I love to cook…..sometimes…..

I have loved to cook as long as I can remember. I enjoyed helping my mom in the kitchen, watching cooking shows on PBS (before cable and the Food Network) and was so excited receive for my eighth grade graduation, a marble rolling pin and cookbook that I used all that summer. A large part of my adult life has been spent planning meals, shopping for groceries for meals, or actually cooking meals. I love searching for and trying new recipes, some turning out to be flops and some to be family favorites, but learning all along the way. The problem is that since becoming an adult, more specifically, a parent, my family has expected me to feed them a nutritious, delicious variety of meals and snacks 3 times a day, seven days a week. They are hungry, all the time! It seems that no sooner do I get the last meal cleaned up, that I have to start preparing for the next one. That kind of schedule can definitely damper my creativity!

Many years ago, I was part of a freezer meal cooking swap with a group of ladies at my previous church. I would make about 20 pans of lasagna or something similar, trade them with all of the other ladies, and go home with 20 different meals to put in my freezer. It was great having all of those meals already prepared and ready to heat up for my family. Some of those recipes that I received from those ladies, I still love and use on a regular basis. When that group disbanded, I continued for a time practicing the once a month cooking method on my own. I remember spending hours planning menus, making grocery lists and huge grocery trips. That was followed by an entire day of hard work on my feet, cooking many different meals to put in my freezer and then cleaning up the huge mess that I had made. It was rewarding but extremely exhausting and I’m pretty sure I ignored my kids for at least that one day every month, which is not a good parenting move.  So I eventually gave up on that and just went back to cooking a regular meal every night.

Since moving our family into an rv fulltime, the crock pot/slow cooker has become my favorite appliance. It was already well-loved and I used it a couple of times each month, but in a smaller kitchen, it just makes great sense and I have started using mine a few times each week. So of course, I went to Pinterest to add to my repertoire of recipes. It was there that I discovered a combination of two of my favorite cooking methods: freezer slow cooker meals. It was so genius and I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t thought of it already! I was so excited to put this method to the test so I quickly made a two-week meal plan and put together a grocery list. The next day after a grocery trip, (okay, really two grocery trips because I didn’t realize we only had one gallon size freezer bags left in our home) I got started on my plan. Shortly afterward, I was done. I’m not kidding when I say, that in less than two hours, I had ten crockpot ready meals in my freezer. One of the best parts of this is that all I had to clean up after this “cooking” session was a rubber spatula, a knife and a cutting board. Virtually no clean up! And since I use cooking liners in my crock pot every time I use it (best $2.00 I spend) there is virtually no clean up every night after dinner either.  So even though I can’t take credit for this genius idea, I did want to share it with you. Because if you’re anything like me, on the days when I’m going to be super busy or gone all day, when I most want to use my crock pot to come home to an already cooked meal, are the days when I have to leave super early in the morning and don’t have a lot of time to prepare ingredients to throw in the crock pot. This way, all you have to do is thaw in the fridge the night before, dump in the crock pot in the morning, and turn on the crock pot (a very important step that I have forgotten to do before). Now, on days when I am rushed, I can throw one of these in. Then, on the days when I have more time, I will enjoy exploring and creating other recipes that I have yet to discover and I will enjoy the process that much more. I hope you will try a few or all of these recipes and this cooking method and let me know what you think!

RECIPES:

1. Potato Soup, serve with salad and crusty bread
2. Chicken Fajitas, serve with tortillas, topping, beans and rice
3. Ham &  Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole, serve with green vegetable and rolls
4. Pulled Pork Sandwiches, serve with fries and spicy coleslaw
5. Beef Stroganoff, serve with mashed potatoes and green vegetable
6. Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry, serve with white rice
7. Beef Stew, serve with salad and crusty bread
8. Southwest Chicken Burritos, serve with rice in tortillas
9. Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti, serve with salad and rolls
10. Pepper Steak, serve with rice and green vegetable

So the first thing I did was to set out all of my ingredients, grocery list at the end of the post.

Then before I started prepping anything, I labeled all of the gallon size freezer bags with the name of the recipe and the crock pot cooking instructions.

Then I started slicing and chopping onions and veggies and simply dumping and mixing ingredients directly in the freezer bags. There were no bowls and very little mess and it all went very quickly. Here is a picture of the finished product:

So below are the recipes if you are interested in putting a plan together to try some of them. Hope you enjoy!

Potato Soup:                                                                                                                                                1 bag frozen hashbrowns, cubed                                                                                                            1 can cream of chicken soup                                                                                                                  3 cups chicken broth                                                                                                                                1 Tbsp dried minced onion                                                                                                                      Salt & Pepper                                                                                                                                            1 brick cream cheese

Place soup, onion, broth and salt and pepper in bag and mix. Add hashbrowns and freeze. Cook in slow cooker on high 4-5 hours of low 7-8 hours. 30 minutes before serving, add cream cheese and mix before serving. Serve with bacon bits and cheese.

Chicken Fajitas

4 Frozen Chicken Breasts                                                                                                                        1 cup frozen onion bell pepper mix                                                                                                      Fajita seasoning                                                                                                                                        1/2 cup chicken broth

Place all ingredients in freezer bag. Cook in slow cooker on low for 8 hours. Serve with cheese, sour cream, salsa, guacamole and tortillas.

Ham & Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole

1 package of cubed ham                                                                                                                           1 package frozen hashbrowns, shredded                                                                                              2 cans cream of chicken soup                                                                                                                 1 cup sour cream                                                                                                                                     1/2 cup diced onion                                                                                                                                  Salt & pepper                                                                                                                                              1 cup cheese, grated

Combine soup, sour cream, onions and seasonings in freezer bag and mix. Add ham, hashbrowns and cheese and mix. Cook in slow cooker on high for 4-5 hours or low for 7-8 hours.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

1 3-4 lb. Pork Roast                                                                                                                                   1 onion, sliced                                                                                                                                           1 bottle barbecue sauce of choice                                                                                                           Salt & pepper

Place all ingredients in freezer bag. Cook in slow cooker on low for 8 hours then shred. Serve on buns or in tortillas.

Beef Stroganoff

2 lb. beef stew meat                                                                                                                                 8 oz mushrooms, sliced                                                                                                                           1 onion, finely diced                                                                                                                                  2 cups beef broth                                                                                                                                     Salt & Pepper                                                                                                                                            1 cup sour cream                                                                                                                                      Cornstarch & water to thicken

Combine all ingredients except for sour cream in freezer bag. Cook in slow cooker on low for 8 hours. Add sour cream 30 minutes before serving over rice or mashed potatoes.

Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry

4 Frozen chicken breasts                                                                                                                          1 cup frozen onion bell pepper mixture                                                                                                1 cup frozen stir fry vegetables                                                                                                              1 can pineapple chunks, drained                                                                                                            1 bottle Panda Express Teriyaki sauce

Combine all ingredients in freezer bag. Cook in slow cooker on high for 5-6 hours or on low for 8 hours. Serve over rice.

Southwest Chicken Burritos

3 frozen chicken breasts                                                                                                                         1 can black beans, drained                                                                                                                     1 cup frozen corn                                                                                                                                       1-16oz jar salsa of choice                                                                                                                         1 brick cream cheese

Combine all ingredients except for cream cheese in freezer bag. Cook in slow cooker on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 7-8 hours. Add cream cheese 30 minutes before serving. Stir in to mix and serve in tortillas.

Beef Stew

2 lb. beef stew meat                                                                                                                                 4 potatoes, diced                                                                                                                                       1 onion, diced finely                                                                                                                                 4-5 carrots, sliced                                                                                                                                      1 cup frozen peas                                                                                                                                     3 cups beef broth                                                                                                                                       Salt & Pepper

Mix all ingredients in freezer bag. Cook in crockpot on low for 8 hours.

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

1/2 cup onion, finely diced                                                                                                                     1 red pepper, finely diced                                                                                                                        1 small can diced green chilis                                                                                                               1 can cream of chicken soup                                                                                                                   1/2 tsp cumin                                                                                                                                             1/2 tsp garlic powder                                                                                                                               Salt & pepper                                                                                                                                            3 frozen chicken breasts                                                                                                                        3 cups cheddar, shredded, divided                                                                                                        1 lb cooked spaghetti

Combine soup, onion, pepper, green chilis and seasonings in freezer bag. Add 1 cup cheese and chicken breasts. Cook in slow cooker on high 4-5 hours or on low 7-8 hours. Add remaining cheese and cooked spaghetti and mix before serving.

Pepper Steak

2 lb. Round Steak                                                                                                                                      1 cup frozen onion and bell pepper mix                                                                                              1-28 oz can petite diced tomatoes                                                                                                          1 package onion soup mix                                                                                                                      1 cup beef broth

Combine all ingredients in freezer bag. Cook in slow cooker on low for 8 hours. Serve with mashed potatoes or rice.

Grocery List

10 lb frozen chicken breasts

Cubed ham

Pork Roast

4 lb. Beef Stew Meat

2 lb. Round Steak

3-Cream Cheese Bricks

8 cups Cheddar Cheese

2 cups Sour Cream

Spaghetti Noodles

Beef Broth

Chicken Broth

3-Cream of Chicken Soup

Barbecue Sauce

Teriyaki Sauce

1 can Pineapple chunks

1 can Black Beans

1-16oz jar Salsa

Small green chilis, chopped

1-28oz can diced tomatoes

Onion soup mix

Sandwich rolls

Tortillas

Potatoes

Mushrooms

Carrots

Frozen Corn

Frozen onions and peppers

Frozen stir fry mix

Frozen hashbrowns, cubed

Frozen hashbrowns, shredded