When I get ambitious, I love to spend a couple of hours prepping food to use during meal times on busy weeknights. This is certainly not a weekly occurrence for me, or even monthly for that matter, but maybe a handful of times throughout the year.
I’ll cook up a bunch of ground meat with onions and garlic, or cover my grill with chicken breasts to dice up for meals, or make a 10 pound pork butt in the crock pot and freeze the pulled pork into dinner size portions.
But, my all-time favorite time saver in the kitchen is to create a large amount of prepared meals that I can just throw in the crock pot on a busy day. It seriously doesn’t get any easier than that.
I pulled together 10 crock pot freezer meals over three years ago, and that post is still living strong on my blog. (All of the rest from that time get zero pageviews, or I have simply deleted because they were that bad.) But this one people seem to like. I’m back to give the people what they want. 10 MORE crock pot freezer meals!
I’ve included a free printable shopping list for everything you need to make all ten of these meals. I spent about $80 on everything, but I’m a bit of a bargain shopper and went to two different stores.
Just click on the shopping list below to get a printable version:
After getting all the ingredients, it’s time to prepare everything. There is a lot of dicing, and a little bit of pre-cooking, but I promise it will be worth it in the end. I always pre-cook my ground meat before putting it in my freezer bags. You can definitely put it in raw, but then as it cooks in the crock pot the fat has nowhere to go and it’ll get incorporated into the meal. It’s definitely personal preference, though, so you do it how you want to do it!
After everything is chopped, diced, opened, and pre-cooked, it’s all downhill from there. I write on each bag the name of the dish, any cooking instructions, and other ingredients that need to be added to the crock pot before or during cooking. (You’ll see all of those instructions listed in each recipe below.)
Update: The cooking times are based on putting the contents of the bag in when still frozen. I freeze my bags flat in the freezer to save space, but that means that the blocks don’t completely fit in my crock pot when frozen. To fix this problem, I take the bag out of the freezer the night before and put it on a plate in my fridge overnight. In the morning, it is thawed enough to break apart slightly and fit in my crock pot.
Depending on your slow cooker, these recipes may cook in as little time as 4 hours. I often set my slow cooker for 4 hours, and then it turns to warm automatically after those 4 hours and continues to slowly cook for another couple of hours. I would start with a lower time and then adjust up as needed depending on your slow cooker.
Enjoy!
| Servings |
4 people
|
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts cubed
- 2 cans great northern white beans drained
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 ounces canned green chilies drained
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 32 ounces chicken stock (not needed until ready to cook)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (not needed until ready to cook)
Ingredients
|
|
- Place all ingredients (except chicken stock and cheddar cheese) into a ziplock bag and freeze.
Write on bag: Add 32 ounces of chicken stock and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Add cheese and stir until melted. Garnish with salsa, sour cream, and cilantro.
| Servings |
4 people
|
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 2 10.75 ounces cans of tomato soup
- 12 ounces frozen corn
- 1 small onions, chopped
- 6 ounces mushrooms, sliced
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 cups dry macaroni noodles
Ingredients
|
|
- Cook macaroni noodles for about 4 minutes (noodles should still be firm).
- Heat olive oil in a skillet and cook ground meat and onions. Let cool.
- Add all ingredients into a ziplock bag and freeze.
Write on bag: Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
| Servings |
4 people
|
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts butterflied in half
- 16 ounces frozen broccoli
- 2 10.75 ounce cans of cream of chicken soup
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1 package Italian dressing mix
Ingredients
|
|
- Combine ingredients in a ziplock bag and freeze.
Write on bag: Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over pasta.
| Servings |
4 people
|
- 1 1/2 pounds beef chuck roast, cubed
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 12 ounces mushrooms, sliced
- 1 10.75 ounce can of cream of mushroom soup
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt (not needed until ready to cook)
Ingredients
|
|
- Mix cream of mushroom soup and water in a small bowl.
- Place all ingredients (expect sour cream) into a ziplock bag and freeze.
Write on bag: Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Add 1 cup sour cream/Greek yogurt and stir. Cook on high for 10 minutes. Serve on top of egg noodles.
| Servings |
4 people
|
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 potato diced (boil for 4 minutes and let cool)
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1/2 cup dry lentils
- 1/4 cup pearl barley
- 2 14.5 ounce cans of stewed tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 32 ounces beef broth (not needed until ready to cook)
- 2 cups water (not need until ready to cook)
Ingredients
|
|
- Brown onion and ground beef in a skillet. Let cool.
- Combine all ingredients in a ziplock bag and freeze.
Write on bag: Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
| Servings |
4 people
|
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts butterflied in half
- 3 bell peppers
- 1 red onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 lime, juiced
Ingredients
|
|
- Slice peppers and onions into large strips.
- Place all ingredients into a gallon ziplock bag and freeze.
Write on bag: Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
| Servings |
4 people
|
- 1 1/2 pounds beef chuck roast, cubed
- 1 envelope dry onion mix
- 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced (Boil for 4 minutes and let cool)
- 6 carrots, peeled and diced
- 1 onion, chopped
- 8 ounces frozen peas
- 8 ounces frozen corn
Ingredients
|
|
- Combine all ingredients in a ziplock bag and freeze.
Write on bag: Add 6 cups of water or beef broth. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Combine 4 tablespoons cornstarch with 5 tablespoons water. Add slurry to crock pot and stir. Cook for approximately 1 hour more on high.
| Servings |
4 people
|
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 1 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
- 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
- 1/2 cup water
Ingredients
|
|
- Cook ground beef and onions in a skillet.
- Combine ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, barbecue sauce, and water in a small bowl.
- Combine beef mixture and sauce in a ziplock bag and freeze.
Write on bag: Cook on low for 6-8 hours and serve on top of hamburger buns.
| Prep Time | 4 people |
| Servings |
|
- 1 10.75 ounce can of cream of mushroom soup
- 3/4 cup water
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 2 inch cubes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
- 4 carrots, diced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
Ingredients
|
|
- Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.
- Stir together soup and water.
- Add all ingredients to a ziplock bag and freeze.
Write on bag: Cook for 6-8 hours on low. Serve on top of rice or egg noodles.
| Servings |
4 people
|
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts butterflied in half
- 2 green peppers
- 8 ounces frozen corn
- 1 can black beans drained
- 16 ounces salsa
- 8 ounces cream cheese (not needed until ready to cook)
Ingredients
|
|
- Add all ingredients to ziplock bag (except the cream cheese) and freeze.
Write on bag: Cook on low for 6 hours. Serve on corn or flour shells with taco toppings.
I have a complete printable guide with all of the recipes, the shopping list, and my hints for making the process go as smoothly and quickly as possible. It’s stored in my graphics library, which is only accessible to my email subscribers.
Click on the image to sign up!
If you want the printable recipes and guide in one easy document, you’ll need to sign up for my weekly newsletter. The good news is is that I only send emails once a week with updates of my posts. And let’s be honest, it’s usually every other week, or every, every other week. The bad news is is that you won’t be seeing many other recipes. I am all about the DIY, upcycling, and home improvement on a budget. If you like that kind of stuff as much as me, though, sign up; you won’t be disappointed!
Join the Refresh Living DIY & Upcycling Community
Join the subscriber list to receive one to two emails per month with updates from the blog. PLUS, you'll gain access to my printables and graphics library. Every new design I create will be added here, and you'll have free access - forever!
Omgosh these all look incredible! I absolutely love Crock Pot freezer meals because they are so easy. I can’t wait to add these to our next meal plan. Thanks for sharing your recipes with us at Merry Monday this week!
Thanks Marie. I’m glad you find them useful!
Hi
I can’t thank you enough. I have a 37 year old son who has autism and lives in an appartment with another young man. The two of them receive 24 hr care. They love to eat healthy homemade meals!
The staff that care for these 2 have their hands full watching and performing all the services needed. They do a great job and these 2 are happy young active men.
I took your shopping list to Aldis and purchased all ingredients. They didn’t have lentil or barley. I then made all these dinners in an afternoon. What a fantastic way to ease the burden of cooking.
Again thank you
You are a blessing to these 2 men who love to eat
I ended up with 17 meals and 110 dollars which they used their food stamps!!
Each of the 17 meals they will gave enough for the next day’s lunch.
Hello! This is amazing to hear. Hearing personal stories matters so much to me! I’m also so glad you were able to buy ingredients for 17 meals for $110 – that’s truly amazing!
People pay a lot to go to those “make ahead meal” places! This is awesome!! PINNED – Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner link up!
Thanks Helen!
Well, I for one am glad that you came back with more croclpot recipes! These looks delicious! I LOVE crock pot recipes! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Tina. I’ve been meaning to do it for so long, and I’m so glad I finally did!
I’m so glad you find them helpful. We actually just had one for dinner last night and it was fabulous how easy it was!
I love the sound of each recipe! This is such a great idea! Thanks for sharing at Fiesta Friday party!
Thanks so much!
I just pinned your awesome Crock Pot Freezer Meals. You have some great recipes that I will sure try! Thanks so much for sharing your post with us at Full Plate Thursday and have a great weekend!
Miz Helen
Thanks for sharing, Miz!
This is a serious effort! Wow! I would have a meal from your freezer any day! Thank you for sharing at Fiesta Friday 🙂
Haha, thanks Petra – it’s definitely convenient!
In the turkey macaroni the recipe calls for 1/12 pounds of ground beef. Is this a misprint or a trick? I think it would be delicious either way.
It was a misprint – it should be 1.5 pounds ground meat. Honestly, you can easily get away with using just a pound though. Thanks!!
You hit the bull’s-eye with this! What I find amazing is the fact that my family will actually eat all of these meals. So many meals I have tried freezing for the crockpot are items my family did not like. Thanks for helping out this working mama with a 2 hour commute!
I will say that I only make and share meals that my kids will eat, so I’m so glad to hear that you think your family will like them too!
I love crockpot freezer meals. Can’t wait to try these!
Great! Thanks Lori.
Can’t wait to try these Crock Pot Freezer Meals. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for taking the comment, Mimi. You’re very welcome – I hope you enjoy them!
What great meal ideas. The chicken broccoli was sounding perfect for dinner. I used to do things like this also when I worked and it really is a lifesaver. I m retired now, but to seem to be just as busy doing things wit my grandchildren. I think I will do some for my husband and I, but I also think I will prepare some for my daughters as they work outside of the home and have active families. Maybe each week I could alternate doing some deliveries to them.
That’s such a thoughtful idea, Pamela. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Thanks so much! I’m going to put some of these together for my son who is living off campus at college! One question I have is for the Beef Pot Roast Stew- is there no liquid that goes into the crockpot?
Hi Kellie. Boy am I glad you noticed this! Yes, it should definitely have liquid – 6 cups of it in fact. Yikes, I totally forgot to add that to the instructions to write on the bag. I am off to update the recipe and recipe document right now. Thank you SO much!
Thank you for all your efforts and sharing this! It’s much appreciated!
Hi, I also have a question about liquid…is there any additional liquid to add day of cooking to the crock with the chicken/mush stew? Also could you explain what to do with cream cheese in the southwest chicken and chick/brocc alfredo?! Thanks so much for the recipes I can’t wait to get started:)
Hi Kristen. Thanks for the questions! For the chicken/mushroom stew, I did not add any additional liquid. However, you could easily add a can of chicken broth or even a cup of water to thin it out a bit if you preferred it a little soupier. For the cream cheese, I actually just add it right to the bag and freeze it with everything in the freezer. You could also skip adding it to the freezer bag and add the cream cheese into the crock pot on the day of cooking. I hope that helps. Enjoy putting everything together!
Jenny I have a dumb question, do I thaw the the meal before putting it in the crock-pot?
Quite a few people have asked, so it’s definitely not a dumb question at all! The cooking times are based on putting the meal in frozen. However, if I lay the bags flat in my freezer, they don’t quite fit into my crock pot if frozen solid. So, I pull them out of the freezer the night before and put them on a plate in my fridge. Then, in the morning they are thawed enough to break apart and fit in the crock pot. Thanks for asking!
These look wonderful. I do have one question, and I apologize if it is an obvious one…do I need to thaw them out before I put them in the crockpot, or they go right from freezer to crockpot?
Thank you !
Not a stupid question at all, and one I need to address in the post because quite a few people have asked. The cooking times are based on putting the meal in frozen. However, if I lay the bags flat in my freezer, they don’t quite fit into my crock pot if frozen solid. So, I pull them out of the freezer the night before and put them on a plate in my fridge. Then, in the morning they are thawed enough to break apart and fit in the crock pot. Thanks for reading!
I too am retired, and having some ideas , as well as meals prepared, would allow more time to enjoy my retirement!
One question, do you thaw these meals prior to placing in the crockpot; or, are the cooking hours included allowing for cooking from the frozen state?
Thanks for the recipes and for sharing your time and work!
Hi Ann. Great question, and one I need to update in the post. The cooking times are based on cooking from frozen. The only problem is that if I freeze them laying flat, they don’t quite fit in my crockpot. I usually take the bag out of my freezer the night before, put it on a plate in the fridge, and then in the morning it’s slightly thawed to break apart and fit in easily. I hope that helps. Thanks for the question!
When you say a can of something you don’t say whether you drain it or not. Also you take the bags right from the freezer and put them in. No defrosting?
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I updated the two recipes with beans to add that I drained them; great suggestion. As for the question of whether to defrost or not, the cooking times are suggested for cooking from frozen. However, sometimes the large block doesn’t fit in my crock pot, so I pull them out of the freezer the night before and let them defrost just a bit overnight. Thanks again for your questions.
So I made all these recipes and was really excited about it. But so far, I cooked the Turkey Macaroni and the Chicken Alfredo, on low for 7 hours, and the entire meals were burnt to the sides of the crockpot. I am worried about the remainder of the recipes (except for the soup). Will probably have to add lots of liquid to them before cooking.
Should I add liquids to Beef Stroganoff, Chicken Fajitas, Sloppy Joes or the Southwestern Chicken when cooking? If so, what and how much should I add?
There was a mistake in the Beef Stroganoff recipe – you should add 1 cup of water prior to cooking. I will update that one right now. For all the others, I didn’t add any other liquid. But, you could always add a half of a cup of water just to cover the bottom of the crock pot to avoid scorching.
Hi Tammy. Thanks for the feedback. I have a hard time with cooking time – in one of my crock pots, I need to cook them for that long. In the other, those cooking times are too long. I would actually lower the cooking time for your crock pot. If it’s burning in that amount of time, it’s definitely hot enough to cook all the meats through if you lowered the time.
I doubled the recipes and made some for my husband and I and the other for one of my daughters, she has two sons and a husband that eat her out of house and home. She has loved every one of the recipes she has tried so far. She asked me if I could do this every week for her. Probably not – but just wanted to show her how a little time one day a week can feed your family with out much stress. Thanks for the recipes
Oh Linda, I’m so glad to hear this. Honestly, all of the recipes were put together with kids in mind, since that is my reality right now at home, so it’s great to hear other families are enjoying them too!
I am having back surgery in, oh my goodness, 3 days! I am going to make all of these on Tuesday and freeze so that my fiance has an easier time. He can throw it in the crock pot before he goes to work in the morning and who ever comes by to check on me in the afternoons can check it for me. There’s only the two of us, so we can have the meal more than one night and I can even have some for lunch. 10 meals should last us at least 2 weeks if not more. Thank you for putting these together and for using recipes that are not too complex. We have very simple tastes and like more down to earth meals. These push us to try different takes on the old standards. You are a life saver, because I didn’t know what to do and didn’t want to eat frozen pizza and pot pies for several weeks. My fiance is not necessarily a chef in the kitchen and thinks adding random items to ramen noodles is genius, God bless his heart.
Hi Rachel. I’m so glad these were helpful to you and your husband. I hope you’re recovering well from your back surgery! Hopefully your fiance is able to dump the contents of the bags in the crock pot and get them going during this recovery time! 😉
Just came across this and am really excited! Question: on the recipes requiring the chicken breast to be butterflied, such as the fajitas, or the alfredo, What is the purpose of butterflying the chicken rather than cutting it into strips ?
Hi Mark! There is no reason behind it, so you can definitely cut the chicken in strips! I usually end up shredding chicken I cook in the crock pot, but you could just start with strips and keep them that way to serve. They would probably cook a lot faster though, so I would reduce cooking time.
Thanks! I prepared some both ways just to see how it would turn out!
Also, on the southwest chicken, when do you add the cream cheese? Before cooking, or is it stirred in after cooking?
Yes, I’ve done it both ways (cream cheese at beginning of cooking and at the end), and it works both ways. I actually don’t know if I can tell the difference/have a preference!
How long are they generally good for frozen?
6 months is the recommendation, but I have kept and used some after longer than that without any problem.
Hello, was i wondering how long do these meals last in the freezer?
I’ve kept mine frozen for up to 6 months.