40 Meals in 4 Hours Crockpot Slow Cooker Freezer Cooking, prep and freeze 40 meals to cook in your slow cooker. Dinner prep is a great way to get organized!
Are you ready to make mealtime easier with 40 Meals in 4 Hours?
Dump Meals, Freezer Meals, Sanity Savers—whatever you’d like to call these meals is fine with me. I call them a LIFESAVER! I know I’m not in the only busy family – we are all busy, right? I KNOW!
Having dinner made for over a month makes me want to cry tears of joy. I love it! I love just grabbing out a meal from the freezer, dump it into my slow cooker and then voila – no worries about dinner. It’s so lovely! 40 Meals in 4 Hours Crockpot Slow Cooker Freezer is what you need to keep yourself sane!Keep reading we will get into all the details you need to make up these 40 Meals in 4 Hours Crockpot Slow Cooker Freezer recipes for your family!
CLICK HERE FOR OUR NEWEST SET OF 40 FREEZER/SLOW COOKER MEALS
If you’ve never attempted Freezer Meals before – we are here to help!
The tips above? They are worth their weight in gold! It’s so easy to make freezer meals – don’t make this harder than it is!
Yes, I’ve run out of something while making a freezer meal set – just use your sharpie and make a note on the freezer bag “needs more onions”. It’s fine – you’ll do fine!
It’s good to note that all slow cooker cook differently. I mean I have a few slow cookers (no surprise there) and none of mine make meals at a different time/temp! So know what you’re working with!
Here’s another tip that works well for me. I chop all veggies/meat at once – place them in bowls and add to bags as I need them. It makes the entire process go faster for me. But that isn’t a set in stone rule! If you want to chop as you go? DO IT!
PS – your time and my time may be very different to make these meals. I did it in 4 hours – that’s the truth – if Heather did it? She would take at least 5 – she is admittedly slower at prep! So set aside enough time to get these meals prepped!
Follow our Freezer Meals/Slow Cooker board on Pinterest for even more recipes!!!
Buffalo Chicken
Pesto Chicken (only make the chicken part of this recipe)
Maple Dijon Chicken Thighs
Cilantro Lime Chicken
Green Chile Pork Stew
Easy Pulled Pork
Mongolian Beef
Chicken Tacos
Ranch Chicken Tacos
Island Chicken
Chicken Cacciatore
Chunky Beef Stew
Beef/Chicken Fajitas
Balsamic Glazed Drumsticks
Orange Chicken
Honey Garlic Chicken
Beef Tips
Teriyaki Chicken
NOTE: The Maple Dijon Chicken and the Balsamic Glazed Drumsticks are tripled to make the 40 meals!
Want to make all these recipes for your family? Go HERE for the master shopping list! (I use a 5 qt slow cooker for all of these recipes)
To view the entire 40 Meals/4 Hours Recipe Collection with photos, click HERE!
Our other Slow Cooker/Freezer meal posts:
7 Meals in 1 Hour
20 Meals in 2 Hours
30 Summer Freezer Meals in 3 Hours
40 Freezer Meals Part 2
This is brilliant! I’ve bookmarked this because I’ll definitely use this soon! 😀
Me, too. As a Marriage and Family Therapist I keep “flexible” hours, and I would love to come home to any one of these dishes.
@Dr Carol Suter, As a marriage therapist, you should *suggest* this to spouses who are overwhelmed and under-organized, as a nice “fix”. My own mother suggested starting out at just once/week freezing, just to get used to it. (Don’t forget to add salads to these meals!)
I totally agree with you, Jen! :o) Maybe a little printed brochure that could just sit on the desk for them to ”notice” and take home! It could have a list of ideas on how to simplify their days/evenings and references to different helpful blogs/websites!
Jen, I should have that painted inside my glasses. Don’t forget the salad! My assistant and I agreed just today that starting after my next shopping trip, she will make one or two small salads and put them in the refrigerator before she leaves each day. She will then put a huge note on the front of the refrigerator that says: Eat Your Salad! I love salad but I don’t like seven of them made in advance and I’m becoming too disabled to function well in the kitchen, so what we decided today is that she will make salads and remind of them and all I have to do is get them out, dress them, and eat them. I love salad! But it is so easy to forget them this time of year. In the summer, I make them on dinner size plates and throw everything in them.
Nice. Really nice. Not seen enough, this unsolicited offer of advice to one who holds accreditation — and might give off a certain ‘has all the answers’ emission. You’re my hero , Jen, twice over.
I never frozen raw veggies. Do they cook up ok? or, do they become soft? Is there anything that should not be included?
Thanks
Honestly – I don’t think they will be on the crisp side 😉 I’m ok with that though – I like my veggies soft
when you cook veggies till they are too soft… it reduces the vitamin retention
I believe the veggies do lose vitamins, but I have read that is leeches out into the cooking medium (i.e. water, if they are being boiled). In this case, my assumption would be that the veggie vitamins would still be in the other food/gravy that is being cooked. I’m not sure about this, though.
With regards to veg going soft, I believe you just have to avoid those with high water content, such as tomatoes (I know, not technically a veg), as the soft flesh doesn’t survive defrosting very well. So, basically you’re fine with root veg, carrots, squash etc.
Once it is frozen, you are not going to have a “crisp” veggie, so if that is what you are looking for you may want to make the meal as written but leave out the veggies until you are ready to make it. For instance, Beef and Broccoli. Follow the recipe as written but omit the broc. Then, on the day you are going to make it, use fresh broccoli so you have that crisp veggie you are looking for.
Thank you Tina, good tip about the veggies!! 🙂
Once it’s cooked in the crockpot all day, it’s not going to be crisp either.
really sorry and u have probably heard this before but u could use frozen veggies cause there is a ton of different varieties or blanch them for 2-3 mins then put them in an ice bath to stop the cooking process and it also keeps the bright colour.
Sounds good now if I just get motivated to do it. I’m going to try!!
I always frozen raw vegs they cook up better I think
I agree lori, I grow my own veggies. At the end of the season, I sliced squash and froze it, as well as brussel sprouts and the rest of the garden. They cooked up just fine. And we had organic veggies all winter.
I do alot of Canning and Freezer From our Harvest each Year , And i also like to have on Hand Freezer Meal. I would suggest saute all Vegtables. I have tried Blanch , Boil, Steam for Freezer meals . Alot of Produce may be pulled Green in Field Since we Grow all of our Vegtables thats not a problem I have , But Friends have said Saute makes a big Difference in vegtables. The Flavor and Texture is not the same if Vegtables are not Prepared Correctly.
I’ve linked this for my readers on my blog! Great post and my family loved the recipes!
Trish at moderndaysuperwoman.blogspot.ca
I had a question, do you brown any of the meat or cook any of the chicken ahead of time. I see recipes of yours that say to do so but didn’t know if you did, or just threw it in the crockpot totally raw. I am looking through to see what I would like to do and I love this idea.
Which recipes need to be browned (seriously I’m stumped at this one). If it says to brown it in the recipe before freezing then you should do so – but most of ours just go in raw 🙂
This greatly appeals to me as both a huge fan of Crockpot meals, and a college student.
One thing I’m curious about… Recipes where you have to prepare the meat before (for example the Mongolian Beef, which requires browning the beef before adding to the other ingredients…) Do you do the browning before, let it cool, then add it to the bag with the rest and freeze?
Or leave it unbrowned and freeze, then brown it in the morning before adding it?
Sorry if I sound like a total idiot asking this (what might be totally obvious) question, but if you don’t know… 🙂
I’ve done it both ways, not sure what she did but I either brown it then cool and freeze or brown it quickly before we eat.
John, I suspect she browns the meat, allows it to cool, then adds it to the rest of the bag and freezes it. Using raw meat when the recipe calls for cooked rarely turns out well…. don’t ask me how I know this 😉
I did not brown anything before throwing it in the bag nor did I brown it before putting in the crock pot- so far I haven’t found it a necessary step for flavor :). I also left out any flour, etc. so I could make the recipes gluten free. The mongolian beef was DELICIOUS, no browning necessary!
Thank you katie, as well Keley and Diane 🙂
I think about beef specifically….do you have issues with the grease from the meat being in the crockpot all day and everything tasting greasy…
Use grass fed beef…. There is hardly any fat and it’s healthier for kids and you!
The fat (good, bad or otherwise) is truly what gives meat much of it’s flavor, plus soaking up any spices you use – many recipes call for oil/butter to add flavor, but the meat juice does that for you. Cooking all day in it’s own juices is the beauty of slow-cooking meat, nice and juicy and moist, plus “au jus” sauce left over for serving! Perhaps not fabulous for you, but the grease would be there if you roasted in the oven too…
I made the beef tips last night and the Mongolian beef two nights ago…trust me, they are delicious! Just follow the recipes as they go ..my husband rushes home for dinner excited ever since I’ve been cooking all these recipes and so far the beef ones has been his favorites! No, there is not a grease issue, you need the grease because that is how you get the gravy, otherwise it would be dry!
Oh wow! That’s good/interesting to know. I have recently gone gluten free and lost all my stamina to cook. I do know that you can get gluten free cornstarch to use as thickener. I’m thinking this would be great to do for the next few months with things getting crazy before the holidays . Will cut down in all these nights of grabbing something while out too!
I believe that tapioca (which works well in the crockpot) and arrowroot powder (same as tapioca but in powder form- good for stove top) are gluten free… and healthier altogether.
You might have a little trial-and-error period while trying various thickeners & their varying ratios of powder to liquid. Arrowroot is VERY different from tapioca or cornstarch! I find that very difference makes it better for some recipes & not with others.
If you sub cornstarch for flour, use half as much!
I’m gluten-free (not celiac) and don’t seem to have a problem with corn-starch, could it just be the brand you are using? If I ever need to substitute flour to thicken something I always use the Pamela’s Products Artisan Flour, works every time. Also, with baking, I need to cut the fat in half (for most recipes) and use that flour with no problems. Hope that helps, good luck! 🙂
Is tapioca gluten free? I use it as a thickener all the time and it work well
Out of curiosity I looked it up. Yes, tapioca is gluten free. It is made from a root vs. a grain.
I have made a lot of these freezer meals. They taste wonderful and it’s so nice to have them in the freezer for those busy days when I know I won’t have time to cook later.
I brown the meat let it cool while I make another meal or two. Then add it to the freezer bag and freeze. I’d much rather do it while I’m assembling the meals rather than the day I use the meal because I use these meals on very busy days.
This is awesome!! I am all about making meals ahead of time and using my magical Crockpot to do the work for me!
Thanks for your list of recipes … pinned your post to Pinterest for future reference. I think my family will actually eat most of these without complaint. It’s been challenging looking through loads of crockpot freezer recipes and finding ones that would be beneficial in terms of time, budget and taste 🙂
Awesome! Thanks for sharing all these recipes! I have somehow jumped onto the freezer cooking bandwagon (a slow, hesitant jump), and it really IS a sanity saver! For these recipes that are not originally labeled as slow cooker recipes, is there anything you’ve done differently (i.e. add more water, sauce, etc.) before throwing it all together? Or did you follow the original recipe as is and it turned out just fine?
For the most part I kept the recipe as is. When I go to dump the bag into the crockpot I have been adding a touch of extra chicken broth and whatnot to help keep the recipe from drying out during the day.
So for the Pesto chicken recipe, so you freeze the meat/marinade and the sauce? same bag, two bags?? then when you put it in the crockpot you add pasta? did you write a note on your bag that you need to add pasta or did you already have it in the freezer bag??
No, all I made from that recipe was the chicken. I rarely eat pasta so I didn’t even plan on making that part of the meal. I put the chicken, marinade, and pesto in one bag and froze. Then when I made it I defrosted the bag and dumped it in the crockpot. No pasta at any point. I think I will need to make my own post for that recipe soon because it has definitely gotten the most questions!
I recently came across this amazing site about all the things you can freeze.
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2012/10/31-things-you-can-freeze-to-save-time-and-money.html
So if you are interested in making the pasta with it, it’s okay to freeze according to that site:
Pasta
Whenever you make pasta, go ahead and cook the whole package and freeze any leftovers for later to add to soups and casseroles.
Or freeze individual size portions in a baggie, making sure to squeeze out the air and get the bag as flat as possible. Reheat by running hot water over the bag for a few minutes!
Kourtney – thanks 😉
I have frozen pasta (as part of soup) and it was meh – ok. I prefer to add it fresh I guess!
I cook the pasta on the night that I serve the crockpotted chicken with pesto. Was delish.
This is an absolutely amazing post. The idea of freezing up batches of crockpot meals is pure brilliance. I am so doing this! Thanks for sharing 🙂
some of the recipes dont have crockpot instructions. on average how long do you cook yours? do you add them frozen or thaw first?
thanks!
I pull a bag out of the freezer the night before so it thaws in the fridge overnight. Then I just dump it in the crockpot the next morning and go! I almost always cook on low for 6-8 hours depending on how long I am gone during the day. If I am going to be gone longer I will add extra chicken broth so the recipe doesn’t dry out during the day. 🙂
One thing I’ve done if I’m going to be gone for longer than the recipe needs to cook, is to add the meat frozen. I’ve found that by doing that, it gives me a good hour of “buffer” cooking time so as not to dry it out. You could just peel off the plastic bag and stick it in there frozen.
btw, absolutely brilliant post! I’m going to try that Mongolian Beef for sure.
Thank you so much- that’s a great idea!!! And the mongolian beef is to die for- I couldn’t stop eating it!
USDA guidlines indicate that you should not add frozen meat to crock pots. Adding the meat frozen can lead to excessive bacteria growth because the temp stays to low for too long. This can lead to you getting sick.
I often do frozen meat and have NEVER been sick from it…. but to each his own 🙂
this is weird, even on low, the food in my crockpot gets to boiling point. maybe they mean on warm.
Amanda and Erin, I do it all the time to and never have trouble. It always boils on low for me too!
You are right Dawn. These are great ideas but frozen meat should NEVER be put in crockpot. Many people have never been sick doing this but it just takes once to jeopardize your family. I would make all these recipes but put meat in separate bag to thaw before cooking. Here is the FDA link:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/a181017c-cc51-4261-bfeb-f78cfc24c022/Slow_Cookers_and_Food_Safety.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
Thanks Cyndi for the reply. There are a lot of safety guidelines when cooking dinner! 🙂 Some I am adamant about following – others not so much (i.e. I ate lunch meat when I was pregnant but would NOT TOUCH Sushi – even though Japanese women do every day ;)).
I appreciate the heads up – but personally I’m pretty comfy with using frozen or partially frozen meat – I’m just probably weird that way.
I have two crockpots, the Large one boils on low, the smaller only boils on high and simmers on low.
I can cook for longer using the small one on high, but the big one is quicker for thick soups and big meals, even whole chickens.
Doesn’t it state to allow the food to thaw the night before? So that should never be an issue in the first place.
OMG, putting frozen meat in a crockpot is not going to kill anyone esp if it is cooking for 6-8 hours. Yes, there is a higher chance of bacteria growing while it is at a lower temperature BUT by the time you eat it as long as your crockpot is functioning properly it will have killed that bacteria. Yes, the USDA warns against doing it, they have to warn against anything that has potential issues, hence homaginization and pasteurization, both completely UNNECESSARY if the animal is properly inoculated and vetted! It’s a warning nothing else.
I really would like to hear more people’s opinions on putting frozen meat straight into the slow cooker and cooking on low for 6-8 hours. I have done it a couple of times when things hadn’t fully defrosted overnight, and didn’t get sick. I used to defrost things covered on the kitchen counter until I read that this was not “safe” so then I started defrosting things in the fridge; although, if your fridge is set too high, things actually stay pretty much frozen for 12 hours or more. The main reason I like to defrost things at least a little is because they are in freezer bags, and I don’t want any plastic from the bag getting into the slow cooker if the bag tears getting frozen food out of the bag. I don’t know what the answer is, but there are so many guidelines that seem designed to just save stupid people from themselves, and the rest of us are left wondering if we are doing anything right anymore. On a side note, we have been having huge debates in our family over sterilising bottles for our baby, and have come to the conclusion that we don’t have to sterilise EVERYTHING EVERY TIME. So… I guess the answer for me is always to find the middle way and follow common sense.
I agree with you. I have done it (the partially frozen in the slow cooker I mean). I have also *gasp* almost always thawed things on the counter for a certain amount of time. Is it “right”? I’m not sure. But I have never had a problem with any meals in the crock pot.
My family has put a frozen roast into the crock pot every Saturday night, for dinner on Sunday, for my entire life. None of us (7 in all, and now our own children who eat at grandma’s house on Sundays) have ever gotten sick. We have also always thawed our meat on the counter. Never been sick from that either. My dad is a dairy farmer. We drink raw, unpasteurized milk. Still not sick, in fact, probably have healthier immune systems because of the natural bacteria that is killed during pasteurization that that majority of the public don’t get. But, it’s all going to come down to doing what you feel comfortable with.
🙂
She did say that she usually puts the frozen food to defrost in the fridge overnight.
I really wish these were exact, step-by-step, recipes set out JUST for the slow cooker. I am new to this! I suck at cooking, honestly. And I want to try this but the things that you add in, I would know nothing about. And I also know nothing about the slow cooker settings. 🙁 I need step by step directions and help.
Jennifer maybe we’ll do a slow cooker 101 guide in the future! Keep us bookmarked!
Yeah, I just went out and spent over $500 on the shopping list, and then when I got home, I looked at the recipes and couldn’t decipher what goes in the freezer, vs what doesn’t. I’m kinda at a loss here…was thinking I’d come home and put together all the freezer bags nicely like in the picture, but I’m lost. With $500 worth of food in my fridge and no idea what to do with it!
Hi Dana! you emailed us this morning and I emailed you back.
Moral of the story is you put it all together into a zip lock bag and freeze UNLESS it says do not freeze on the recipe – it will say that if you should not freeze it.
Good luck
oh and I forgot to mention if you look at some of the posts like the Mongolian beef and the Crockpot Tacos, you will find more details there!
how do you keep your chicken from tasting grainy or yucky when it cooks that long in the crock pot? I have stopped cooking chicken in the crock pot because the chicken always gets over-cooked or something and tastes bad. help!!!
I use frozen chicken pieces in the crockpot to help with the overcooking. If it takes an hour longer to defrost and cook, that’s one less hour of overcooking.
I had the same problem with my slow cooker. I was putting the food in at 7am, completely frozen, and not shutting it off until almost 6pm. My chicken was always overdone and I had the Honey Romano Park Chops scorched when I came home. I went online to Bed Bath & Beyond. They have a Cuisinart 6.5 Qt Programmable Slow Cooker. You can program it to cook on low for a length of time and when the timer is up it switches over to warm. I found an online coupon for 20% off and it had free shipping. Solved all of my overcooking problems. BTW, we LOVE all of the recipes under the 20 meals in 2 hours. I haven’t been this relaxed when I walked through the door in over a decade! Thank You!
Sometimes it’s better to invest in a more expensive crock pot…especially when you’re going to be gone that long! SO SO SO happy you love the meals 😉
This is late, but some of the grainy texture is usually due to using too lean of a piece of meat. Chicken thighs instead of breasts tend to do better, or use a marbled cut of meat, like a pot roast or pork shoulder.. If you want boneless skinless breast meat, cook it the shorter of the times given (if it says 6-8 hours, definitely go with 6, and if you are home check sooner). HTH
Love it. Thanks for sharing!
I love this – it has made my life so easy! I have create 3 part so far that is an hour in the kitchen to make 5 meals. My plan is to get 4 part so there are enough meals for a month. I will have to check out the recipes you used above 🙂
Here’s my link if you haven’t seen it yet – http://bit.ly/OTYwmn
I need another freezer to do 40 meals 🙂
didnt see a link to Pin your recipes.
I know it’s in there but here it is again http://pinterest.com/whoneedsacape/freezer-crockpot-cooking/ all the recipes are in there plus a few extras.
and here’s our whole pinterest http://pinterest.com/whoneedsacape/
can you come over to my house? I’ll pay for the ingredients 🙂
This looks great! I was planning at picking up a big pork loin at the warehouse store tonight, and I think I could make a lot of these with it. It will be good to try something new.
Thanks so much for the recipe links. I am headed over to pin your board and take a look.
Do you package the veggies separate from the meat if they aren’t to go in the crockpot together? I see you have lots of veggies, but also mentioned not putting them in the crockpot for fear of the mush.
Oh no, the veggies in the picture all went into the bags and into the crockpot. Besides a few of the dishes, the veggies are lacking in the meals I prepared. I just felt like I should mention that we don’t just eat meat for dinner! Those microwave steamer bags of vegetables accompany most of our meals 🙂
Sorry if I missed something obvious….I don’t normally use pinterest…is there one big grocery list somewhere to purchase EVERYTHING to make the 40 meals? I have an empty freezer and a new crockpot ready to go.
Sorry, I don’t have a grocery list typed out for all of this. I didn’t expect anyone to want to make all 40 meals the exact same way that I did.
I would also find this extremely helpful as well.
Ha ha! I guess you were wrong. That would really be over-the-top awesome.
I agree! I would very much appreciate a list, too!
I printed out and purchased the list for the 40 meals! But I can’t find the recipes that call for the pork butt!!! Please help me!
I would love to do this but a couple of my kids won’t eat meat. Any ideas for vegetarian dishes?
Late reply I know but there ate multiple cookbooks now specializing in crock pot cooking for vegetarians. Looking through them they are pretty easy to convert to freezer meals.
I think this is a great idea and one I plan to share with some friends who are getting together to do freezer cooking. I do want to stress that your meat should not sit on the counter for 4 hours while you put the bags together. That could possible cause bacteria to grow rapidly. If you divide up your meat and put it back in a cooler with ice or the refrigerator while you make up your meals, you’ll be fine. Just keep it below 40 degrees F.
Adding the meat at the very end, before putting the bags in the freezer, might be easiest 🙂
That’s a great idea, thanks!
After I took the first grocery photo and also after I took the photo of the bags lined up on my counter the meat went back into the fridge. It did sit on my kitchen table for about 30-45 minutes while finishing up all the other ingredients. Thanks for looking out for me! I think I will try adding the meat in last next time like the poster below suggested!
Sorry if this is a silly question but do you put pasta in the freezer bags or just add it the day you put the ingredients in the crockpot (ie, pesto chicken)?
No, I only made the chicken part of that meal. Not a silly question at all :).
Love the compilation of meals….Do you think you could give us your grocery list? Why reinvent the wheel, right?
Sorry, I had already thrown away the grocery list when I made this post. Next time I will be sure to type it up though!
I shared you post on my blog. Thanks for all the great recipes and inspiration.
Hello. Great meal list. I just have a quick question–which recipes did you triple? And did you double all of them (the ones that weren’t tripled?) Sorry I’m a bit confused on the math!
Yes, everything was doubled. I just happened to have more chicken leftover so I got an additional two meals. I tripled the maple dijon chicken and the balsamic glazed drumsticks. So 19 meals doubled = 38 + the 2 additional from ‘leftovers’ = 40 total meals.
Thanks!
Just one more thing–did you notice that “Chicken Tacos” and “Ranch Chicken Tacos” are the same link? Did you just use a ranch packet instead of chicken seasoning? Thank you!
All I did differently was add some ranch dressing into the bag too :). I eyeballed it, but 1/2-3/4 cup I’d guess!
I do have a recipe where the chicken taco mixture has a ranch packet added to it so that might work well.
Thank you for this post. I love the idea of prepping recipes for the crockpot ahead of time and freezing them.
Thank you for adding all of the links to the recipes. I already have some that I want to try. Definitely bookmarking this.
Thanks so much for this post! I love the idea of having many meals ready in the freezer for busy days. This just may be my project for this weekend. I appreciate your sharing!
Also, your little helper is adorable! She looks happy to be home helping her mommy.
Thank you for this post. Would love your advice on where to find a crockpot that I can set to start AFTER I leave the house. Our routine is out the door by 7:00am and not back to the house until 5:00-5:30pm. Suggestions?
I have seen those! that have timers and start and stop at a certain time…My old one used to turn itself to warm after it was done with the cooking time – it was a Kitchen Aide…my she died 🙂
If ur crock doesn’t have a timer…you can always buy a timer that you plug the crock into. We had one for one of our lamps that we used to have it go on when we were out of time….and I used it for my crock…worked great!!
What an awesome idea about the timer! I am usually gone about 12 hours and that is too long to cook anything in the crockpot. I usually rely on the hubby (who telecommutes) to throw the meals in a little before lunch time.
Viki why have I never thought of that? I cheaped out when buying my new crockpot and I never thought of using one of my light times! GREAT IDEA!
I think a better option would be a crockpot that sets to warm when cooking is completed. Otherwise you have raw meat sitting at room temperature for far too long to be considered safe.
You can buy a timer thing-a-ma-bob at the hardware store. I got one for the lights on my Christmas tree, bc I like coming home at night to the lit tree! Cheap and easy! It just gets plugged into an outlet, you set the time for it to come on, and then plug the crockpot (or tree lights!) into it!
I’m excited to do this! And I felt like I was reading about myself when I read your description of handling raw meat…..yuck-O! =)
Question – can you fix the link to the ranch chicken tacos? That sounds really tasty, but it links to the crockpot chicken tacos recipe.
Thanks for the idea – I think I know what I’ll be doing this weekend!
Actually, that’s the right link. All I did differently was add some ranch dressing to that recipe :).
1st of all thank you for the great idea!
2nd do any of these recipes’ leftovers freeze well? I’m only cooking for my 9 year old daughter & myself and still haven’t figured out how to Crockpot small meals without burning them! Leftovers tend to turn into science experiments in our refrigerator unless frozen.
I’m going to pre-prep & freeze a couple of our favorite recipes
You might try subdividing them into smaller amounts and using a smaller crockpot. I have a small one which I use for making rice or 2-3 chicken breasts.
Otherwise, I think it would be fine to freeze the cooked leftovers if you did it right away (as soon as they are cool enough–that evening or the next day). I don’t know that putting them back in the crockpot would work well.
I’m just cooking for my daughter and myself, as well, and I just don’t cook one til the one I have is gone. OR I put leftovers in my Tupperware in the fridge, and take to work with me for lunch!
You mentioned that you don’t add much veg to the plastic bags. Have you added raw potato before (i.e. for the Hearty Beef Stew) and if so, did they turn out okay after being frozen, thawed and then cooked?
Thank you SO much for this post! I’m expecting my 4th baby in 4 weeks time and have been working on stocking my freezer ahead of time. I really think this “meals in a bag” idea is going to be a great help!
I haven’t had the beef stew yet, it’s been too hot here in TX still for stew :). But I think the potatoes will do fine, they can stand a lot of cooking in my opinion! Also the carrots, onions, and celery will do fine too.
Let us know how that works. Usually potatoes don’t freeze well–the texture changes. But I don’t think I’ve frozen raw chunkc of potato before!
I use the whole bite sized potatoes in the crockpot, they stand up very well to the longer cooking. Sometimes cut potatoes turn to mush and disappear.
Thank you, thank you! I am preparing to start making more of these freezer meals once we buy our new garage fridge/freezer. It’s awesome that you have put all of these recipes in one place! I’ve also begun following your board on Pinterest! Thanks for doing all the dirty work for us:)
Kathleen one way to fill up your freezer is when you make things make double…or when you make something make a VAT 🙂 I do it with spaghetti sauce, chili, soup (I don’t freeze the noodles though add those the day you cook) 🙂
I agree Heather! Most weeks I only cook twice with each meal doubled, tripled or even quadrupled. An extra portion from Monday becomes Wednesday’s supper, an extra portion from Tuesday becomes Thursdays meal, ideally a portion from each is frozen in our large chest freezer to cover days/weeks I’m too busy to cook and Fridays are along the grilled cheese sandwich lines because my husband and older children are involved in Church activities and something quick & easy to individually prepare is best. Weekends are relaxed and the whole family is involved in meal prep so this is when we get to eat the more ‘special’ kind of meals that involve more work. (BTW, this has also kept my food budget down in a time of rising costs and saves time cleaning up the kitchen too.)
I think other recipes you might like for cr
crockpot include taco soup (a Paula Deen Recipe) and lasgana (you could prep meat sauce for freezer, I use a small jar of store brand sauce then add large can tomato purée to stretch that dollar)
SHOPPING LIST FOR CHICKEN RECIPES :
FREEZER ZIPLOCK BAGS in appropriate size (obviously very important 😉
29 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (I did not double the recipes, although two of the recipes linked from the blog post are already doubled, the rest are not)
1.5 lbs Chicken Thighs with skin and bones
1 ½-2 lbs. + 8 individual boneless skinsless chicken thighs
8 Chicken drumsticks
Chunky apple sauce
17.5 oz bottle of buffalo wing sauce
Pesto
Lawry’s Herb and Garlic marinade
Chicken broth (I will get a couple in the cartoons that can be reclosed rather than a can)
Dijon Mustard
Rice or rice wine vinegar
Chicken taco seasoning
Fresh limes
Cilantro (enough for 2 cups when chopped)
Large bag frozen corn
2 cans black beans
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
Balsamic vinegar
Teriyaki sauce
Red and green bell peppers
Bag of carrots
Red onions
2 large cans of pineapple in juice (not syrup)
CHECK IF YOU HAVE ON HAND (either for recipes, of if to complete meal, that meal is in parenthesis)
Salt
Pepper
Brown sugar
Chili powder
Fresh garlic
Cumin
Onions
Soy sauce (will also use this to replace Tamarin in Balsamic Glazed Chicken recipe)
Oregano
Honey
Lemon Juice
Maple Syrup
Olive oil
Coconut oil
Half and Half (Pesto Chicken meal completion)
Fresh pico de gallo (Chicken Tacos)
Fresh rosemary (Maple Dijon Chicken Thighs)
Zucchini or squash, maybe mushrooms (Chicken Cacciatore)
Ranch dressing seasoning packages (dry)
A Sharpie to write on outside of bag any directions/aditions/meal suggestions
What I will need to add to make it a meal (these are my ideas, not necessarily suggested from the recipe links):
1. Apple Sauce BBQ Chicken: potatoes and green beans
2. Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches: Hoagie rolls, green salad or cole slaw, chips
3. Pesto Chicken: Noodles with sauce (recipe for sauce is at link for recipe for chicken)
4. Maple Dijon Chicken Thighs: Bushes beans, French fries or tater tots
5. Cilantro Lime Chicken: chips and salsa, tortillas, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, corn, Spanish rice
6. Chicken Tacos: tortillas, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream
7. Island Chicken: Green beans, mashed potatoes
8. Chicken Cacciatore: Pasta
9. Balsamic Glazed Chicken (use soy sauce, not Tamarin in recipe): brocilli with cheese, rice
10. Honey Glazed Chicken: Rice, Asian vegetables (from Aldi)
11. Teriyaki Chicken: rice
This was awesome. I am SUPPOSED to be on bed rest here at 32 weeks pregnant, but I have a 4 and 5 year old, so it’s difficult. Luckily my sister has been staying here for a few weeks. She doesn’t really cook, but she was willing to go to the store and get everything on the shopping list (although I halved it because I wanted to be sure each recipe was approved before I made double). She is at the store right now, and I am writing out all of the recipes on index cards for my box, which will also make it easier to know which ones were approved, because I can trash the rest (Tip from another commenter). I am just now looking at all the little extra things I will need that weren’t on the list posted above, like pasta noodles and tortillas. I thought this would be awesome for when I am going into labor/recovering so that we can all still have home cooked meals without the effort of ordinary cooking, but I wish I had taken the time to look at each individual recipe before because I needed things like tortillas and buns just for the main dishes that were not on the list linked above. I’m not about to complain because that is my own fault, but this list is extremely helpful. I can also still use the bottom portion just to stock up on the extras in a separate trip (:
Excuse the typos in my previous post, I am sitting in Ukraine during the 10 day waiting period of our family’s adoption a teenage girl, and after having been here now 4 weeks as of today, creating this list was a very productive thing for me to do during this time of waiting…since I noticed there were so many chicken recipes, I focused on those and will make my own list with more beef and pork recipes 🙂 Hope this is a blessing! Thanks, Katie, for coming up with all these great ideas and posting them 🙂
Wow Desirae, Thanks for sharing! Very much a blessing 🙂 Best of luck with the adoption!
Wow! Thank you so much!
Thank you very much for the list. Congratulations on the adoption. Best of luck!
I love this post and I actually think it’s genius!
Thank you so much for sharing this at Wednesday Extravaganza! Hope to see you there this week too 🙂
I made the maple Dijon recipe but with wild turkey and oh my delish, not to mustardy for us at all! i plan on making the Mongolian beef but with venison as well. So I was just wondering because I’m not freezer meal savoy at all, I already have lots of frozen wild turkey and venison so could I make all of the ingredients exclude the meat, freeze them and then defrost along with my meat for the following day and the dishes will still turn out tasty or does having the ingredients with the meat freezing together add to the taste of the dish?
Generally, it is easiest to shop on one day and prep on another. The idea of having most ingredients in a single bag is mostly for reducing time and storage. If your wild game is already separate, I wouldn’t worry about trying to prep the other ingredients with it. I don’t think it will take away from the flavor. GOOD LUCK!
Awesome website! I am new to freezer cooking – could you clarify something for me? Do I just put all of the ingredients into the bags and ignore the directions for cooking? Thanks!
Yep, that’s what I did. I cook all of the meals in the crockpot on low for 6-9 hours depending on how long I’ll be gone. If it’s towards the longer end- I’ll add some extra liquid so it doesn’t dry out through the day.
So how did you prepare the chicken pesto? did you still put everything in the crockpot or just the chicken and marinade and make the sauce at dinner?
I only made the chicken and the marinade.
Just wondering, and you may have answered this question for someone else, but what size crock pot are you using? I know if there is too much space left at the top of the crock, your contents will cook quicker than you want them to ie: 8 hours. Do you use a 4 quart for most of your recipes? I look forward to giving this a try.
I am pretty sure mine is a 6 qt. cooker. If I am going to be longer than 6-8 hours away I will add extra liquid so it doesn’t dry out.
Do you have a grocery list for all these great recipes? 😉 I’m being really lazy I know…but hoping you might share the grocery list as well. This has been my biggest challenge of late..(daily meals)…after 7 kiddos and 23 yrs of marriage you would think I would be a pro. {:-x
Just noticed the shopping list a few posts above! Thank you! 🙂
You are a god to me! Thanks!
I love this idea. I just wish there were some vegetarian dishes!
The shopping list has flank steak listed on it. What recipe is this for? I have searched through them all and can’t find it. All of the beef ones seem to require stew meat. Please help! I bought 3 lbs! -)
I used flank steak for the beef fajitas. It was also originally used in the mongolian beef recipe but I used stew meat there because it was cheaper. Hope that helps!
Do you freeze the raw meat and the raw veggies in the same bag?
Yep- everything in the same bag.
How many people did you prepare these meals for? I have a family of 8 should I make more?
I am feeding 5- 2 adults, 3 kids. For 8 I would most definitely double every recipe.
That’s what I thought too. Thank you.
quick questions… does each recipe make a double batch? is that how you ended up with so many meals?
Each recipe is only meant to make one batch so I did double every recipe and then had enough chicken leftover to make a triple batch of the balsamic chicken and the maple dijon chicken. So that is where the 40 meals came from. Thanks for asking!
I love this plan. I am nervous/curious about freezing the raw potatoes but I will give it a try and see what happens.
For easy planning ahead of these recipes (we are a family of 8 with five boys!) I love the Excel Spreadsheet from FoodStorageMadeEast.net. I entered every meal (in the doubled amounts) plus a few extra meals we normally eat and it automatically calculates how much of every ingredient is needed for one and three months. Here’s the link:
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/babysteps/step-3-three-months-of-normal-food/
Are all recipes for a serving size of 4 adults? It’s just me and my husband and our 2 month old at home, so would I theoretically be able to make 4 bags per recipe if I bought what is listed on the grocery list?
We feed 2 adults and 3 small kiddos with these meals. I guess you could get 4 bags per recipe with the shopping list though I’m not sure how the smaller quantities would work in the crockpot. You may need to adjust the cooking time so it doesn’t overcook.
Thanks for the feedback of experience. I have a family of six ( 9, 8, 6, and 3) so I was wondering if I needed to do 1 and 1/2 the recipe to feed us all.
You probably would need to do 1 and a half times the recipe 🙂
Unable to find individual crock pot recipes the link keeps saying unavailable. Can I find these somewhere else, really want to try the 40 Meals Crockpot recipes!! Thanks!
Hi! Thanks for alerting me, the pinterest board link has been fixed! All of the individual recipe links are in the main post as well.
I clicked on your master shopping list and the recipes & it won’t open? Is there something I’m doing wrong? I own and operate a salon and my husband passed away last December , he had a business i am now CEO of ,so I am extremly busy use my crock pot often and would love to prepare 40 meals ahead of time!!! Is it possible for you to email me the shopping list and recipes? If you can’t I understand ! Thank you!!
Jodi
Applesauce BBQ Chicken and Beef Stew, How long to cook in the crock? The recipe links just mentioned how to cook them stovetop/oven
Thanks!!
I did both for 6-8 hours on low. 🙂
Can you use the individually quick frozen chicken in the recipes? We buy all of our meat in bulk at Sam’s and am wondering if this will effect the preparation or end results?
I think that would work no problem!
Thanks so much for sharing! Im just started planning some Freezer recipes, and Im looking forward to it!
Following you from “Marvelous Monday” linky party. =)
Is there a way to print all the recipes at once? Thanks!
No, sorry. I don’t have a document with all the recipes on it.
I wish I had the freezer space for all that! Thanks for linking up to The Best of 2012 Link Party! Diana
YOU ARE MY HERO! I needed someone to organize this for me… thanks so much!
hugs x
Crystelle
Shared at: http://www.foodiefriendsfriday.com/2013/01/foodie-friends-friday-january-4th-2013.html
The shopping list does not list hoisin sauce. Is the 2 bottles of spicy BBQ sauce meant to substitute for the hoisin sauce?
No, the bbq sauce is for the applesauce bbq recipe. I updated the list to include hoisin. Thanks 🙂
I threw it in there for fun 🙂 I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Thanks so much for linking up with us at Foodie Friends Friday this week. LOVE crock pot and freezer meals!
one of the recipes (balsamic glazed drumsticks) calls for coconut oil, and I do NOT see that on the shopping list. perhaps it can be added.
I don’t think the coconut oil is a MUST HAVE ingredient for most people. Olive oil would do the job just fine :).
Would someone explain how to do the balsamic-glazed-drumsticks http://www.marksdailyapple.com/balsamic-glazed-drumsticks/
Do I just dump everything in a freezer bag or do I pre cook the chicken legs?
Just dump everything into the bag (raw) and freeze. You will cook the chicken legs in the crockpot. 🙂
This is my first time to do anything like this, so I’m sorry I’m so daft! On each of these recipes, do I just put all of it into the bag and freeze? On the preparation (to make it easier), do you chop all veggies first? Do you cut any of the meat first? Do I need to click on each recipe separately to prepare each meal for the bag, or do you have a master order? Thanks so much!
You do have to click each recipe to see the recipe 🙂 and yes chop your veg, cut any meat as per the recipe instructions, put all ingredients into a bag and freeze (don’t forget to label it!!!)
Have fun!
I want to try this but I’m a little leery of freezing fresh veggies… Usually you blanch veggies before freezing them. Has anyone had a problem with this? Maybe I’m just over thinking it??
I haven’t had any problems whatsoever. Even the potatoes in the beef stew held up perfectly!
You usually blanch veggies if you’re doing long-term freezer storage (eating over a year,etc). Since these are used within a month, they should be fine without blanching.
Your picture shows red potatoes and zucchini but they aren’t on the grocery list–is that a different recipe?
The red potatoes I subbed for white potatoes (which is on the list). Just a personal preference. The zucchini I used in the chicken cacciatore and it’s not in the original recipe- just something I decided to add myself :).
Thanks for the great recipes! One questions on the orange chicken. The link has it made stovetop. How have you altered the recipe to freeze and cook in the crockpot?
I just throw all the ingredients into the bag (except the green onions) and freeze. Then defrost in the fridge, dump in crockpot, and cook on low for 6-8 hours. 🙂
I was curious about the same thing, but for the Applesauce Barbecue Chicken, just to confirm for every recipe listed that is stove top do you just use the same cook time (low for 6-8 hours)?
Yep, I cook everything on low for 6-8 hours. If I am going to be longer than 8 hours I will add more liquid (chicken broth usually) so the meat doesn’t dry out while I’m gone. I hardly ever use the high setting on my crock pot.
I love your list. I do this every few months and it saves so much time. My husband is a coach and both my kids are involved in sports AND I teach…talk about no time. This allows us to eat healthy! Come visit my brand new blog http://www.lifelaundryandlaughter.com I’m just getting started in the blogging world.
I was very disappointed! this did not take 4 hrs ! It took me a day and a half . I don’t know if this person had some kind of help but they had to to only take 4 hrs ! I hate false advertising. If you are short on time and looking to do this . I would advise against it.
“This person” did not have any help, with the exception on my two year old daughter who was home sick from school. The planning and shopping was not included in the 4 hours but I absolutely did package all the meals and clean up my kitchen in 4 hours start to finish. I am sorry that it took you a day and a half, sounds like you weren’t organized enough. Thanks for stopping by!
“This Person” put all of this togetther for others to share. EVEN prepared the shopping list!!!! My husband actually helped me do it today and it did take us longer then four hours. That does not mean that she didn’t get it done in four hours and either way I appreciate all of the work she put in that I didn’t have to do!! I am sure we were not nearly as organized as her and that is why she was faster. Either way I think this is awesome and I very much appreciate all the work you put into this Katie. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!! I can’t wait to start trying the different meals
No, thank you Felicia for the kind words. I really appreciate it!! 🙂 Come back and let me know how you guys liked the meals!
It is possible that the problem is a difference in kitchen skills. It would take a lot more than four hours for some skill levels.
I have mad knife skilz. (Lived a few years with a chef) It took me about two and a half hours to make 40 meals when I did my own freezer cooking session.
But yeah, I think four hours to do this is about average.
Thanks Noel for the input! That is interesting fact to consider when planning something like this!
I just did half of these (got a picky family) and it took me a total of 2.5 hours WHILE preparing homemade chicken stock and dealing with three kids under 5 🙂 I prepared ahead of time and read everything so I knew for the most part what was going into each recipe. Katie, I am so grateful for your time and all the work you put into posting this with pictures, shopping lists, etc! I know it was hard work 🙂 Thanks again. I am very excited to have come across this!
wow… celeste is not too nice! katie, thanks for putting everything together for all of us to use!
So on recipes like the buffalo chicken, you put the chicken, sauce, butter, and ranch all into the bag and freeze. Then thaw and throw in crockpot. Just making sure that we are just dumping all of the ingredients into the bag?
Thanks so much! Can’t wait to get started!
Also, do you rub the pork before you put it in the freezer or after?
I didn’t rub the spices in, I just put them in the bag over the pork :). I really like taking the easiest way out haha!
Yep, that’s exactly what I do- just dump and freeze! Then when you are ready to make just defrost and dump :). I hope it works well for you too!
Thank you so much! Finding you today has truly been a blessing to me. I plan to have a freezer full of meals by the end of the week. 🙂
Aw you made my day, thank you! Come back and let me know how it all goes for you :).
Question….for the pesto chicken….do you put marinade and sauce and chicken – all in the same bag? and then that is what you pour over the pasta? and do you put pasta in the crock – after you cook it? Sorry – i know you might feel like you are repeating yourself. THANKS!!
No, you’re fine! I actually only made the pesto chicken from that recipe – no pasta. But yes, I put the marinade and the pesto in the bag with the chicken. If you wanted the pasta, definitely don’t put it in the crockpot, just cook it that night right before you serve dinner.
I have been reading through some of your comments, I hope to do this tomorrow, it seems to me that you just take the ingredients and throw them all in a bag (uncooked) then thaw and place in crockpot for 6-8hrs on low, am I getting that right? I was going to print the recipes but don’t want to waste paper if its easier to do it this way….. Thank you so much!
Wow! I have never frozen any meals before, but I use my crockpot all the time. I have a new baby and work all day, so this idea sounds like a lifesaver! Just curious- can you do freezers meals with any crockpot recipe? I am on a tight budget so I don’t want to mess up and waste anything. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing your recipes with us! But I have to say, I did not think there was another person in the world like me who hates touching raw meat!!! Everything you did, I do the same thing!! Glad to know I am not alone!
I am a huge fan of this idea. That being said, I am trying to reduce our meat intake and am interested in this same concept but with some vegetarian fare. Have you any vegetarian recipes?
No, sorry. I loosely follow the paleo diet and it is basically meat and veggies, no grains.
Your post says 40 meals, but I only see recipes for 19. Am I missing something?
Yes, if you read through the post- you’ll see that I ended up tripling 2 of the recipes to get to a total of 40 meals. 🙂
I had the delight of spending an afternoon preparing crockpot freezer meals with my daughter in law before our grandson was born. Since then I have shared the idea with several of my soon to be grandma friends. And I’m about to spend another afternoon preparing meals with my daughter who is about to bless us with a grand daughter. This is a wonderful way to spend time with my girls and be a genuine help to them. Thank you for sharing all your research with us!
Oh I love this! What a wonderful thing to do with and for your daughters! You are a great mom and grandma 🙂
I see that you don’t brown the meat before placing in bag–do you still add the fat (olive oil, etc.) that the recipe called for to brown the meat given you aren’t doing that?
I do still add the fat to the bags, I think it helps a bit with keeping the meat moist. Thanks for asking!
OK for example on the beef and chicken fajitas it is a meal that’s to be cooked in the oven.. So you just throw all the ingredients in the bag and thaw the night before and cook in the oven? Silly question I know, but I want to be clear before I make all this stuff lol
No, I still make it in the crockpot! You *can* cook it in the oven obviously, but I wanted a crockpot meal :). It works GREAT! So thaw overnight, dump in the crockpot, turn it on low and cook for 6-8 hours. Add a touch more liquid if you’ll be gone longer than that.
Awesome. Thank you. I’ve been investigating recipes all morning and am starting to organize this. Baby #2 is due in 10 weeks and my husband is taking off a few weeks we wanted to be able to just enjoy her and not have to really do anything. This will be wonderful. Thank you so much!
You are so welcome! Come back and let me know how it all goes for you. Congratulations on baby2 🙂
Thank you!
Just bookmarked this and wanted to thank you for all of the work to put together the info. I ended up unearthing the crockpot not long after the oldest granchild came to live with us. He is ALWAYS hungry at dinnertime and my husband and I have hectic schedules. The crockpot totally came into play six weeks ago when the husband had a car accident and I have been spending a lot of time with care giving and doing all of the driving in addition to my work as a City Council Member and of course there were the holidays ! These ideas and all the instructions help tremendously.
Great idea! I am planning to do my first freezer cooking day soon, thanks for the tips!
I would love to have you share this (and anything else you have been working on) at my linky party! http://domesticrandomness.blogspot.com/2013/01/friday-fascinations-8-everything-linky.html
This is simply amazing! I did something similar before the arrival of my 3rd and would love to do it again! I just don’t know how you managed to do it all in 4 hours! It took make a few days but I’m going to blame it on being full term with two little ones and only having a little time LATE at night.
This is all so great! But some of your recipes don’t have crock pot directions? Like the Pesto Chicken. I even went to your pinterest board and they don’t have the directions either. Any chance of you sharing how you did those recipes via freezer into crockpot?
Any of the recipes that don’t have crockpot directions- I cooked them on low for 6-8 hours after they had been defrosted. Thanks!
Love this! Just wondering which two meals you tripled. Shopping on Sat 🙂
I tripled the maple dijon chicken and the balsamic glazed chicken legs. These two aren’t accounted for in the shopping list- I just overestimated the amount of chicken and had some leftover 🙂
My sister and law and I did this together a few weekends ago, we each went home with meals (we got 34 out of it), and it was fantastic! We are about halfway through trying them, and I had some suggestions.
-BIGGEST ADVICE: REVIEW THE RECIPES AND MEAT QUANTITIES BEFORE YOU SHOP!!
-Following the directions, and accounting for larger portions, we still WAY underestimated the chicken. I was under the impression that each recipe served 4, and I could have mis-read it, but based on the directions we easily needed to double the drumsticks and thighs, and still didn’t make it, even though we had 3 extra bags of boneless skinless chicken. We are feeding a family of 5 (2 adults and 3 kids) who don’t eat a whole lot and a family of 4 (2 adults, one who eats like 2 adults, 1 kid, 1 toddler). BUT, boneless skinless chicken came to the rescue, and we were able to supplement with those.
-I did not defrost before adding to the crockpot, and everything was great!
-We had a lot of canned tomatoes left over. Don’t know if again we mis-read, but we followed the grocery list to a T. (don’t open all your cans at once, open as you go to avoid this)
-We added fresh vegis to the following: zucchini and mushrooms to the cacciatore, zucchini to the beef stew) *** we chopped all into larger chunks and it worked out well, they did not disintegrate
– Keep some stock and CORNSTARCH on hand. If you need to thin out, or thicken.. I thickened the cacciatore and the man pleasing/honey dijon chicken so far (served over mashed potatoes was great!!) It made a huge difference!
-Pulled pork was AMAZING!! I served like this: French roll sliced in half longways. Butter then toast under broiler. Add meat with some juice = YUM!
All in all this was GREAT! We haven’t had anything we don’t like yet, and I cna’t wait to do it again!! Thank you!
This is so awesome 😉 I can’t speak for katie – But I’m LOVING That you did this 😉
You explained this perfectly! We just finished prepping all the meals last night. We had to spread it out over a couple of nights. We ended up with 36 meals. You are exactly right about reading the recipes first!! We underestimated the chicken as well and ended up making multiple trips to the store. We also ended up with some extra tomatoes and canned goods, but I’m sure they will come in handy soon. I followed that shopping list exactly, but now wish I had read the recipes and jotted notes. We tried the Mongolian Beef tonight. It was delicious. I would add to your tips to buy BONELESS, SKINLESS everything! (with the exception of drumsticks of course) Deskinning chicken was not fun and added extra time. Excited to try tomorrow’s meal!!
Thank you for sharing. I can’t freeze 40 days worth because I don’t own a generator yet, but I do need to start freezing a week’s worth on Saturdays. Your post has been helpful in my research.
I was part of a neighborhood cooking co-op for many years, and we basically did this every month. It was awesome…we have since moved, and I miss my co-op very much!! I’m going to use this article and do it myself!! So much easier to have frozen meals than to think of something to cook at 4pm… =)
Wow, what a great menu you put up. I’ll look forward to adding some of these recipes to my mix. On wrestling tournament days I love to use the crock pot since we’re too tired to even reheat food at the end of the day.
Bought everything on shopping list. Trying to make sure I just put all ingredients in bags (raw and all), freeze, thaw night before using and cook 6-8 hours following day?
Yep, that’s basically what I did! I hope you love it all 🙂
What recipe is the beef flank used in?
The crockpot fajitas. I did a combo of beef and chicken.
Ok Thank you. I have never cooked beef flank before. Do I just cut it up like I would the chicken for the fajitas?
Awesome recipes!! I did 5 of them to start me off. I tried 1 on Sunday to run it through. I know now to thaw before placing in crockpot. Amen to some sanity.
I’m sorry if this was asked already but I don’t have time to read all 200+ comments… 🙂 I’m a little confused, some of the recipes you linked to require multiple steps of cooking, do you just skip all that? For example the Pesto Chicken – the recipe says to heat olive oil, cook garlic, add pesto, simmer in chicken broth, etc……. Do you just put all the ingredients in the bag and not do these steps?? TIA!!!!
Yep, I skip all those extra steps and just dump and freeze. I’m a lazy cook 🙂
I just wanted to comment on a few of the recipes I’ve made so far. The fajitas were amazing (although I cooked them in a skillet), the cilantro lime chicken was delicious ( I mixed in some cooked brown rice, a little guacamole and some homemade salsa before rolling them in a tortilla shell), the Mongolian beef was good/great (although I’ll add some peppers next time) and the beef tips were soooo good (I thickened the sauce with a little bit of cornstarch before serving over mashed potatoes. these would also be good with mushrooms added during the last 30 minutes of cooking). The only ones that I probably won’t make again are the Orange chicken and the teriyaki chicken. Thanks for the great recipes!!!
applesauce BBQ chicken and pork Chile stew were also yummy! A drop of sour cream, some shredded cheese and crushed tortilla chips took the stew from delicious to OMG!!!
Wow!!!!
Had to pin this!
Have you ever seen potatoes turn a dark color after freezing and then cooking them?
Nope. The red potatoes I used stayed the right color and consistency after freezing and cooking.
Sometimes when potatoes are cut up and sit out in the open while waiting to be bagged, they will turn dark. I like to keep any cut up potatoes in a bowl of water to prevent that from happening. A trick I learned from my grandmother. 🙂
So excited! Picked up everything to do this yesterday and today we are going to assemble the bags. We both work full time, run a parttime business and I am the mayor of a small town. This doesnt even take into account that we have three kids still at home! Our 16 year old is going to love this! I would like to see more beef recipes (my hubby is totally a “Beef. It’s what’s for dinner!” kinda guy). Any suggestions?
You had me at $225 for the month! I’m definitely doing this next month and I only have two adults to feed. Thank you!!!
This is extremely Smart. Since 40 or even 20 doubling sounds a little overwhelming to me personally. I am doing this today for about 7-10 dinners. For me baby steps on anything to start. That is why I love this whole blog, you take away what works best for you and your family. You can modify any of these dishes and even add some of your own that you know well.
Great Job. I just finished making my list, now I’m going to shop, then prepare. Thank you for the great idea, and even more the Motivation.
This looks amazing. I feel inspired to start planning ahead more!
What a fantastic post! Even though its summer here in Australia and not the best weather for hot meals, I’m putting this one away in the vault for winter time. Just excellent information. Thank you so much for sharing at Thriving on Thursday last week. I’m featuring this tomorrow. I do hope to see you again.
Anne xx
Thanks Anne, we’ll definitely stop on over.
Hi there! I’ll be guest blogging about my experience doing this “40 meals in 4 hours” starting this Friday. Just wanted to let you know, as I’ll be sure to link to the post! 🙂
(I normally would blog via my website for Chicago-area photography at http://www.appelmanimages.com – but this guest blogging spot is obviously about food and family!)
(Sorry, I posted this comment on the wrong page originally!)
Do you have an itemized list of groceries and recipes on one site/area so we can just go shopping and not go to a different site for every recipe?
Kelly – thanks for asking! here is the link 😉 http://whoneedsacape.com/crockpot-freezer-cooking-master-shopping-list/
I noticed for the Maple Dijon Chicken Thighs there is not a specific amount listed for the chicken thighs? How many did you use or would you recommend?
I absolutely LOVE this post and am so excited to get it all prepped. The recipes all sound amazing! Thank you for taking the time to put it all together!
Kate
Depending on the size of the thighs, I’d use 6-8 :). I hope you like them all!
When you made the Orange Chicken, what exactly did you just add all the ingredients to the bag and freeze? Silly question I’m sure, but when I went to the recipe, there was nothing there about freezer cooking for that dish. Thanks!
Yep, that’s exactly what I did. Dumped all the ingredients in a bag and froze (except the green onions- I didn’t freeze those since they are a garnish:) )
I’ve fallen in love with freezer cooking! You can see my post about my first time here.
http://craftsbycj.blogspot.com/2012/05/cook-thon.html
Can’t wait to try some of these recipes!
~CJ
I am another mom that is creeped out by raw meat. The solution we came up with was to buy a box of gloves (the kind used in the doctor’s office) to wear during the process. We buy most of our meat in bulk cases of 20 to 40 pounds and repackage it ourselves at home (vacuum seal and freeze). That way, your hands are clean the moment you need to take them off. For my sanity, it was a very inexpensive price. <3
If your recipe calls for beef or chicken broth, does that go into the bag with the meat for freezing as well? I just wonder how the broth would do for freezing. I want to do this for my stepson when we go visit him, but if I tell him that there are additional steps (such as the physically demanding task of having to actually open a can of chicken broth), he likely won’t do it 🙂
If it’s just a cup or so of broth, I’ll go ahead and add it. If it’s 2 or more cups I just make a note an dadd it later otherwise it takes up too much space in the freezer.
Awesome job. I am picking and choosing some recipes right now, but will roll out the whole thing over summer. Fringe benefits of being a teacher. That and it will save tons of money in the long run.
Thanks for a great post.
Thank you for posting this! I just had a baby a month and a half ago and made 30 of these! So far 2 of the 3 we have tried have been successes!! My question is – do you add water to the crockpot for any of the recipes? I’m finding that if there isn’t much liquid they are burning/sticking to the crockpot (even after spraying with PAM). I don’t want to ruin the recipes by adding water…but don’t want to burn it either. So water or no water? Or how do you avoid this? I’ve used the liners before but would rather not of possible. Thanks!
If you feel a recipe is dry you can always add chicken/beef/vegetable broth to not take away from flavor.
Just wondering how long these meals are ok to last in freezer? I’m expecting #2 soon and hubby isn’t the best cook so want to be prepared.
Thanks!
I’m disappointed there isn’t a single vegetarian option….
I’m sorry you’re disappointed, I never claimed there would be any vegetarian meals. I am not a vegetarian and probably the furthest thing from it. Here’s a pinterest board with a lot of vegetarian crock pot recipes on it for you : http://pinterest.com/aprilcmast/vegan-crockpot-slow-cooker-recipes/
Had meal #1 last night – Beef Stew – it was delicious! I couldn’t believe how a few simple ingredients could taste so good. Applesauce BBQ Chicken tonight! Thank you so much for all the hard work that went into compiling these recipes!
Hey! I love this idea and would really like to try it, but I am a little confused. It says 40 meals in 4 hours… but, I don’t see 40 recipes. Do you have a list or attachment of all recipes and grocery list that you could email me? Thanks! 🙂
All recipes were doubled and a couple were tripled. There is a shopping list above 😉
Thanks! 🙂 I’ll use that! I appreciate it.
is there a easy way to print out all the recipes too?
If the recipe is one of ours on our site they are all printable from zip list so yes. If it is on another blog – it’s out of our control;)
whats with the cillantro lime chicken recipe…. cant find a link to the ingredients or the how to… help!
The website for that one seems to be down for me right now, it’s not my website but it should come back up soon! I apologize for that.
I’m assuming that you did not leave all those bags with meat out on the counter for four hours. That you put them back in to the refrigerator and took a few out at a time to fill. Raw meat out for four hours is a recipe for illness. Please tell me you didn’t do that.
She didn’t do that 😉
Wow thanks. Going to try these out. I love freezer cooking . Those slow cooker liners and steam bags freak me out though. I worry about the chemicals leaching out to the food. Thanks again for the recipes!
For the life of me I cannot figure out why flank steak is on the shopping list!!! I have printed and scrutinized every recipe and do not see it!! I also used an average of 3 large chicken breasts for those recipes (some called for 4) and I had to return to the store for more. Same with the drumsticks and thighs….so I think I will revise my shopping list next time….Cannot wait for next Sat. though when a friend of mine is joining me for “Crock Pot Crazy Day”!
I just did it yesterday and found the same thing. Had to go back for more of the meat and we didn’t even make the chicken ranch tacos. Also was missing the half and half on the list as well as the mushrooms. I think there may have been some others as well. Though IO still think it is great and can’t wait to try them.
I apologize for you not having enough meat on hand to make the recipes. I admit I eyeballed most of the meat when I was buying and placing in the bags (which is how I ended up with enough extra to triple a couple of the recipes). About the missing ingredients, the half and half was for the pasta part of the chicken pesto recipe- I did not freeze that part of it, only the chicken part. The mushrooms I’m pretty sure are from the maple dijon chicken and Heather specified that she added those for her own tastes and noted they would not be on the shopping list. I hope you still were able to get through all of the recipes and that your family enjoys them!!
Is the grocery list with the recipes already doubled?
Did you use quart size or gallon size bags? Thanks!
Not Katie but I believe she used gallon sized bags! Let us know how it goes for you!!!!
22 meals in 6 hours even with a school pickup. You must be MEGA organized and quick to have done it in 4! I watch my DVR while I am working though so i think it slows me down 🙂 Thanks for all the hard work!
Do you have to defrost these before you pop them in the crockpot? how do you suggest doing this? I am seriously considering this.. My husband and daughter are picky.. no maple anything.. no pesto! ack! Such complainers! Looks great though!
Yes, defrost first. I pull a bag at the night before and defrost it in the fridge. They are usually mostly defrosted by morning :).
I did not defrost, and put everything in frozen. Everything turned out great!
WOWEEEE!! I will do the crock pot recipes, I was just too timid in the past for such an undertaking. Now I can stop being a weenie and bag up my dinners, throw them in the pot and not have to hear my husband ask, whats for dinner and I say I don’t know, what do you want, and he says I don’t know and we stare at each other for 30 mins, then I am too tired to cook, then we order out! EXPENSIVE!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for saving my marriage and my money, not in that order! 🙂
I make freezer meals about 5-6 times a year. I am excited to try some of your recipes. One helpful tip I have is that I created 2″x4″ labels with the name of the meal and any directions needed for my favorite meals. When I make the meals, I update the label with the date and print them out. These adhere surprisingly well to the bags.
The big advantage to this is that my son or husband can prepare the meal. Another plus is that I have been able to share meals with new moms etc. they have a meal ready to go when they need it, and all the directions are easy to see and follow.
Thanks for sharing!
I am going to be reviewing your recipes on my blog, The GOOD Pins. I love the concept and the recipes look simple yet delicious so I cant wait to try them out, photograph them and share them with my readers. Will definitely send them here!
I am totally going to try this! Katie, I have tried to compile everything into a Word document, so if you are interested in having a copy email me and I will send it to you and maybe you can somehow make it available for everyone? 🙂
I’m not sure if this question has been asked thus far..so humor me, please. 😉 We have a family of eight and all six kids eat fairly well. Would I need to double these recipes or just some ? And if so, would I need to use two crockpots or just one? I believe my largest is a 6qt. Your thoughts?? Thanks a ton!! I look forward to trying these asap.
that is a lot of chicken! Lol
Help! I used the grocery list and bought the flank steak but I can’t figure out what recipe to use it with, looks like most of the beef recipes call fro stew meat. Thanks!
It’s the fajitas recipe 🙂
Is the master list of ingredients for just the 19 recipes or the 19 recipes doubled?
Now this is funny, but NOT! Don’t forget, like I did, to put freezer bags on your shopping list too!!! Had to make second trip to store!
Just a quick thanks…. we had a “crockpot freezer prep party” with 3 of my girlfriends at my house. Here’s hoping that the recpies work out since we “might” have had a few glasses of wine while prepping ! Thanks again for all your hard work.
~Suze
You are so welcome! I love the party idea and the wine even more :):):). I hope you all enjoy them!!
I just wanted to say thank you so, so much for posting this! I’m due in November with our 4th child, and the others think that they need to be fed…every day, for some utterly unknown reason. 😉 I fully plan to take an afternoon in late October and get all of these made up so I can relax a little about meal planning when the baby gets here.
How do you not go broke buying all the gallon sized bags to put the food in?
I bought them (and stocked up a TON) when they were on sale with coupons for $.24 per box 🙂
I am a raw meat skeever as well and it is a source of endless humiliation. So many people think it is hilarious that something so ordinary freaks me out so completely. In 1980 we were expecting a baby so good man, I carried groceries up from the car. On the bottom of the bag, meat-side down was hamburger and as I walked it was all I could feel. Got all the way to the back porch before it got to me and I heaved into the bags. Wife was not thrilled. But it felt horrible!
Do you think I can bake these recipes in the oven? I hate the texture of meat from slow cookers.
Of course! You’ll have to play with times and temps but yes 🙂
I want to start off by saying I followed the shopping list to a T and all of the recipes. This sounds good in theory but in reality not so much. I also have a family of five with two eating as toddlers and three adults. The shopping list was totally off with meat especially the chicken by 35 pieces. The beef recipes needs to triple also. I was very excited when I started and very quickly became disappointed as the days added up. There was not enough for my family to eat on a bunch of occasions. She says it only took 4 hours it took me almost 9 straight hours to put all the dinners together. Also They were very bland in taste except for the Pesto Chicken. TWO THUMBS DOWN would never do this again. 🙁
I also found the list to be off a bit. I needed a LOT more soy sauce. In the end, I blame myself for not making my own list.
Suzanne we are sorry! Hope you still got your freezer filled!
Yeah, I don’t blame you for being mad, esp. after what you paid for it. 😛 I am always amazed at people complaining about FREE STUFF on the Internet. No vegetarian options! This took me a long time! Blah blah blah.. Make your own list….Or gasp, make the meals with what you have and then buy the rest to supplement later. Jeez Louise people….whine, whine whine. I FOR ONE THANK the author of this for giving me the idea and giving me the groundwork to build on.
Here Here, Karen !! I couldn’t have rebuked her better myself !
I used these recipes to get my family through a recent hand surgery that I had done. I didn’t make all of them, made adjustments when I needed to for taste, serviings etc. They were a life saver ! The family (hubby, sons of 23, 20 and 16) were thrilled to have dinner on the table and we picked several new family favorites from this adventure. DEFINITELY going to do this again!! I’ve shared this website with many folks and they are excited to.
Thanks for the great Idea!!! I have to be honest, I did not follow your recipes, but took the idea and followed recipes from a crock pot recipe book, life is easier and I think my family is happy you posted this, because we were getting tired of fast food meals!!!! I am usually gone most of the day and the last thing I want to do is come home and cook, side dishes are always welcome when there is enough time for it, but don’t have to worry for the whole meal, you are a genius!!!!
I use my crockpot alot in the winter. I love to put a lean pork roast in with a can of cream of mushroom soup and frozen carrots. This wonderful served with rice and a salad.
Thank you for sharing all your hard work with all of us. I’m excited to do this. I love not having to worry about ‘what’s for dinner’ when the family asks. Thank you!!!!
I LOVED this post! I read it a while back and it was my inspiration for freezer meals! We used to spend about $120.00 per week on groceries, I now spend $168.00 for an ENTIRE MONTH worth of food. AMAZING!!
I featured this on my blog and gave my own spin on it! Hope you don’t mind, I made sure to give you credit.
The master list is doubled already? Or do I need to double that?
I didn’t read through all the comments, so I may be asking a duplicate question. If so, I apologize in advance.
I had a few bags LEAK. (I used Ziploc brand gallon freezer bags). This was a HUGE MESS. Has anyone else found a way around this problem.
Maybe you got a bad box of ziplocs? Sorry that they leaked If you are worried you could always double bag I guess?
Still trying to figure out if grocery list is doubled already or only for 19 recipes. Baby is due soon. Help anyone!!
I believe the grocery list is doubled – but it wouldn’t hurt to double check 😉
I wanted to let you know that some of the meals can be frozen for longer than 2a month or two. I use a seal a meal and I can freeze them up to 4 months. I haven’t tried to keep it any longer than that. I think I’m going to make one and keep it in there and see how long I can keep it just so I can let you know. And I absolutely love your postings. Thank you so much. 2 people like me you are like a godsend. I have absolutely loved Pinterest.
Thank you again, Heather in Oregon
I just found this on Pinterest! And am in aw! You are amazing and after reading this and printing out the master list I’m waiting for my husband to get home so I can go to the commissary and get started! Just had a question on the ones that call for canned soup do u put that in the bag too and freeze with the other spices?
Yes:)
Might want to cross reference the recipes with the shopping list. The wings recipe calls for hot sauce, but it wasn’t on the shopping list (was wing sauce) Just a suggestion. Loved making these tho, very rewarding
Thanks Katy! We are currently working on that!
Thanks so much for posting this! I used to be in a freezer meals group, and haven’t had the guts to do it by myself without help. I will be doing this right before school starts and the chaos begins again. Love it!
Tip for you and others (like me) who do NOT like touching raw meat. Latex medical exam gloves. Worth every penny I spend on them!
I totally agree with the gloves, not a fan of touching raw meat myself 🙂
I love the idea! However, my family has a special diet. I wonder if we could create an option for other types of diet.
Maybe readers already know some recipes for special diets. Thanks!
My family eats:
gluten-free,
dairy-free,
NO red meat or pork or seafood (other than fish),
we mostly eat lots of fish!
Great suggestions Maria – we’ll keep it in mind 😉
A lot of our current freezer meals are gluten-free or can be easily made gluten free 🙂 and there are also a lot of chicken dishes (didn’t see that on your no list). I think if you look through you will find some that you can definitely make!
If you look through the recipes, many of them have gf options for the ingredients
I’m so excited to try these! I have the pickiest husband on the planet when it comes to food. Not a fan of most veggies, so these recipes are perfect!! Thank you for making life soooo much easier!!!!!
Is the master list of ingredients for just the 19 recipes or the 19 recipes doubled? thanks!
should be for all 😉 so you don’t have to double but double check!
I don’t know you…but I love you so much right now. Thank you for posting such a thorough and efficient list. You’ve just saved the world (from my perspective)!
LOVE THIS!! We raise meat rabbits and I use it in chicken recipes, this will be great at expanding my menu’s!!!! Thanks.
There are only 19 recipes listed here.Is there a link to the rest?
Kathryn, All recipes are at least doubled and some tripled to equal 40 meals. Hope this helps.
Where can I get all 40 recipes? I see above there are 19 recipes, are those all of them or are there more? Thank you.
Never mind, I see the comment above. Thank you.
Another crock pot idea…..in the winter we have soup once a week. I make a plum full 7qt crockpot full and eat about 1/2. The rest goes in an empty ice cream bucket in the freezer. Once frozen, you can pop it out of the container and keep in a ziploc freezer bag, although sometimes I have needed a 2 gal bag for this instead of a 1 gal bag. I do a different soup once a week for 6-8 weeks and do this each time. Your leftover soup is now frozen in the shape of your crockpot for the next time you want to have it. This takes care of 12-16 weeks of soup once a week, the bulk of cold winter for us. You can also make a raw lasagna in an ice cream bucket, freeze and cook later in your crock. Other things will work this way too. Our favorites soups are pizza, chili, potato, veg beef barley, ham and bean, chicken tortilla etc. Happy crock pot cooking!
I stumbled upon this a few days ago. I can’t begin to tell you how you did this step by step with RAW stuff. I’m nearly ready to pop (35 weeks) and the ONE thing I’ve been paranoid about is food. Making sure I have enough, that we don’t have fast food or pizza each night, that it’s healthy…
But cooking for hours on end to have foods ready to “reheat” this close to the end of my pregnancy freaked me out. Even my hubby was stoked about your post! So…a year later: THANK YOU! 😀
Hello!
What a great idea for busy people! I am having a problem getting the “Cilantro Lime Chicken” to load the recipe. Any suggestions?
i am having the same issue, and this one sounds like it will be my fave! would love to find this recipe!
If you can copy and paste this address, it should take yo to the page Cilantro Lime chicken is on. You have to scroll down the page a bit, but it is on there! Good Luck!
http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/04/more-freezer-cooking-meals-part-3.html
Oops, or just click the link! Haha I didn’t know if that would work but it does!!
Amanda, it appears as though when you click on the link we provide the recipe is not on that page directly. Scroll to the top of that page and there is another link to a Google Document where that author has written the recipe for Cilantro Lime Chicken. Stay tuned, as we will be posting our own version shortly. Sorry for any confusion. 🙂
I just used the one on the page I had the address for above. It worked out fine for me!
how many servings do each of the recipes make?
i know there are a lot of comments about the 6-8 hours, and adding broth before leaving in case you’ll be gone too long… what if i have a crock pot with a time that automatically switches to “keep warm” after the time is up. is that ok or will it still need extra broth? i am usually gone 7:30am-7:30pm…
I would put a little extra in – the keep warm on a lot of crock pots is still pretty hot 😉 so try adding a bit extra and see how it goes! Good Luck Lauren
I can’t wait to try this. Sounds hard to do all at once though. It will take me lots of planning. Thanks for this post.
Hi can you tell me if you put everything including the spices into the bag before it goes into the freezer? I am confused on that part. Everything on the recipe card goes into the bag and gets frozen then it all comes out and into the crockpot. Thanks for any help
Everything goes in the bag together. Very easy. 🙂
Another meal suggestion: BBQ Pork / Beef Ribs or Pork Chops
1 bottle of your favorite bbq sauce
2-3 lbs of your favorite ribs
1/2 tsp of garlic and onion powder
I put frozen ribs in crock pot, rub with garlic and onion powder, pour sauce over both sides of ribs or pork chops and cook on low for 6-8 hours…. they will fall off the bone when you eat them!
Yummy!…Even my twin toddlers love this!
I am getting ready to prepare these meals. I have a ton of homemade broth in my freezer. Do you think it would be ok to thaw it, use it in the recipes, and refreeze? Open to anyone’s feedback, thank you!
I would not thaw and refreeze – that can cause freezer burn and a not great taste. 🙁 you could prepare the meals without the broth and then thaw it with the meals and use it then?
I love this idea. I love duplicating meals since it just as easy to make six pans of lasagne as it is to only make one. I have a bunch of frozen meat in the freezer (venison, chicken, beef). I think I will freeze the other ingredients separately and label them so all I have to do is mix and match for the meals I want to make! I am glad somebody shared this on FB!
I noticed you mentioned you double the recipes if i DO NOT double them do i still cook on low 6 to 8 hours? and use a 5QRT crockpot? Thanks!!
wondering do if i DO NOT double the meals like you did how long would you cook and do I still use a 5qrt crockpot size?
the meals were doubled in terms of she made 2 of them separately and froze them – they were not doubled in terms of a single meal – so cooking time is the same 🙂
In addition to the slow cooker liners, I use the oven turkey bag. It eliminates the need for too much liquid.
Thank you for sharing! I cannot wait to get a small freezer and do this. Thank you again!
Question: I noticed people remarking that the chicken measurements were off in the shopping list… I noticed in one of the first recipes it says “chicken breasts halves”… I’m wondering, are we supposed to be using the half breast (it’s not really half, but I think you know what i mean) as opposed to the whole ginormous piece? Is that maybe why people find the chicken measurements off? BFF and I are planning to do this ASAP and add some more from your pinterest page 🙂
I think chicken breast halves is the technical name of what I would say is a chicken breast – meaning the breast has 2 sides to it – but no one I know cooks the entire breast. So I think it’s just a misinterpretation thing.
Let us know how you do 😉
We live in Brasil as missionaries and we follow the custom here of having our main meal at lunch time. I home school our kids until 12:30 and many times we’re not sitting down to eat until 1:30 or 1:45. Do you think these recipes would work for a shorter cooking time? Also, the Mongolian beef….do you know what cut of meat the “stew meat” comes from?
Thanks!
Stew meat can be any beef that is a tougher slice cut into bite size pieces 🙂
And yes if you use your slow cooker on high instead of low it could be done in a shorter amount of time
Where are the other 21 recipes? I can’t find them. I have the shopping list for the 40, but need the rest of the recipes to do it.
Hi Chrissy,
I believe there are several recipes that are repeated. Hope this helps you out!
Bevin
This is amazing. Can’t wait to try it. You need to write a book. I’d buy it.
Help! I cant get the link to these recipes to load:(
I just tried clicking myself and it loaded, maybe try again in a few minutes.
This is absolutely amazing! 40 meals in 4 hour time sounds impossible but did it! Incredibly great and I would love to try this. Thanks for posting the recipes and tips 🙂
Freezing some of your recipes out before my total knee replacement. Hubby doesn’t know squat about the kitchen. He doesn’t understand why I am doing this. I told him that I would not be able to cook meals right after surgery. Go figure!
Well I do like the idea of this but personally it took me much longer than what was said. J started at around 11 am and worked till 6 pm. Also the cost came to just under $400. Over all it was good but maybe a bit inaccurate. I worked fast and straight through and I was really organized so its not like I was in chaos the whole time. Anyways, thanks for putting this together!
Robyn – it probably would have taken me longer too! I think time is really subjective. Not everyone works at the same speed!
and as for cost – it really depends on where you live. NJ (where I am) would be higher cost than TX (where Katie is). and I know that Katie got her chicken on a HUGE sale – so that helped 🙂
Glad you made them and glad you have your freezer stuffed with food no matter how long it took you!
Thanks for sharing!! I love freezer cooking and my hardest part is finding enough recipes for my family of picky eaters (including my wonderful husband!) These will all be a hit!! Great post:-)
This is great!!! I have m.s. and there are plenty of days I cant get the strength or energy up to cook. This will make it so even my 11 year can put dinner ‘on’
I will let you know how it goes and I will spread the word amongst my other M.S. friends!!! THANK YOU!!!!
What a perfect time to find this!!!! I found you earlier this week, shopped yesterday and now have 23 meals in the freezer. Monday I am having carpel tunnel surgery. Thanks so much !
Good Luck with your Surgery!!!!!
I’m sitting in the UK trying to find British substitutes for the ingredients you use…that’s taken some time but I’m winning! Now, I am a full time student and work part-time and I’m going to try and do this for my son and I as I have so little time to actually cook decent meals these days. I am having to halve the recipes as there is only 2 of us but also freezer space is limited. Has anyone had to do this and if so do you have any advice on cooking time etc? I’m so excited to be doing this, I absolutely hate having to think about dinner on the way home from work!!
Kirstin Hi! Good luck with being a student, working and a mom! 🙂
Even if the recipes are in half – the cooking time in the slow cooker should be relatively the same. The meat still cooks at the same speed 😉
Good luck!
I did this just a week ago !!! I spent less than $250 on everything and it’s been great!!!!
I put one of each dinner in the freezer in the kitchen and then the other one went down into the chest freezer in the garage!!!
This has been great! I have MS so I am not always able to do things… I can have anybody put it in the slow cooker for me!!
I have made several of these now. It took a little longer than 4 hours for my friend and me but a large bottle of red wine was involved! We split the 38 so we each only had one of each meal. Things both families considered great: Mongolian Beef (my husband’s fav), Chicken Cacciatore (I normally detest cacciatore and really enjoyed this), and Beef Tips & Gravy (over egg noodles). Things I have tried (she hasn’t) Buffalo Chicken (my 12 yo daughter’s fav), Fajitas (I added the sliced red pepper and hour before it was ready so it would be a little crunchy). I liked the Cilantro Lime Chicken but my family weren’t impressed. My friend said the Chicken Tacos were their favorite so far. MISSES: Pulled pork at low on 8 hours was not enough time to cook. It could have gone ALL night long – I had to substitute a bone-in pork shoulder for pork butt so that might have been why…but just good not great in the end; friend said Island Chicken had WAY too much oregano and would cut dried to 1/4 of measurement or use fresh instead (unless this was due to red wine??), Balsamic drumsticks had a nice flavor but drumsticks are just not the adults’ thing, way too much pineapple in Terriyaki chicken but the flavor was very nice (and I learned my daughter doesn’t like pineapple)….TONIGHT: I pulled out the Garlic Pesto Chicken. You have to make a sauce so its a little bit more intensive than dump and serve. We didn’t do anything in any particular order other than I prepped the bags for us one night while I was watching a TV show. I think we will chop veggies first next time. The meat part was really easy as was measuring. The most surprising part is that our grocery bills for this were not extraordinarily expensive maybe $8 a meal. Each fed 2 adults and 2 children. We are going to gather more recipes and delete what we didn’t like and try this again after Thanksgiving. As a CPA, tax season is going to be much easier with my freezer stocked up. This is a game changer!
Holy cow! Great post. I have found that it is much easier to find my freezer meals in an upright deep freezer. Of course with this amount of food a chest freezer may be better.
Thank Youuuuu, I run a children’s home with my husband, we have two small children plus 8 other children (7-17 year olds) in our care. With every appointment under the sun and all our other things this has made life one bit easier!!!!! Amazing and I am sharing this with our other group homes!
So happy to hear this Joyce! Can only imagine how busy your schedule must be!
Hey there, would all of these recipes work simply cooking them on a stove? My hours are never consistent and I would like to be able to cook a meal in 20min or less. Thanks.
Yes, some of these would work on the stove, but not from frozen. You may need less chicken stock/liquid if you are cooking on the stove!
This has been up for a while, so not sure too many will read this. Great idea. A word of caution, if you put all these meals in the freezer at one time, it will take a long time for all the meal packages to reach 0F. Read your freezer book to see how much unfrozen food can be added at one time and maintain the temperature integrity of your freezer. Also, spread them out throughout the freezer, and provide air circulation. It really is important to allow for rapid freezing so any bacterial growth is limited. Quick freezing is much better than slow freezing for safety and to provide for best quality of food. I would personally rather do this in a chest freezer, where you do don’t lose all the cold air each time you open the door. But if upright is what you have, it is what you use. And I agree about the meat. Do each meat separately and then super clean. Don’t take a chance on cross contamination of beef and poultry (chicken). Great job of organizing.
I had just asked about this then I read your comment afterwards. Thats what I thought. Glad I got some clarification!!
This makes me want to buy a slow cooker! Great post.
My kids favorite is when I take beef stew meat and add a big can of cream of mushroom soup. Cook for 6 -8 hours on low then add a can of drained mushrooms and some sour cream. Pop a bag of instant rice in the microwave and you’re done.
IM SOO EAGER TO TRY THIS SATURDAY!! Just reading it made I felt a weight lifted off of me. Family of 6, 2 adults 2 teen boys & a 6 year old boy to feed (baby boys only 5 months). I am praying to be able to save some money and time with this. Very inspiring!!! PLUS SO ORGANIZED, AND I THRIVE ON THAT♥ Thank u for sharing:-)
Just wondering which recipes you tripled to get the full 40 recipes?
Nevermind, I see the next post answered my question. 🙂
I have finally gotten to the last of my half of the 40 meals (OK…38 if you don’t do the Chicken Ranch Tacos by adding ranch dressing to the Chicken Taco recipe). Some need to be drained with a slotted spoon but we enjoyed the majority of them. I am doing the ones we really enjoyed again this weekend and filling in with some others that I found that looked good. I found a great program http://www.plantoeat.com that will let you capture the recipes from this website, put them on a meal planner AND make your grocery list. If you use it, just be sure to duplicate the meals so that the grocery list has enough for 2 freezer bags each. It will also let you put which store you are shopping…i.e. Sam’s/Costco for Meats/Bulk items and Wal-Mart for other food stuff. It has a 30 day free trial which I am using now. So far, so good!
I can’t open up anything on this page? It’s saying
“Forbidden
You don’t have permission to access /crockpot-freezer-cooking-master-shopping-list/ on this server.
Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.”
Anyone know why I can’t access the recipes or shopping list or anything for that matter on this page?
Leah, we are experiencing a very high volume of traffic to our site. Which is nice, but straining our capacities. Please keep trying 🙂
I loooove this and will be trying it out along with adding some of my own. Did you put all of your meat into a separate bag and then the extra ingredients into another separate bag, putting all of those into one big bag? Maybe that is my OCD coming out because I dont like my food touching, raw or cooked, lol. I guess it wouldnt matter if its frozen and then cooked………Ive seen some chefs freak out if you handle raw meat and then something else but putting it all in the same bag would be the same thing so im not sure what the freak out is about??? I think ill just stock up on baggies when I see a sale, hahaha. Again, love this!!
I don’t have the recipes handy, but some of our crock-pot favorites that work well for this are: beef pot roast w/onions, potatoes & carrots, chili, and goulash.
We have some of those recipes here on Who Needs a Cape! Search our Slow Cooker button!
I’m wondering if anyone who commented here has ever slow-cooked venison? I am EXTREMELY gluten intolerant, and can’t even buy meat from the store, so I only eat what my husband and I either hunt or raise. So venison tends to be our red meat. However, I have never slow-cooked it, and was wondering if anyone thinks it might be a decent substitution in some of the meals listed.
Hi Pammy, yes, I have slow cooked venison with no issue. I find slow cooking helps it tenderize more and I use it as a substitution for been on a regular basis. If you aren’t sure just try one recipe and see what you think. I did the Mongolian beef recipe with venison and it went over well.
is there somewhere I can print out all recipes…did I miss it somehow? Do i have to print them one at a time
Yes Sorry Darlene – you have to print them one at a time
I used the 40 dinner shopping list you provide, but don’t see where you use the flank steak or all the cans of tomatoes??
I will definitely be trying some of these recipes. I have kids in college that can put these recipes to good use to save on spending and learn how to be frugal.
As much as I hate it, there are often days where we’re away for 9 full hours. Would it work to not thaw the recipe or not thaw it completely? My beef with crock pot recipes (ha!) is that so often they are for less time than we need to leave the food cooking without someone watching it. Does anyone have any different suggestions for this situation?
Nevermind, I actually just finished reading EVERY SINGLE COMMENT and found the answers to the obviously formerly asked question. Thanks for a great post!
I plan to buy a Ninja crock pot that allows you to brown the meat first and then set it to cook all in one step. I’m excited to try these recipes. My only problem is that I commute also so I am away from home for 11 hours a day. Hope the new crock pot has a good timer that will shut it off and just keep the food warm.
This looks so awesome, really hoping to try! We are a family of 9 so we would definitely want to double, but still; $500-ish for 40 meals? Not bad! It would be great to be able to throw some in for lunch or dinner, as we are all home during the day and I sometimes crave “real food”. Thanks for the info!
40 meals in 4 hours, after reading it all, I’d love to try it.. but.. with 4 hours of meat sitting on the counter while preparing (I know somewhat less with labeling first, and clean up after) is there a risk of food poisoning?
If you feel that would be a problem for you then you can always refrigerate and concentrate on a couple of meals at a time to limit the time the meat is sitting on the counter. We have not ran into any problems with food poisoning.
Hi, so you put everything together without cooking the meat and then put in freezer? Then on the day you want to eat the meal you take out of freezer and put in crock pot? If this is the case this be the case, fantastic!
I put together 20 meals in about 2.5 hours. It was kind of chaotic this first time around! I suspect that the second time will be more organized for me. 😉 We’ve been going on for about a week now and we LOVE how this is working out for us! The meals are great. It takes no time at all to add a couple of side dishes. There’s a lot less grumbling (both physically and mentally) around my house around dinner time. Thanks again!
Hurray!
Yes, Thanks for this idea. I haven’t quite done 20 meals, but have 8 in the freezer ready to go. What was great was that I just did two of each recipe, so I was prepping two bags at a time. So far I have 2 x mongolian beef, 2 x bolognese, 2 x chicken, chickpea & chorizo, and 2 x chicken & butternut squash. I really enjoyed the afternoon in the kitchen, and will do another session soon! (btw I am an expectant Dad, and my wife’s friends are very impressed….)
Congratulations to you both! I hope you all enjoy the meals.
When I buy large family packs of hamburger meat, I will separate into 1lb and wrap in freezer paper, I will also mix up some packages of meatloaf and freeze. Less time consuming mixing your meatloaf recipe up,
I do the same thing 😉 I always buy hamburg in big quantities and then separate to freeze
Question, I am not home for the 4-8 hours that items are to be cooked. How do you accommodate that?
Don’t cook from frozen and/or make them in the oven/stove top. If cooking in the oven or stovetop, less liquid may be required depending on the recipe.
I have always been skeptical about doing this because it’s just my husband and I. Cooking for two is never easy, and my situation is compounded with a husband who is a picky eater. However, when I found these recipes, I realized that I could do it! My grocery bill was $211.32 and I made 18 of the meals above. My bill was a little higher becauseI just moved into a new house and didn’t have the well stocked pantry I normally have. I spent 2.5 hours of prep and Voila! We both work very crazy schedules and it has been so nice to come home and not have to think about what we are going to do for dinner or who is going to stop and grab something on the way home. It’s allowed us to be able to sit down togeher and enjoy eachother’s company. We’ve tried 5 recipes so far and we’ve liked all of them. The leftover buffalo chicken went into my buffalo chicken dip for a work function the next day! Thank you!!!!!
Awesome post. Im sooo doing this I’ve been using my crockpot a lot, but need to plan ahead. No time in the am to get dinner ready and no time in the evening. This is a life saver. My question, although it may be silly or already answered. Are the ziplock bags quart or gallon size?
Gallon sized freezer bags work great.
How about a central grocery list that we can take to the store then come home and make these wonderful recipes?
There is a separate post for the grocery list 🙂
Thanks for sharing! What a brilliant idea! I’m going to give this a try. I’m making the Mongolian beef tonight. I think it would save money as well as time. For one thing, it would cut out excess groceries and I’ve found that the more trips I make to the grocery store, the more I spend, largely from impulse buying and poor planning. I will have to double these recipes though as my husband and sons are big eaters. Thanks again!
Thanks for this!! It is great to have all these ideas together with a shopping list! I am feeding a family of 3 teenagers, two adults and a three year old. I was wondering if you typically have leftovers or if I should plan on doubling/increasing each recipe by a little bit?
Thanks again!!
I would think with the teenagers you may want to double the recipes.
Is it just me?….I am trying to find the grocery list for the 40 meal plan and the links just keep bring me in circles back to the main page. (http://whoneedsacape.com/2012/11/crockpot-freezer-cooking/)
I could find the list for the 20 meals but not the 40
Thanks!
I don’t know, Heather. It seems to be working fine for me.
What recipes are the flank steak and the buffalo wing sauce for?
The flank steak is for the fajitas. In the original recipe sirloin is called for, but you can use which ever you prefer!
Just wondering if it tastes different if I leave out the soy sauce, or can I substitute something else? After my breast cancer, I was advised not to eat or drink anything with soy anymore as soy increases estrogen production, and estrogen can increase my risk for recurrence in the remaining breast. (My post-chemotherapy maintenance drug actually prevents estrogen from being produced at all.) Several of your recipes included soy sauce, but I love this idea so much and want to try many of the recipes. So can I just leave it out, or is there something I can substitute? Thanks.
I found this replacement for soy sauce. It is a bit more work, but worth it for sure. I hope this works for you!
this may be silly question but i can i just use chicken breast for all the chicken meals? i dont much care to each legs and thighs lol
I’m sure it would work out just fine Hannah 😉 It’s still chicken lol
Would anyone have a shopping list for these, if you wanted to do all of them.?
Amanda, Here is the link to the 40 Meals/4 Hours master shopping list:
http://whoneedsacape.com/crockpot-freezer-cooking-master-shopping-list/
Hi,
For the recipes that call for Chicken Thighs can I use Chicken Breasts instead?
Thank You,
Joan
Of course you can. It’s your food. You can do anything you like!
I do tend to use thighs in the crock. Two reasons: I’m a tightwad and thighs are often very cheap, and I find breasts really dry out in a crock pot after a long day.
Such a great idea…but wow, the plastic waste…
You can always use reusable freezer containers, if you are fortunate enough to have that many and to have that much room.
I was considering washing and reusing the plastic bags, though I’m not sure that’s legit. The thing I do love about the plastic bags is that I laid everything flat to freeze, then was able to stand up all the bags like a file folder system in the freezer to take up about half the room. If they were in actual containers, I would have had to wait until all my freezer items were gone!!
My question and concern is about raw meat touching other foods like veggies in the freezer bags…..would that not be a health concern with contamination and all that?
Amber – I’m not scientist but they would touch raw in the crock pot anyways. They all cook together on these dishes. I know what you’re saying and I get it but I have never had a problem cooking in the crock pot (or with my freezer meals).
I followed the master list and was not able to make all of the meals! I ran out of meat. I am not sure where the issue is. On the master list it says 48 chicken breast halves. Does that mean 48 chicken breasts or 24 cut in half? Also, not every ingredient is listed on the master list such as mushrooms. I am disappointed.
Annie – the mushrooms on the maple chicken thighs were said not to be on the list on the original recipe.
Oh and also – the chicken breast halves are what most people would call a chicken breast. They are technically half of a breast.
And as always we advice you to check the list before shopping by looking at the recipes. There are a couple of recipes we adapted after the list was made and noted that on the recipes.
Thanks so much for sharing all of these! I will be doing this after I finish eating through my current freezer’s worth of food! 😀
I made this with some friends and we shared the meals. We had fun making the recipes and had a ton of food for the future. The meals we’ve eaten are great! My question is what amount of meat you use. I used the grocery list you posted and I bought the suggested 48 chicken breasts but it was a TON of meat, I’m assuming your chicken breasts aren’t as huge as these. Do you by chance know a weight to suggest per meal? It would simplify the shopping. Same for the cans and sauces (pesto, apple sauce, bbq sauce, etc.), knowing how many oz are needed would be helpful to determine which size bottle/can to buy. Obviously I didn’t read each recipe before I went shopping, that would have eliminated confusion! I printed the shopping list and headed to the grocery without doing my homework!
Catherine – we will have to take a good look at our 40 meals list – there has been a lot of confusion 🙂 sorry for any inconvenience
A friend of mine posted the link to your page last week and on Sunday I prepared all the meals. Tonight we had the 1st one, Green Chili Pork Stew, it was absolutely delicious. We can’t wait until tomorrow to try another. Thank you so much for posting all these recipes
I saw on some of you recipes you noted that you can either cook them frozen or not frozen. My question is, do you thaw out the bags (ex: the night before) before putting them in the crock-pot, or can you take it out of the freezer the same morning you are putting it in the crock-pot?
Thanks and can’t wait to try these! They all look delicious!
You really need to take it out the night before and thaw a bit in your fridge – otherwise it won’t come out of the bag 😉
I’d like to sign up to receive slow cooker etc recipes. How do I do that ?
This is amazing!!! I was hesitant to use this as a guide because I’m a single woman. But because I go through less food than a full family of 5, I was able to pick just the recipes I know I’d like. I picked and printed my recipes, printed the shopping list, modified it based on the recipes I chose. Then, When I got home from shopping, I split most of the recipes in half to freeze. So far, it’s been amazing! Just enough food for 3-5 portions per bag so far for the ones I’ve split. The only recipe that seems troublesome, the beef stew. I’ll take any ideas, but I think the problem was I froze everything, even th epotatoes and the whole thing tasted funny. I’m thinking for the 2nd bag I’ll just completely defrost, pick out the potatoes, then add them to the crock pot later…any suggestions?
This whole idea has been a huge blessing to my life and New Year! Thanks so much to all who have made this so easy to do!
You could add the potatoes in, instead of freezing for sure! I am glad you are enjoying your meals. 🙂
This sounds like a great idea but the meal selection isn’t much to my familys taste and tge ones that sound good are either way more work than addvertized or are only meat…. my 1 and 3 year old kids need grain and veg and fruit to survive.. just not practical as you were saying
Maggie – Yes these recipes are very meat based – Katie said at the top that she steamed veggies for her family in addition to these meals (in fact she uses the steam in bag frozen veg – makes life pretty easy).
Sorry that these wouldn’t appeal to your family, but it has been practical for a lot of our readers.
I made 7 of these meals so far, I have no room in my freezer for 40 unfortunately. My family LOVED them all. Thank you so much. Onto the next batch today..
Can you tell me, if I want to cook them faster than 6 to 8 hours, can I just put crockpot to high for 3 to 4 hours? I’m assuming I can, but will it dry out chicken or make beef tough?
high for half the time should work 🙂 not sure if it will dry anything out (I don’t think so but I don’t use the high very often). Let us know!!!
I have a question on the “pantry staples”, do you need these to actually make the freezer bag meals or just for when you decide to cook them? I’m putting together a day for a bunch of people to come over and make these meals and need to know if I need to purchase all the “pantry staples” too. Thanks!
Becky the pantry staples are for putting together the meals. Most of them you will probably have 🙂
if I cook these on high, rather than low…how many hours do I cook the meals?
I don’t every use high – but the conversion that I have seen most frequently is half of the time for high
There are times that I may or may not forget to turn the slow cooker on and when that happens I do cook on high and I agree it’s about half the normal time 3 to 4 hours
I have a silly question for you. I want to try the freezer meals that I can just throw in my crockpot. I work nights as a nurse so this would be very convenient. When preparing say a chicken dish, do you put raw chicken in your ziploc and add the spices etc or do I hold off on spices etc until I am truly going to guest it up? I’m very new to cooking…
Thanks!
Yes throw everything in raw! including spices 🙂
I just did the shopping. What is the buffalo wing sauce (buffalo recipe doesn’t call for it) and garlic and herb marinade for? HELP I looked at the receipes and don’t see it listed on them. Also the shopping list says 1 lb beef flank steak or 1 lb boneless sirloin. The fajita receipe calls for 2 lbs. Other than that I look forward to freezing the meals tonight.
The wing sauce is on the list for the buffalo chicken (the person who did the shopping list used it instead of hot sauce). The Marinade is called for on one of the chicken recipes.
The only thing I wish you had was a shopping list already made up of theses dishes so I could print and shop.
The list calls for 48 chicken breasts, I am bagging everything and ran out very fast! Then I added them all up from the recipes (which I did read first and noted the asterisks of items not on the list) Did I miss a bunch of asterisks?!?! I added up 76 breasts!!! What am I doing wrong =\ That was counting 3 for the recipes that said 3-4.. ughhhh 🙁
One of the recipes was already doubled. I didn’t get 76 – the new list (updated I should say) calls for 53 I believe? and I know that one of the tripled was thighs :/ sorry 🙁
This is a great idea, but I just have one issue. I’m Catholic, so we don’t eat meat on Fridays. Fish and seafood is ok, though. Are there meatless alternatives one could substitute for Fridays?
Boy we have had a lot of vegetarian option questions lately 😉 we are going to have to get on that.
Unfortunately at this point in our freezer meals we do not have any meat free options (I am Catholic and do not do meat on Fridays during lent as well 😉 I get mighty tired of pizza though!). If you search our recipes you will find some veg options. Bevin has made a lovely veg lasagna. Although not freezer meal I’m betting it could be prepared before and heated up for dinner. We also have a few fish recipes on our site (not crock pot but still a change and delish fish :)).
to be honest – we make Fridays our take out night during lent. We do pizza, or I go to a local fish market and get some prepared fish/shrimp – yum. But keep checking back – we’ve had a lot of requests so we might get some veggie crock pot meals soon 😉
Beans and rice are quite good in the crock pot.
I would think a clam chowder would work pretty well, as well.
I have a large family with 3 teenage boys and a girl who eats like the boys. LOL. If I make the recipes, do you think I should double up on the bag (so 2 bags of the same recipe, for a dinner) ????
Thanks,
Beth
oh bless you (I have 3 sons but they are still little I’m scared of feeding them in the teen years). Yes I would double up lol that would be my advice 😉 or keep everything the same but have it be 20 meals 🙂 good luck
I would double. I too have a family of six. 3 girls and a boy all teens. When I made these, some of the meals were not big enough for our whole family. At minimum throw in some extra chicken breasts.
I truly appreciate the shopping list. Doing this one time a month is a wonderful time saver. I used to do this on Sunday’s. Cook ahead. My husband was working 2nd and I was on 1st. So, I prepared things he could heat in the microwave. The hardest part is the shopping list.
I’m planning to get the list and mark off what I have on hand, go shopping and do all of them.
I do a lot of pot luck events. This would be great to take along. Many times I stop and pick something up because I didn’t have time to prepare something.
Thank you so much!
Only problem with this seems to be that there is meat in every. single. meal. I can’t imagine eating meat every day for 40 days. Definitely need to add some veggie soup or bean recipes to the rotation!
You can certainly choose not to prepare one of the freezer meals every night for 40 nights. I’m sure most people rotate through their standard recipes and incorporate a freezer meal from time to time, to each their own.
So add a veggie soup into your freezer meals! I am sure that would be a great freezer meal. And the person who made this list of meals followed a paleo type of diet so yes they all have meat. She also said she uses steam in bag veggies with every meal;) not too shabby in my book!
I’ve been doing this for years. I use a Food Saver vacuum sealer to keep the food fresh. I used to clean the house all day Saturday, and do the laundry, and then Sunday I had clean counters and the right pans out. Some of it came out of the slow cooker that night. Some of it went into the freezer to set before you use the vacuum sealer so it doesn’t pull out all the liquid and turn everything into a hockey puck. Most of it I could run through the food saver on Monday and into the freezer. I did gallons of chili and calico beans in the winter and lighter stuff in the summer. This is a great way to fill three freezers; just ask me.
Jade, crazy question. I am going to use my new foodsaver doing the recipes this week! Question, can you put the foodsaver bags in the slow cookers therefore saving a liner??
RaeAn, I just checked my Food Saver manual and it doesn’t even address slow cookers. So I’m going to suggest my normal method of cooking. Try it, but keep your eyes peeled for disasters. Like the year I grabbed the powdered sugar bottle instead of the flour bottle for my everyone-loves-my-zucchini-bread, and filled the house with smoke when they all overflowed and burned to the stove and Air Bake cookie sheet, which cannot be submerged. Or, you can call Jarden Customer Service and ask them. But I’m not sure why you would take that step. From frozen meals to the crock pot? So you can slowly reheat it?
I don’t do Pinterest, so can u email me the master list? I just started my own salon, and I am so out of time to cook. This sounds fantastic to me!
– Thanks! –
Julie – there is a post (not on pinterest although you can find a link there) on our site with the freezer list 😉
Hi! I was inspired to try some of these fabulous recipes by a friend. I wrote about it on my cooking page on Facebook and friends are asking me for the recipes. Do I have your permission to post on my blog, with all credit and a link back to you?
Thanks!
Stephanie
We love that you want to share it! Just please make sure to not post the recipes themselves and just list them and link back to us! We appreciate your consideration in contacting us as well.
Great ideas
Too many animals in these recipes .
Too expensive and not necessary. Iove the concept though. Quick n easy for a rushed family.
I am currently working on some vegetarian ones. You should also take note that not everyone eats these all in a row. My family tries to eat vegetarian meals 2-3 times a week.
I LOVE this idea! I’m a dispatcher and I work crazy long hours. I’m also pregnant. I love the idea of being able to run home for lunch and put something in the crock pot and it being done when I get off! Can’t wait to start cooking!
I saw a link for this posted on Facebook and took a look. I am always trying to find new recipes and want to try these but I was wondering. How long do these stay good for in the freezer? In case we don’t eat a crock pot meal everyday. Also it looked like there was potatoes in your picture, do these freeze well or do they turn to water/mush when defrosted?
I don’t recall any with potatoes? So not sure.
I did 20 meals in 2 hours – honestly I had some of the food in there for more than 2 months. I’m pretty fine with using freezer food for a long time 🙂 http://whoneedsacape.com/2013/09/20-meals-in-2-hours-slow-cooker-freezer-meals/
This is amazing!
May the Lord bless you for sharing this with us all.
Thank you.
I am bookmarking this site love to use my crockpot and when I have 2 days off I cook all weekend
The website for the shopping list won’t load.
We’re having a pretty busy day here – keep trying 😉
This is a nice, new twist on the old Tupperware contest meal plan, which resulted in the cookbooks Make A Mix Cookery. Those were frozen mostly cooked in Tupperware. I had two different ones of these plans, that I used so many times I thought my family probably hated them, until my married daughter asked me to come cook the meals in advance at her house.
Hope you can find some to enjoy!
This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Thanks so much for sharing.
You are very welcome. 🙂
Can these recipes be canned? Would come in handy during electrical outages.
Each of our recipes is posted on My Recipe Magic, they list the nutritional information. Search for the recipe, here is the link to the site:
http://myrecipemagic.com/home/recipes
Is the nutritional information for these recipes available?
Is there a shopping list for the 40 meals in 4 hours?
All of these recipes are suppose to be for the 40 FROZEN MEALS in 4 hours, but what I dont understand is why the majority of the recipes give instructions for preparing the same day and not freezing! Its confusing on what all needs to be added to the bag to freeze and what should be left out!?!?!
Some readers are making these recipes individually vs. prepping them for the freezer, therefore we’ve provided directions for both.
Hi, this is a great idea and I am excited to try it this weekend. My question is, how much bulk rice and pasta would I want to buy along with this master list?
Hi Ashley! I’ll be honest – I have no idea how much you would want to buy. It would depend on how many people you are feeding and how much you would want (or what you would want) with each meal. Katie – the person who froze all 40 meals – ate paleo style so she never used rice or pasta (some of us did with the dishes we made though).
Good luck!
Just want to throw this out there. I love the idea, but reusable containers would be better for the landfills as well as cheaper in the long run. Also, plastic in the microwave with food is not a very healthy option if that’s how your steaming your veggies. But I LOVE everything else about this idea.
Re-usable containers are indeed a great idea. Not everyone has the freezer space for them though:)
I think this is a fanstastic idea and I do something similar. I make a works week of food and then have it in the fridge because I get home on a good day at 6:30 pm, but definately like the freezer idea. My question is can you make any of these meals gluten free. My husband and youngest daughter both have Celiac Disease so we don’t gluten because of that.
Katie ate gluten free – so yes (although not all of us do) these meals can easily be done gluten free!
Great idea and yummy recipes….im the same with raw meat I use rubber gloves like the ones at the dr office and swich them out when ever I touch different meats so its not contaminated or just wash them like I would my reg hands 🙂
This is great! Do the meals have to be cooked in a crock pot or can they be thawed and put in the oven?
I’m sure you could do the oven if you wanted 😉
I cant find all 40 recipies theres only just about half on this page
Maria – if you read the post the meals are doubled and 2 are tripled 😉
Hi, I am going to try this out! Thank you for all the work you’ve done here. My 1 question so far is what does the “T” stand for, teaspoon or tablespoon? I’m guessing table?
Thanks
Yes, “T” stands for Tablespoons and “t” is for teaspoon.
Great , thank you
The only thing I would do different is steam the veggies on the stove top, microwaving food in plastic causes cancer according to my sister’s friend’s oncologist.
I think I am thinking about this too hard. I get “put the meat in the bags, then add the rest!” But for a meal with pasta, like your Garlic Pesto Chicken with Pasta in a Tomato Cream Sauce, do you cook the pasta ahead and add it to the bag? Or is that something you make “as a side” just before serving? I’ve never done anything like this before and I am very detail oriented, so I’m trying to see how it actually come together. Thanks! I love the idea of stress free evenings!
Hi Rachel! Don’t over think 🙂 I don’t freeze pasta cause I don’t like the taste of it – we do not recommend freezing that portion. We do recommend cooking the pasta portion of the dish the night of – but you don’t have to. You could just have the chicken. I think that on that recipe it says that? 🙂 Happy Freezing!
I see from the photo above that your freezer looks pretty full. How much space would you say this takes up in a normal size freezer? I don’t have a large freezer so I don’t know if I’d be able to pack a full 40 meals into there and still have room for the other things I need.
I think Katie had a standard side by side freezer. Maybe start off by doing our 20 meals in 2 hours or our 7 meals in 1 hour – see how they fit and how much room you have!
I found an amazing veggie chopper that saves me huge amounts of time cutting and chopping veggies at Williams Sonoma called a Chef’n VeggiChop Vegetable Chopper. I love it! It’s only 20 bucks but saves me so much time chopping that I wanted to share this with you!
This is an incredible idea! The master list of ingredients is so helpful! Thank you for all of the time and effort that you put into this post.
What time do you start them? We are off so early in the morning. They’d end up sitting in the crockpot on warm for about 2-3 hours. Anyone else have to do this?
It just depends on what is going on that day. Sometimes around 7 am, sometimes a bit later if I forget.
A lot of the recipes don’t have freezing instructions. Do you just follow instructions and instead of putting in a crockpot out it in a ziplock ?
I just fell upon your site and OMG THANK YOU!!! I am a full time student, work full time, have three kids and a hubby…Sleep has become optional at this point and like you there are times i’m not getting home until bedtime….Your blog is great and I will be definitely following you from now!!!
Thank you so much for this. Quick question – would it work to use bouillon cubes + water rather than the broths? I assume so, since it’ll be slow cooked in the end…? Thanks!
I haven’t tried it – but I guess I don’t see why not?
Yes that would work as well if that is your preference.
Please email me this link with shopping list and recipes-need step by step pls.
Sorry Addi – you’re just going to have to print the recipes and list 😉
We did this last night! 28 different meals, with added hidden vegies (processed onion, zucchini, carrot and cabbage) in most of them (food processors are great) took us four hours working together to prep and bag it all. but with a lot of doubled recipes, and quite a few that were large to start with, we’ve got enough for a month of different meals every day, and will have enough leftovers to do a second month, even with the hubby stealing them for lunches and having 2 hungry hungry children, and a baby who’s getting just as bad :D. it’s a pain to do all the bagging, but the idea of not having to do a half hour-hour prep every night made it worth it 😀
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BR2q1-95LUE/Uyj5o2q7nkI/AAAAAAAAGh0/EZejgwoEdo4/w1152-h653-no/Frood+processing.jpg
this was our process last night. we now have a very full freezer. (and yes, it only took us 4 hours! I was trying for less, but that may have been a bit ambitious) I have a few oven bakers and pan fryers in there as well as the slow cookers. most of the recipes I used are on my pinterest (^^ my page^^). some I borrowed from here, some I got elsewhere… This should make my life easier for the next month or so. Thank you for the great post that gave me to idea to do this 😀
sorry, pinterest page of recipes http://www.pinterest.com/kittymenace/recipes-for-frozen-prep-slow-cookerovenpan-meals/
I am due in September and want to get a stockpile of frozen dinners since i’m having a cesarean and have 5 kids already. How long do you think these dinners will be good for in the freezer? If i made them now, do you think they would still be good 8 months from now when we are eating them?
oh my – you BRAVE WOMAN 🙂 (I have 3 and feel well – overworked 😉 )
I had my meals (I did the 20 meals) for at least 2 months. They were fine.
However – no please don’t make them yet! Well – make them and eat them…and then do it again 😉 Maybe with the 20 meals. I don’t recommend keeping them for 8 months
Good luck with the baby!
I put the honey garlic chicken in a bag to freeze, and after 1 week the chicken is frozen solid but the sauce is not frozen at all! Can anyone explain? Does the honey or another ingredient have a lower freezing point?
Thanks!!
Yes – I’ve had that with honey stuff in my freezer. I also ate it 🙂 It was totally fine. As long as the meat is frozen you are good!
Thanks! I was more worried that there may be something wrong with my freezer!
OMG!!! We have been doing this for just about a month now. WE LOVE THESE RECIPES!!!! I also did the Mongolian with chicken thighs and steamed Asian vegetables – AWESOME!!! This one is our favorite!!! THANK YOU FOR MAKING MY LIFE A MILLION TIMES EASIER!!!!
Okay, has anyone really been able to do that in 4 hours???? It just took me 2 days. 1 day of shopping and nearly 10 hours of creating. And this was with 2 people working on it. The recipes look great and I can’t wait to eat them. But what is the trick, because honestly… I am exhausted and never want to do this again. I labeled the bags, chopped all the veggies first and set them aside, packed the meats in right bags, and then added the ingredients, but it is so tricky trying to figure out what ingredients go with what recipe. Any tips would help…
The shopping was definitely NOT included in the 4 hours. 🙂
What I did when I made the 20 meals in 2 hours is chopped my veggies first had them in bowls ready to go. Then I made the meals 1 at a time (well doubled so 2 at a time.) If it was important to be exact with the sauce I used a measuring cup to put the sauce into the bags. Added Veg and then meat 🙂 Sorry it took you so long but NO COOKING NOW 🙂 WOOHOO
Oh and ps – I had print outs of all recipes – had all ingredients out (yes my kitchen table and counters were a disaster). So I just went to each ingredient put it in a bowl and kept going!
Heather I did it exactly like you did also when I did my first time a few months ago!!
It was under four hours!!!
I only went to one store for my shopping so I was in and out of there in under an hour also so all totaled it was probably four and half hours including shopping!!
oh you’re good – you should see me in the store…OOHHH LOOK AT THAT IT’S ON SALE I’m bad bad bad.
I can also get pokey in the kitchen – but when I set my mind to it and ignore everything (including the phone and hopefully the kids aren’t there) I can get it done 😉 Glad you had success doing it!!!!
I shopped and prepped everything (with my husbands help) in about 6 hours. I had him chop veggies while I did up the bags that didn’t have veggies in them. By the time I was done with those, he was done chopping, and then I had him read of the ingredients to the recipes so that I didn’t have to keep stopping and looking at what came next.
These all have instructions to cook 6-8 hours but I work 10 hour days, any recommendations for that? I love the idea but this might not be possible for me due to my work schedule
Couple suggestions – you could add more chicken broth to dishes so they don’t dry out while you’re gone. Or you could invest in a timeable slow cooker. It will automatically switch the food to “warm” after a set time. I would probably lean that way 😉 good luck!
I bought a slow cooker that allows you to set a timer. When the timer is up it switches to warm. I set mine at 6:30 am and don’t get home until 5:45-6pm from work. Never overdone. I also buy the slow cooker liners so clean up is a breeze. Who wants to scrub a ceramic pot after work? I’ve been doing these slow cooker meals for over a month now and they are wonderful. I just did 30 meals yesterday so dinners and lunches are taken care of for the next 6 weeks! I cook on the weekends so I don’t get out of practice 😉
So my husband and I both work full time and are out of the house for a minimum of 9 hours during the day, so cooking for 6-8 hours in a crock pot wont work. However, if we thaw the food the day before and cook on high rather than low, how long should it take to cook? I am hoping we might be able to start cooking when he gets home around five….
(I am new to crock pot cooking)
I think it would depend on the meal and how tender the protein is supposed to be and the other components of the meal. 3-4 hours should work thawed for many of them I would think.
My husband and I work full-time as well. I used to throw the meal in frozen in the morning and cook it on low all day. I’ve gotten to a point now where I put everything (slow cooker liner and food) in the crockpot the night before and switch it on in the morning. The ceramic pot is a great insulator, so it slowly thaws a little over night. With my old crockpot, the food was overdone because it would be in there for at least 11 hours (even starting out frozen!). I bought a new one with a timer. It cooks on low for a set time and then kicks over to warm for the remainder of the time. It runs about $100, but so worth it. I usually set it to cook on low for 7 hours. So far nothing has been over or under done. You can always give it a stir when you walk through the door and switch it to high for an hour while you do a couple things around the house and make the side dishes. Hope this helps!
Jess I agree when I was out of the house all day and using the slow cooker – the timer one was DEFINITELY worth it!
I think this may have just saved my life. Plus……what an awesome way to spend the day teaching my 8 year old how to prepare meals!!
I just wanted to say thank you for this. You are an inspiration! We just finished filling up our freezer with meals for the month and I feel totally accomplished. We are having mingolian beef tonight with rice and steamed veggies. The house smells so good. Once again thank you for helping families like mine figure out how to juggle life easier.
Great concept but it was wicked expensive and I didn’t even get 40 meals out of the ingredients I got. I followed the master shopping list and followed all of the directions and I think I had enough for barely 30 meals. And it was like $700 for everything!! I love the concept, but this was a little much for me.
We strive to keep improving our master shopping list. It has been revised several times. Please do let us know where you found it ran short and we will compare/double check. We did not make the original list, but have been improving on making it as accurate as possible. I wouldn’t advise going out and purchasing everything all at once. In the past when I have made some of these meals, I would wait until I found a good deal on chicken or whatever other products were needed for the recipes and saved up. The fresh produce is where I found I wasn’t getting the best deals, but when you need something fresh that’s how it is.
I just wanted to update with my experience. First of all, thank you so much for the shopping list, recipes, advice, etc! Overall, I had a great experience and will continue to do freezer meals. However, I plan on doing fewer meals at a time as my supply runs lower. 40 meals at a time was overwhelming but, in my opinion, necessary for our family to start out with. I really don’t think the cost is prohibitive. Especially as I believe a lot of these meals will work both for supper and lunch the next day for us. We eat a lot of salads and the kids especially want grains/bread/etc. with supper so we can stretch the meals out.
First, the price. I did not shop sales. Mainly because I felt Aldi and Sam’s have the best prices usually. Also, we don’t have stores close by so I don’t want to drive all over. Finally, I’m just lazy that way.
I went to Aldi first to get everything I could there – I spent $73 there and got a lot: all the condiments, fresh veggies/fruit, marinades, oils, etc.
I then went to Sam’s Club primarily for all the meat. And, I got a big thing of coconut oil and honey since we were running low(I didn’t end up using it as I had enough at home for these recipes). It was just around $260 at Sam’s.
I then went to Hyvee for fresh herbs, pico do gallo, a few seasonings, beef broth, applesauce, etc. And the meat I couldn’t find at Sam’s. I spend $112 there. So, around $445 for everything. I had a lot leftover as well (meat, cans of things I didn’t use fully or didn’t even open, etc.)
Overall I thought the grocery list was very good. I bought more chicken breasts than was on there and I used every single one. Depending on how we like the recipes, we might sub chicken breasts for some of the other chicken recipes. Just personal preference.
I had a lot of the staple stuff at home. I did overbuy and have quite a few things leftover. So, I estimate that I spent about $375 on everything I needed just for these recipes. I made 38 but I have leftover boneless/skinless chicken thighs that are still in the fridge for me to make into some meals. And, I had a (small) package of chicken I didn’t open but put directly into the freezer for later.
Also, I don’t believe pico de gallo is necessary. Nice, but not necessary and I’ll be using canned rotel from now on. It was just too expensive for us on a regular basis. I don’t know how it is everywhere but here it was $5 per container. Each container was about 1.5 cups.
I left my house at 5pm to go shopping and got home and started my prep work at 7:30pm. That’s pretty good considering it’s at least a 15-20 min drive to the nearest store. Note – I did NOT take my kids or have to stop for anything kid related as my husband was in charge. I think my kids ate dry cereal for supper. Go over the grocery list several times and have your plan of attack before you leave.
My oldest son and husband labeled all the bags for me. They read through the recipes and thought they would enjoy them so that’s encouraging. Note – I buy ziploc bags at Sam’s so we already had the bags. We used gallon size for everything.
I started prep work on the veggies at 7:30pm and then started assembling the meals. My family was complaining about the vast amount of onions burning their eyes, LOL.
I left all my meat in the deep freeze and brought out what I needed a little at a time because I was worried about the meat getting too warm. It did NOT freeze in this amount of time but just kept it cold enough. I hate working with raw meat so was very glad to have lots of meals all done so I don’t have to deal with this again for awhile.
I was officially done at midnight. My husband then helped me clean and sanitize the meat cutting board and counter area. I waited until the morning to finish cleaning up.
We have not tried any of the recipes yet but I think they will be a success. I will update as we try them. My deep freezer is almost full now. I have plans to bake 8 loaves of bread before I start work. We should be in great shape regarding food now.
Don’t you love knowing you have SO many meals????? LOVE IT
here you have the meat raw then you freeze it with al the ingredients; how long dies t take for a bag to thaw or do you put the frozen meal directly in the crackpot?
Thaw overnight in the fridge – it will still be frozen to a point, then put in the crock pot and cook like normal 😉
Great ideas, thanks for posting these.
Your little helper is adorable, I would let her stay home from school too! LOL
Thanks!
Hi there! this is an amazing idea for busy families! I am curious to know if you factored in the cost of all the veggies (well at least the dirty dozen list) and meats if there were to be organic. Our family tends to stay away from gmo products and dirty dozen veggies unless they are organic. Just trying to see what that budget would be. Thank you for taking the time to do all of this!
Sorry – we have really steered clear of assuming costs – we know that the costs vary so much between us as bloggers (my groceries in NJ might win highest). It saves you money if you plan right – meaning hit the meats on sales and veg too if you can. It saved me money with NO TAKE OUT panics 😉
I made these 40 meals minus the pork recipes since we don’t eat it. There is one or two others I did not make as well. This is the best freezer meal plan I have ever found and we have liked every meal so far. It did take me 8 – 9 hours but I also made my own homemade recipes for the mushroom soup and the teriyaki sauce, etc. I would do this again. My husband said he would like to help next time. Yay!!!
I don’t cook them every day. Maybe every second day. I like to make a meatless or a ground beef dish inbetween or soup.
Thank you so much!
SO SO SO glad you liked this 😉
A million thanks for a mommy to be next month. I spent $500 at walmart using only few generics. Husband and I are the only eaters so I had ingredients to split each 4 ways.
Awwww – congrats 😉 Enjoy the new baby!!!
and I’m so glad you were able to get this done
The problem I find with crock pot meals is that I leave the house at 7 and don’t return until 5-6. The meals end up on the warm setting and dry out/ get mushy. Do you have a solution to this? I really would love to try this.
Some of our readers have suggested getting a cheap “light” timer and using that to control your crock pot – so it wouldn’t cook as long! Try that and see how it goes (the timers are cheap)
Definitely a timer! I have mine set to turn on at 12 every day and off at 6. All I ever have to do is put the liner in each morning and plop the food in. At night I serve it and throw liner away and I am ready for next day!!!
Yeah – I’m pretty mad that I didn’t come up with this idea 😉 it’s pure genious 😀
Recipes for 40 crck pot meals
Love all your recipe’s
I tried my first one today. It thawed in the night, but a lot of the chicken was still frozen. Is that OK?
Do you chop up your chicken first, or leave it as full breasts?
Thanks1!
Yes – the slow cooker is amazing and you can put frozen or partially frozen meat in there and it will cook beautifully! (I actually prefer that so my meat doesn’t get overdone)
and as to chopping – if the recipe wants it chopped then yes chop first.
Could we compile a full grocery list of the items needed to do all 40?
There is a complete list and it is linked on this page
The Mongolian Beef is currently cooking away in my crock, and a second batch is in the freezer! I’ve been meaning to get into freezer/crock cooking for ages, but it’s one of those things that my OCD side derails because I never have a four hour block to do forty meals at once, let alone the other half of the day to go buy all the non-meat ingredients. SO, this week I just said “You know what? Pick one, make it, and make up a second batch for the freezer. Repeat that 2-3x a week, and by the end of the month you’ll be halfway through the list.” I LOVED being able to ask my husband “What do you want for dinner, chicken, pork, or beef?” and then rattling off half a dozen beef recipes for him to pick from. I threw two batches of Mongolian Beef together in half an hour (that’s hand-mincing the garlic & ginger) while my kids were napping, so I kinda feel like Super-Mom right now! It’s also a huge save on the heat in the house during summer… our AC is old & crotchety and doesn’t do very well against the heat of oven cooking, but has no trouble keeping up with the crock & rice cooker!
I apologize if you have answered my question several times. Honestly, I did not read through all of your wonderful comments. Can you tell me how many people your meals feeds? Thanks so much! I have always wanted to try this and I am feeling inspired!
I would say on average 4 meals…there maybe some that you would have more leftovers with but 4 is a good number 😉
Haven’t eaten any of the meals—- the only challenges I came up with doing this was that I had another adult assisting in the kitchen and it took us about 7 hours. Which, I had to stop and clean up because I had made other plans for the evening that I wasn’t counting on time impeding on.
Also—where on earth can I buy Pico de gallo?? I know what it is, so that’s not a problem. I checked 4 grocery stores!!! SO those meals will have to wait until I can find it haha.
A few bags have leaked, and my husband set them upright to avoid any further leaking. I chose the Glad freezer bags.
Oh–and my hands reek like garlic, ginger, soy sauce etc, a day later. Pregnant woman does not like the smell!!
Over all, glad to have the recipes and shopping list most importantly. Everything cost me $350–but I had to purchase a lot of staples that I didn’t have. This will very much come in handy in a month when baby gets here, thank you!
Pico de Gallo is basically “fresh” salsa – or uncooked. You should be able to find it where your store keeps dips in the refrigerated section or by the veggies
I absolutely LOVED your idea and I did it yesterday (taking out a few recipes that wouldn’t fit my kids), but holy cow! It took me ALL DAY!!! I am not sure where I went wrong, but it wasn’t even close to four hours (I even had my hubby’s help at times). I had a few interruptions with 4 kids, but I thought once I got going, I was going to cruise… Nope 🙁 I would LOVE to know a lot more in detail about your timeline and how much pre-prep you had (if any)? Could you break down your process a bit more for me? How did you accomplish this in such a short amount of time? I plan to do it again soon (SOOO glad I did!), but man…I don’t have an entire day like that with so many little ones at home. And raw meat wiggs me out, too and I had it ALL OVER my counters. How did you put the meat in the bags (cut it up, trim it, etc.) without getting gross meat juices everywhere? I am missing something for sure 🙂 Help!!
GRRR – I’m sometime’s slower than Katie was too (she is a machine in the kitchen!) So I’m linking you to a couple more of our freezer meals – they have tips (and I tried with mine not to have to cut too much meat – cause um yuck and it’s time consuming.) check out our 30 meals http://whoneedsacape.com/2014/06/30-summer-freezer-meals/ and here’s the shopping list http://whoneedsacape.com/2014/06/30-freezer-meals-shopping-list/ (more tips there) Lori gave some AWESOME tips to make this go faster on her 7 meals http://whoneedsacape.com/2014/02/7-meals-1-hour-slow-cooker-crockpot-freezer-meals/ 🙂 Sorry that it took you so long – but HOORAY for having them done 😉
This may be a silly question but here goes…I have some of the meat already in the freezer (roasts, beef stew chucks, chicken breasts). Do you recommend to just add it that day to the crock pot or should I put it into the bag already frozen? I don’t think i should thaw and then refreeze it again, right? Thanks for this! I am really looking forward to trying it out!
It really is up to you. The only benefit I see from freezing ingredients together is there might be more flavor for some of the meals. I think either way would work!
So, if would prefer to start with only 20 meals due to freezer space and cost, but I would like the variety of doing 20 different meals instead of just following the 20 meal in 2 hour plan, could I just use the 40 meal plan and divide the quantities on the master grocery list in half, and just make 1 of each recipe? Hope that makes sense. Thanks so much for posting this!!!
Of course! that would be great 🙂
Does this mean the quantities in the recipe are doubled or equal two meals? I wasn’t sure if I needed to double the provided recipes or if they had already been doubled.
you probably anwsered this question a billion of times. I was wondering since you count each recipe twice to make 40 meals. Do ou double each recipe, or just divide in half. i am cooking for two in half people so i dont need alot of left overs. all your recipes look delicious. please let me know thank you
you double and there are 2 tripled
I decided to read through the comments before asking something that has already been asked, but there are so many comments that I gave up, so I apologize if this has already been asked, but…
How long will these meals keep in the freezer? Thank you!
I’ve kept mine in there before for like 60-90 days…I know some people are terrified of freezer burn – but mine have not gotten freezer burn 😉
Do you think these bagged slow cooker meals would work in a pressure cooker as well?
These would not work the same in a pressure cooker — as the pressure creates a compressed environment that delivers heat more quickly, food would cook faster — it might be worth a try. Though, there is something to be said for slow cooking where the spices have time to mix in with ingredients, etc.
Do you think these slow cooker meals would work in a pressure cooker as well?
I would think that may affect the integrity of some of the components. If you try let us know!
I have a question. I have never prepared crockpot meals like this before so please forgive me it this question seems a little stupid. When you freeze your zip loc baggies, after you take them out of the refrigerator is it not hard to get the food out of the zip loc bag? Isn’t frozen? I read a lot of your meal preps and I really want to try them. But a lot of your meal preps say “add chicken frozen” (for an example). So I wouldn’t be able to thaw the chicken then take it out of the zip loc bag. Again, sorry for the silly question. But I would really love to start preparing our meals like this. Thanks!
No question is silly. so 1 – if you freeze it in the zip lock bag – I take mine out and put it in the fridge for over night. It IS still partially frozen. But it is usually thawed enough to slide out of the bag into the slow cooker. If it isn’t I have cut the bag and got it out that way.
For most of the freezer meals, you simply mix the ingredients together and put them in a freezer bag. The instructions SHOULD say if there is an ingredient that should be left out (because it doesn’t freeze well or it should be put in the slow cooker at the end of the meal). If there is a specific recipe that you are confused about – let us know and we can help!
Thank you so much! I love all the recipes. I can’t wait to try them out! 🙂
so the raw meat doesn’t contaminate the raw veggies or anything other ingredient ? you just put it all together and freeze it then cook it ?
My family has ate the 20 meals and the 30 meals…we have not had any problems at all.
Hi There! Not sure if anyone has asked this but how do you prevent freezer burn? I tried to get as much air out as possible but it has already started on a few bags. Thanks! PS. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS YOU HAVE SAVED MY LIFE! (and bank account)
Some people use a vacuum sealer. I honestly just haven’t had a problem using regular old freezer bags. As long as them meals are eaten within 3 months – I haven’t had an issue.
For anyone wondering ballpark costs:
For me (South of Seattle, WA) I went shopping at WinCo Foods, Walmart, and Safeway. I had most of the seasonings as well as some of the chicken breasts and 2 lbs of stew meat but had to buy everything else.
My total with a mix of both fresh and frozen meats, mostly generic canned goods and dented items, coupons, member cards, and even having bought 4 reusable bags, gallon freezer bags, and sharpie markers was $179. Most of the meat I got was drastically marked down (use or freeze by 1 Nov.) and the generic frozen bags at WinCo are dirt cheap and actually pretty decent. If you don’t go the generic route and don’t manage to snag meats on sale i could see the average right around $220-300 depending on your area.
thank you!
WOW, for me it was $500+ in Los Angeles, and I used Costco for all the meat.
I apologize in advance, because I don’t have the time to read through all the comments to see if this question has been asked……could you please let me know if you even put liquids into the freezer bags (such as the chicken broth)? If so, can you recommend which freezer bags you used, to keep liquid from leaking out? Thanks–can’t wait to try all these recipes!
I used whatever freezer bags I had on hand. They didn’t leak when I put them in the freezer, although upon thawing, they did. I just put the bag on a plate in my fridge for the defrosting, then dumped it all in the pot.
Want to try
DO IT!!!!!!
As a full time student that also works full time with 2 kids, a husband, and 6 fur babies, I think this is a brilliant idea! So brilliant in fact that I saw this site yesterday, went grocery shopping last night, and prepped all 40 meals before I went to bed. Shopping + prep time was about 6.5 hours. I had my hubby help chop veggies, while I prepped the meals that didn’t have veggies in them (or limited veggies…like, just onion). Cost wise–it was about $260 (in North Carolina) for everything, with no big discounts on any of the meat except for 2 lbs of sirloin that was knocked down by $1. I bought most everything at the “discount” grocery store (Save-A-Lot) and then purchased the rest at Wal-Mart. The pico de gallo is cost prohibitive–it was $4 for a container that had about 1 cup. So just pico de gallo ran $32. Next time, I will just prep the pico de gallo myself–I figure I can make 8 cups for about $5 if I do it myself (there are plenty of recipes…just look it up!)
For those wanting to save a few more bucks–you can sub chicken thighs in for all of the recipes that call for chicken breasts. I may try this next time–it would shave about another $30 off of the total. I bought frozen, bagged chicken breasts and thighs this go around. Since they were already frozen, it made handling the meat easier since I didn’t have to deal with all of the juice.
For the $260 I spent…I already had two pork butts/roasts as well as chicken broth, beef broth, and most of the spices called for. For those saying they spent $700—were you shopping at one of the expensive stores? Whole Foods? Trader Joes? Buying name brand instead of generic? That’s the only way I can see it costing that much. (Side Story–my grandmother used to work for a Cracker Jack factory way back in the day. She used to tell the story that half of her day was spent filling boxes that had the brand name Cracker Jack on them and the other half of her day was spent putting the exact same product into generically labeled boxes. Moral of story = most generics are the same, or equally good, as the name brand. The only time that hasn’t held true for me is for mac & cheese and certain brands of pop.)
I’m sure some of these recipes won’t go over too well with everyone, but hey, it’s trial and error. It was a task to dedicate 6.5 hours to everything–BUT, I figure, it takes at least an hour every night to get food on the table, so 40-6.5 = 33.5 hours that I just saved myself. Plus, I know that my family will be eating, for the most part, healthy food.
I plan to do a nutrient profile on all of the recipes and I’ll be back to post that for those who are trying to watch their weight and/or lose weight or are concerned about nutrient profiles (I’m in the nutrition field, so I’m a bit OCD about it.)
THANK YOU for taking the time to post a master list of ingredients–that saved me a lot of time trying to do it myself. I think that’s why I’ve never gone this route before–I’ve seen the idea several times, but going through all of the recipes and making a huge list is time consuming. As soon as I saw the master list, I texted my husband that we were going grocery shopping as soon as we were off of work! I think he thought I was a little nuts, but when we were done he was glad that we gave this a try.
PS–teryaki chicken is cooking away…smells heavenly in the house right now. 🙂
Is there a way have to a list of the total ingredients for all of the recipes? ie you’ll need 25 lbs chicken.
There is a shopping list 🙂 It’s linked in the post
I will be doing this soon!!
When you say “chicken breasts” do you mean a split breats, one half? I was trying to convert this into pounds. Sorry if you already answered this. I read through a lot of the comments, but didn’t come across this.
You should make this article into one of those check out lane cookbooks. This is such a great idea. I know what I’ll be doing Sunday!
Hi! I just tried this recipe, but as I’m watching my crock pot, my concern is realizing itself: I’ve got a whole bowl of soup in there right now! It doesn’t look like your picture. Any tips for how I can get the chicken “glazed” instead of just floating in watery BBQ sauce? Thank you!!!
Sylvia, Not sure which recipe you are referring to, going to take a stab and guess the Applesauce BBQ Chicken. My only suggestion would be to drain off most of the liquid, no idea why you’d have that much, personally I’ve never had that issue.
You are a life saver! I’m an active duty mom currently working night shift with a 19 month old daughter who’s no longer in daycare. I just finshed making all of these dishes. It took me 1 1\2 days to do it all with the help of my girlfriend. Much longer than I expected but definately fun and easy. First meal today was Mongolian Beef and my husband and daughter ate it up! It was very good. Can’t wait to try more. Without the grocery list I don’ think I would have attempted this. Definately doing this again.Thank you so much for sharing!!
Thank you soooo much for all your recipes! I did this yesterday. Only ended up with 24 meals but I’m feeding 7 that eat like 12.
I made the honey garlic chicken. Halfway through the cooking I pulled the chicken out and shredded it and put it back in the pot to finish cooking. Chicken breast was what I used for this recipe. It was what I had and it came tasting great. Best thing was my family loved it.
I love these recipes…they’ve all been tasty and fantastic! Two notes: 1) when cooking the chicken, thawed and cooked 2 hrs on low is plenty. Longer, and it’s tough. 2) when I put my plastic baggies with liquid + meat in the freezer, I later found, when I tried to crowbar the frozen baggies out, the bags had sagged down between the grills and were impossible to pull out without breaking he baggies. My advice, before you put the baggies in the freezer, lay tinfoil or something else across the grills so the liquid and the baggies don’t drop down.
Hi Dana! Thanks for stopping by and glad the process and recipes are working for you. One tip our readers offered along the way to avoid the “slat droop” — probably because they had the same thing happen — was to freeze your bags flat on a cookie sheet or something else freezer-safe and flat. Once frozen, you can easily stack them without the meals slipping into the slats. Good luck and let us know if that tip works the next time you make freezer meals!
I am cooking for 2 and would like to cut each recipe in half. Will the crockpot cook times be the same? Thanks!
Yes, I would keep the cook times the same – just make sure there is enough liquid in the slow cooker
I tried this once, about a year ago and it was fantastic! Today, I decided to try it again, and it has become unusable. All the recipes now have pictures. The cost of ink alone is discouraging. I realize I can copy/paste, but what would have been 4 hours will now be much longer. No thanks. A once brilliant idea has fallen victim to “improvements.”
Did you actually go to the print screen to see the photo there? I just tried it and there was no photo for me to print along with the recipe. I am on a Mac, but I don’t think that would change between platforms (if you are on a pc).
I did it 2 months ago, and when I printed, no pix came up. Alternately, if the pix do come up, I would suggest to just prop your laptop open in the kitchen while you cook. I do that all the time when I’m cooking…new woman’s cookbook! Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!
There used to be a different recipe for pulled pork listed on this site. Do you still have that?
Karen, We have a few recipe variations of pulled pork. Easiest way to find the one you are thinking of is go to our Search function and type in pulled pork. It is found on our home page:
http://whoneedsacape.com/
This is amazing. I’ve done freezer cooking before but I’ve never been able to crank out this any meals! This list is just great and I am totally making some of these next weekend!
Do you have a shopping list for all of this?
Are the recipes already doubles or do I need to plan on doubling the recipes myself? Sorry, this seemed a little unclear to me. Thanks!!
Mandy the shopping list is doubled NOT the recipes. You will need to double the recipes yourself to make all 40 meals. thanks
This is awesome! I have daily chronic pain. I can have my house keeper and or adult children help prepare and we can eat healthy all month!
I’m not seeing 40 recipes here….
Am I the only one?
it’s not 40 recipes 🙂 the recipes have all been doubled with 2 that were tripled 😉
Would love this sent to my email. Can’t figure out how to send it to my Facebook from my phone. Thank you
I’m a vegetarian for health reasons. Any advice on how to do this crock pot thing with no meat? I would love to come home to a finished meal for my family. I drive a special needs school bus and am worn out by the time I get home.
I love your ideas. I have a 1.5qt slower cooker. How would I measure the ingredients for the size I have?
I have never even used a 1.5 qt! Sorry – I’m guessing you’d have to cut the recipes down to single serving?
My crock pot is tiny…I can’t find any indication on it of the size, but seriously, I couldn’t put a football in it. I’s pretty small. AND I’ve done the 40 recipes and they all fit in there!
Do this as a test: pick one recipe, make it, and see if it fits. If it does, the others will fit. I’d go with something big like the Chicken Cacciatore recipe. Which was delish!
The only recipe out of all of them (!) that we didn’t like was the Chicken Teriyake–the carrots had the consistency of fingers. SO, when you cook that, leave out the carrots and it tastes great. To sub in some veggies, I did sautee’d multi-colored bell peppers and all was well!
Good luck!
Thank you, Dana! I find that people review based on the idea or before trying the recipes. I am looking for some make ahead slow cooker meals that can be frozen for a gift exchange so I want to choose 3 that I know will be delicious. Your comment makes it easier to choose!
As a mom with health issues that homeschools and is taking a class to be able to work from home, I sighed and prayed and googled “crockpot meals for the freezer” or something like that. The first one was your site and I said “I WILL do this” as you don’t have (much) meet that is overly expensive or exotic ingreadients (ok, some seasonings I haven’t used, but that will be fun). I will have to double all the recipes. I’m thinking of going to Aldi’s first……….Thank you!
LOVE IT good luck 🙂
About to attempt this-thanks! Just need to clarify-are the recipes doubled too? So for our family of three should I divide each recipe in half and put in two different bags or are you supposed to make two of each recipe to use all the ingredients on the shopping list?
No the recipes are not doubled. You will have to double them
Thank you for having this for 5 people most recipes I come across are for 3-4.
I may be missing it, but from the list how do you get 40 meals? I only see 19 hyperlinkerd, and you said you tripled two of them so that is an additional 6. so thats 25 meals isnt it? Please advice before I begin and it turns to be a disaster!
ALL the meals are doubled but 2 are tripled 😉
Someone may have suggested this already but if touching raw meat skeeves you out (I’m the same way) get a box of latex-free gloves at Sam’s Club or Costco or wherever. It’s about $10 and worth every penny.
Love the idea and have done a variation of the same thing in the past before we were empty-nesters because our daughter would eat some of these meals. In matter of fact, she does the same thing now, making freezer/crock pot meals. The biggest problem for me is that we are empty-nesters and my husband is the pickiest person. He will not eat chicken unless it is deep fat fried, he does not eat most veggies, does not eat salads, soups, stews, most casseroles, sandwiches, most tomato-based meals, pasta, Chinese or any variant of Asian food. It is very challenging to find meals he will eat. So since most of these meals include chicken or something he will not eat and it is just the two of us, I would be stuck with a whole lot of left-overs.
Look for our 66 freezer meals there are whole sections of beef and pork!!!!
Question!! I love these ideas,and I love my crockpot. How ever I feed a family of seven! Three boys, my daughter, husband, father in law and myself! Does anyone know how far or how many servings these are. I would love to try this but I need to know amounts first… THANX!
I might double…or do it as is but understand you are probably going to have 20 meals instead of 40? I don’t know how much your kids eat! 🙂
Please email me these crock pot recipes
For the Mongolian Beef, does the brown rice go in the freezer bag, or do you cook that separately on the day of the meal?
Just saw this on Facebook today and I will be trying it out.
I’m single, no kids, but with a corporate day job and a hobby/business on top of being very active at the American Legion I need a way to keep myself fed. My momma always cooked ‘from scratch’ and I do to – can’t stand pre-made stuff – and am looking forward to making these meals. 40 meals for 6 people? Heck, this will last me most of a year LOL. PERFECT!
Thank you. Miss Katie. If this works out I may feel obliged to send you a custom plaque (that hobby/business thing i do)
How many people does each meal feed?
4-6
I am going to try this,after reading the article, I am thinking this could very well be worth my time and save me time.doing school hours I am rushed for supper and I am not a person that hurrys for anything.
Is there a page somewhere with just the printable recipes? I think what’s taking me the longest is just clicking back and forth between the recipe list and the actual recipes and then trying to print just that without all the pictures and other stuff. Soooooooo cumbersome!
Sorry no 🙁 I printed them all before I made them
Do you happen to have a shopping list for the 40 meals in 4 hrs or the 30 in 3? I may be lazy but I just wondered if you had an overall ingredients list for when you go shopping?
Hello, I am due with my 2nd child in April. I have been looking for some great crock pot meals for after baby comes. I’m going to start assembling these as items go on sale. Chicken breast are on sale, so I am getting some. My issue is shopping list and recipes I looked at are in # of breasts and not weight. I have packed of chicken with 2 breasts that are just lb and others with two breasts that are 3lbs. What size chicken breast would you recommend? There is a huge difference in buying 56 breasts that are 1/2 eack vs 56 breasts that weigh more than a lb each. Thanks for your help and thanks for putting this together.
If you look at the recipes most include 1 breast per person or the breasts are shredded. Yes I would say on average my breasts I buy are in the 1/2 lb range. If you have bigger ones use less:) one nice thing is most of these recipes are still delish with a little more or a little less. You’ll do great! Congrats on baby!!!!
The link is broken and cant seem to get the recipes, or the ingredients… Very sad as I am currently a living in a hotel room with my 4 children without anything to cook with but a slow cooker.. If you see this it would be awesome if you could email me the list and recipes. i would be very appreciative!
Sorry – the links aren’t broken! Apparently a lot of people want to make these recipes in the New Year (YEA!) Refresh if you get stuck!
i’m struggling to open these after buying all of the ingredients! does anyone have them downloaded?
Ack! liz sorry – we’re really popular right now – refresh if you need to – and I printed all my recipes out so I didn’t have to keep going to the web site!
🙂 Good to read that the links aren’t broken or “old” (have been trying all day and finally thought to check the comments – blonde much?)
Can’t wait to get stuck in to this – I’m a full time uni student, single mum of two girls who have dance classes 6 days a week and I work part time! Meals have been “difficult” to fit in! This is fabulous, thanks so much for putting it out there 🙂
How many people does a meal feed? I am interested in doing this, however, I am feeding 6 people.
Thanks,
Cassie
4-5
I was curious, obviously give or take but roughly how much does this cost you? 40 meals?
It cost me twice as much as it cost Katie because I live in nj! Just depends on your grocery prices
If I want to half all of these recipes (there’s only 2 of us) would I half all of these ingredients or would I need to add extra sauce? Also how would I adjust the cooking time?
Half all of it. Cooking time might go down a bit
This looks so awesome! Every time I try to get the master shopping list I get to an Internal Error page. I really want the list so I can give it a try!!
Try again! We had to adjust our server
Great idea.
The link for the teriyaki chicken is broken. Can someone send me the recipe?
Thanks,
Natalie
I love your idea how do I keep your. Website for your meals to cook,thank you
I love this blog! I’ve been copying and pasting for hours. My main complaint about crock pot cooking is cleaning up the crock pot afterwards, but I have a really old taller crock pot. I just ordered a new oval one and some crock pot liners. Not sure if the liner will work out to be cheaper than using cooking spray in the pot or not. :-/
One thing I learned when I was comparison shopping is that the newer crock pots have a hotter ‘keep warm’ setting than the older ones did. Something about FDA food safety guidelines. That may explain why some people have commented that their food was overcooked.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that several recipes come out with very thin sauce that might need to be thickened separately on the stove top. Whenever I want thicker sauce in a slow cooker meal, I add about 1/4 cup of quick cooking tapioca to the pot. I wouldn’t add that to the freezer bag, though!
Thank you for all your efforts! I’m following your Pinterest board and looking forward to more of your great recipes!
This is such an amazing list. I wish I had a bigger freezer so I could have such a huge meal prep day too!
Easiest time of my life! This literally lasted 2 months for my family! Can’t wait to do it again!
I’m glad you love it like we do Amanda! Check out one of our other meal sets next time to change it up!
Can already frozen chicken be used?
I just recently bought all the ingredients for the 40 meals. Which recipes did you triple? also Do ALL of the ingredients in the recipes, that you don’t have it written, get added in the freezer bag?
(The Maple Dijon Chicken and the Balsamic Glazed Drumsticks are tripled to make the 40 meals!)
If something isn’t to be added it’s noted in the recipe – I like to write on the bag if there is anything missing from the bag so I know what I need when I take out the meal 😉
Have fun and ENJOY!
Thank you!
I am probably making this harder than it is, lol, but on the recipes where it says to layer seasoning in the crock pot before the ingredients is that saying not to place that in the freezer bag? So when I read the directions and it talks about layering or mixing the rest of the ingredients does that not apply because they are all in the bag?
I’m sorry, I’m just not used to making freezer meals.
nah don’t worry about it 😉 I’ve done both the beautiful layering and throwing it in a bag and then dumping it in the crock pot – both taste the same 😉
Keep asking questions – no worries at all
Thank you so much!! Can’t wait to get them all done and give them a try 🙂
Help! I work with the cancer community and right now (sadly, not for the first or last time) we are about to lose someone we love. I would love to do freezer-to-crockpot meals for them BUT need recipes that are truly just that…take it out of the freezer, dump in crockpot, turn on, dish up…that are not soups. I need them not to have to do anything more; no garnish, over rice, ingredients added late (e.g. potatoes). I can do prep, but do not want them to have to do any. I’ve looked at a lot of yummy recipes, but could find none fit this criteria. Basic is better than fancy. Thank you.
What a heart wrenching job! Thanks for all you do.
SO…some of these have sides in the slow cooker and some do not. Rolls can be used as a side or make the chicken breast into a sandwich and have some cut up raw veggies on hand to eat (this is what I do a lot – I’m the WORST at side dishes)
Great example of this? http://whoneedsacape.com/2015/02/sriracha-peach-chicken/ – throw that breast on a roll and eat some chips or veggies with it – so good.
Here’s another great meal. I ate it with Rice but you know what? I ate it with steam in a bag rice. You could either make that and all your patient/client/friend has to do is heat up (not sure if this is possible but wanted to throw it out as an idea) anyhoo – again this doesn’t have to be served over rice – when I’m being REALLY healthy I do not eat it with anything – it’s good on it’s own http://whoneedsacape.com/2014/05/slow-cooker-clean-eating-pineapple-salsa-chicken/
Another recipe that could be used as a sandwich http://whoneedsacape.com/2015/10/slow-cooker-honey-parmesan-chicken/
http://whoneedsacape.com/2015/08/slow-cooker-marinated-pork-chops/
This one has carrots and corn – no need for a side dish http://whoneedsacape.com/2014/03/slow-cooker-2-salsa-pork-chops/
http://whoneedsacape.com/2014/05/slow-cooker-beef-broccoli/
There’s a few ideas. I’m curious why soup won’t work? Anyhoo – happy recipe shopping!
Regarding garlic salt/powder: I prefer to use fresh garlic. Is the powder just for convenience, or is freezing contraindicated for garlic?
I am having a hard time getting to the list and recipes. Any suggestions?
Hello! I absolutely adore you for this amazing meal plan & grocery list. I just had a couple questions, I am currently making these and realized I have pork chops, ground beef, and 2 oven roasters and a few other ingredients that I can’t seem to find the recipes to – I don’t see them on the list. Am I just looking over them? (Tired mom here, 3 kids under 3 and boutique owner!) Just wondering if there is a second list with the recipes for the stated meats or maybe you could recommend? Thank you!
looks great
awesome stuffed ….
Would be great to have the summary of the shopping list (all the food items) to buy in one trip to the supermarket! Then back home and work 4 hours. Thanks!
Even with recipes tripled, this only adds up to 23 recipes. Is the 40 meals based on having leftovers? I’m fine with leftovers, I just want to make sure I understand the process before I go buy all of the ingredients.
All recipes are made twice, 2 of the recipes are made 3 times. The Maple Dijon Chicken and the Balsamic Glazed Drumsticks are tripled to make the 40 meals! Shopping list reflects product for 40 Meals.
it was really helpfull i really enjoy and learn from your blog.
Excellent list of recipes, how long did it take you to get through all the meals?
This is such a stunning rundown. I wish I had a greater cooler so I could have such an immense feast prep day as well!
Very good idea. Looks like very fresh foods thankyou for sharing this