard of crockpot freezer cooking? It involves adding a bunch of ingredients to baggies and freezing them for the crockpot. The genius is that you don’t have to do any cooking ahead of time – since most crockpot recipes tell you to add all of the ingredients to the crockpot raw you can freeze them that way too.
Here’s what I love about crockpot freezer cooking:
- You can make a bunch of meals at once and stock your freezer for busy weeknights.
- The ingredients are frozen raw and cook for the first time in the crockpot so they don’t taste like leftovers at all.
- You can buy the ingredients in bulk at the grocery store when they’re on sale and save a lot of money.
I started making a lot of crockpot freezer meals when my third daughter was 8 months old and never looked back. After making hundreds of meals and writing four best-selling crockpot freezer eCookbooks, I figured out how to make them healthy and budget-friendly too.
Here are seven crockpot freezer meals that I made in 30 minutes last week:
- Crockpot Salsa Verde
- Crockpot Cranberry-Orange Pork Chops (inspired by this crockpot cranberry pork roast recipe)
- Crockpot Turkey Black Bean Chili
- Crockpot Beef Teriyaki
- Crockpot Chicken Fajitas
- Crockpot Pot Roast
- Crockpot Meatball Vegetable Soup
Click here for a free printer-friendly version of my recipes, grocery list, and freezer labels.
What’s so great about these crockpot freezer meals?
- They all include fresh or frozen vegetables.
- They all have six ingredients or less (some only have three!).
- None of them require any measuring – simply dump the veggies, meats, and sauces into the bags and freeze.
Since I didn’t have to do any measuring, cleaning my kitchen was super easy too. All I had to do was add my strainer and knife to the dishwasher (I used the knife to get some of the ingredients out of jars) and rinse some cans for the recycling bin.
Here’s how I make my meals quickly and efficiently:
- I print the recipes, grocery list, and labels ahead of time and go shopping.
- When I get home, I leave all of the ingredients out on the counter and set my kitchen timer for 30 minutes.
- I fill one bag at a time by sticking on its label and layering the veggies and canned goods at the bottom, spices in the middle, and meat at the top.
- Then I seal all of the bags at once and freeze for up to three months.
When we’re ready to eat them all I need to do is thaw overnight in the refrigerator or in water in the morning and cook in the crockpot for 4 hours on “low” in a 6-quart crockpot or 8 hours on “low” in a 4-quart crockpot. Add a side of rice or fresh bread and dinner is done!
Do you have any low carb, make-ahead, freezer, crockpot recipes?
Hi I’m gonna try these recipes but was wondering if there’s anymore other then those.
For the turkey black bean chili, does the ground turkey need to be cooked separate or will it cook in the crock pot?
It cooks in the crockpot.
Thank you! Very timely. Do you have, or can you create, a similar post for vegetarian meals please?
Here you go: http://newleafwellness.biz/2015/03/16/5-vegetarian-freezer-crockpot-meals-in-50-minutes/
Raw meat and vegetables should not be stored together. Perhaps put meat in a ziplock bag within the ziplock bag to avoid cross contamination?
cross contamination only applies if you are eating the veggies raw. as these are being cooked together freezing them together is not an issue. do you not put raw veggies in your crock pot with the raw meat when you cook fresh?
Jessica is correct. You will be cooking all of the bag’s contents.
Love this idea, Kelly, but I have a question.Most of my crockpot recipes call for the meat to be on top of the potatoes and other vegetables. If I just dump these bags in the crockpot as is, the meat will be on the bottom. Will that result in dry, over-cooked meat?
The meat is on top so the vegetables wont be greasy.
I would like to know what are good simple meals with a one year old please I have no idea where to start.
I think you could make any of these meals. I think 1-year-olds can eat pretty much everything, except maybe peanuts.
I was told you should not put your meats and other things together . Is it safe?
Yes it’s safe.
You will be cooking all of the bag’s contents in the crockpot.