The freezer has been empty for a while. I had used up most of the meals during the first trimester of this pregnancy and honestly didn’t have enough energy or motivation to do a big meal prep day to restock the freezer. I’ve been feeling much better now that I’m in my second trimester. I know that my energy levels are going to go back down as the pregnancy goes along, so I wanted to get a head start on filling up the freezer before baby #3 comes along.
Didn’t see the last 2 freezer filling sessions? Check them out: Round 1 and Round 2. Or check out this e-cookbook with other great recipes
This time around I was presented with a new challenge. Brad has been on a new diet to combat some mysterious medical issues. Primarily the diet is high in veggies and no sugar with no (or very minimally) processed ingredients, very similar to a Paleo diet. It’s really been doing wonders for him, but tough finding recipes, especially those that work well in a crock pot and those with no sugar (even in sauces and natural fruit based) on top of being gluten, dairy and egg free for Landon’s allergies. Easy peasy right? Well here it goes!
Crock Pot Freezer Meals
I made 9 recipes worth, all doubled (and the Jambalaya 4x (cause it’s so yummy!) to make 20 meals, many of which will have leftovers for the next night and/or lunches the following day. I also bought 7 lbs of ground beef and spaghetti sauce jars (not on the shopping list – if you want to do this too, make sure you add it) to make 7 frozen spaghetti sauces. Totaling 27 meals. My grocery bill was $197.03.
Shopping!
Want to do it too? Head over to here to get the shopping list. In it you will find the shopping list for the recipes below. **The shopping list isn’t for all 27 meals – it’s just for 1 recipe worth of the recipes below. I double or triple recipes to make the 27. My idea is if I’m making the mess for 1 already, I might as well make 2 or 3. If you want to start small with 9 meals, just follow the shopping list as-is for the recipes below. If you want to make 18 meals, double everything.
Once you go shopping, lay out all of your supplies and start washing and cutting up your veggies. I try to use my food processor as much as possible to save some time. Once all of your veggies are cut up get out your zip lock bags and label them with the meal and cooking directions (including any additional ingredients you need to add on the day of cooking listed on the recipes below).
Start cutting up your meat. Once all the meat is cut up, go down the recipes adding what’s needed to the bags, seal and freeze.
Recipes
Here are the links to the recipes I used.
Chunky Chili With Veggies
Jambalaya
Chicken Curry with Cabbage and Pepper
Stuffed Bell Peppers
Sauerkraut and Kielbasa
Beef Stew
Pumpkin and Butternut Stew
No potato Beef Stew
Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie
Now my freezer is full of this:
For the next month or so I won’t have to think too hard about what’s for dinner. I usually put my meals straight from the freezer to the crock pot, but you can also take them out the day before and thaw them in the fridge. It’s easier to get into your crock pot this way, but takes a little bit (not much…) of thinking ahead.
If you want some more great freezer recipes, check out this great e-cookbook.
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Comments
36 responses to “Crock Pot Freezer Cooking {Round 3}”
I love this thank u soooooo much!
Love your crock pot ideas, Thanks for shareing.
I just did this for the first time yesterday I actually went thru all your recipes and picked out the ones we would like then made my shopping list! thanks so much we cant wait to try them out made 9 meals!!! shared it on my facebook page!
I can’t tell you just how excited I was when I saw Round 3 of your crock pot meals! I have done Round 1 and 2. My time is split up between working part time at a church (my son goes with me), being a stay-at-home-mom, and going to school online. So, of course, time is so valuable around here. I have always struggled to find the balance between budget, health, and time. This third round of meals seems to solve all of my problems! Thanks so much for sharing this, I can’t tell you what a blessing it is to my family. I’m going to the farmer’s market this afternoon to start my shopping! Thanks again!
Yay! Hope it helps!
What a wonderful variety of foods. My guys will love the shepherd’s pie.
Looks great. The cooking instructions on these don’t specify if you thaw first, or if that is the time to cook if you put it in the crockpot frozen?
Okay I am a little confused here. It seems you do not cook the meat at all before creating these recipes right? The way I would understand you should bag the raw meat separately from the veggies/broth/sauce for food safety. Especially if you will be thawing it before cooking it. Or is your ground beef cooked? In the picture it looks like it is cooked.
Hi Melissa,
The ground beef is cooked, but the other meats are raw. Combining them doesn’t matter for food safety reasons as you will be cooking the meat at the same time as the veggies – it’s really no different than adding them straight to the crock pot prior to freezing. Anything that the meat has that cooking needs to kill will kill it in the veggies as well. 🙂
Okay, thanks for the reply. I don’t remember if the recipes said to brown the hamburger or not but I will definitely do that. Thanks for your recipes, we are dairy free and soy free and it is hard to find recipes that work well with our diet!
Thank you so much! I have pinned it for me later(once my freezer is emptied) and my followers. I’ve also posted on my facebook for a friend, and others, who are always so busy during the week. 😀
When you want to cook these, do you put them straight into the crockpot still frozen and use the cooking time you listed? Or do you thaw first, and then follow your cooking times?
Thank you so much for this! I used to go to one of those dinner places where you made 12 dinners to take home and freeze, but they closed at the end of last year, and it was a huge hole for us. I didn’t realize how much I counted on those meals. But since I quit my job to stay home with my new baby, we don’t have the money for stuff like that. This fills the void, in a MUCH healthier and cost-effective way! I just finished making this round and freezing them. Brilliant! Can’t wait to try them…
thank you for this – my mother is going to start chemotherapy soon and she is very worried about not having the energy to cook. Since I won’t be able to every night, I can’t think of a better way to put her mind at ease.
I love this! I am looking forward to more of these recipes that are Paleo friendly. I do one that could probably be adapted to a freezer meal. It’s basically a Philly Cheesesteak, but instead of the bread, you stuff a pepper. I stir fry an onion and shred/cut up some roast beef sandwich meat. I mix that with shredded mozzarella and stuff the peppers, then I top it with a slice of provolone and heat it in the oven. Could assemble and freeze then pop in the crock pot I’m thinking.
Anyway, thanks for your hard work and I’ll be looking forward to your future recipes.
Here is an awesome guy who cooks paleo in the crock pot https://www.facebook.com/PaleoPot
Do you reuse bags or just toss them out?
I just found these posts and love them. I will try them. I also love the fact that I just read you have to make gluten free since I also have to eat that way. This just makes it that much easier!! Thanks
Thank you so much. This is quite possibly the most helpful thing that I have come across on Pinterest. I am expecting twins in December and with two stepsons in the house and a husband this will make life and our bank account much easier. We don’t always have the boys so this will lead to many leftovers and savings. Thank you sooooo much!
Hi love you site! What size of ziplock bag do you recommend using?
I just made 15 meals from your site and ate the 1st one last night and it was delicious! One question though, do you have a problem with your veggies and starches getting too mushy and find that everything has the same consistency? Is there any way to fix that or did I do something wrong?
Thank you so much for these recipes!!!! I love that they are lower carb/paleo-ish; this fits in perfectly with my dietary needs! I’m hoping to use the little energy I have left to stock the freezer before my first-born arrives in October! So grateful I stumbled upon your blog!
Love this paleo friendly shopping list/freezer menu!
Thanks so much for the freezer meal tips, recipes and instructions. I’m inspired!
These 3 rounds are so awesome! I did round 3 yesterday, posted a pic on facebook and instagram and immediately had tons of comments and people asking for the recipe. I’ve shared your link with them so you’ve inspired that many more people! Man, it’s a little overwhelming though! You’re right to double it because I certainly don’t want to do that again soon. Also right about having a buddy. My husband helped me unload and organize all the groceries on the dining table and I just sat down and said “I’m overwhelmed”. He didn’t even speak but grabbed a cutting board, knife, the peppers and started at it. One step at a time!! We got there…about 8 hours later and fighting to keep my 2 year old niece out of it all lol but I’m so excited about it! Thanks again!!!
ps- we’re Paleo too, so this was that much more of a lifesaver. 🙂
So glad it worked out for you – and thanks for sharing with your friends. It is a lot of work – but you’ll be thanking yourself for the next few weeks that you pull out a bag for dinner 🙂
Hi, I am going to try this! very excited…however, I was wondering why in the shopping list you listed 4.5 lbs of on-sale meat…what recipe is that for?
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My friend and I just tried your recipes.
We ended up using the shopping list for 9 meals but split them up to make 18 because there was no way they would fit into one bag – which is fine because we both have smaller families than you haha.
The only thing I noticed was that our grocery bill was higher than I expected. We paid $157.98 (for the 9 meals worth of ingredients)and did not include the spaghetti sauce recipe. Maybe the increase is just because we live in Seattle and prices are sky high. Either way our price per bag was about $9 and that is still pretty darn good!
I love your site and posts! Thank you. We are a meat and dairy free family of 5. I have been dying to try some crock pot freezer meals but have trouble finding meat free options. Any chance you have any of those? I would love it. thank you so much.