From The Freezer To The Crock... 4 Meals Under 35 Minutes!

“We’ve had our stuff in the Crock-Pot for a while, and it smells mighty good right about now.”

-Dan Mclaughlin

Prep Ahead Freezer Crock Pot Meals!

**Flash** to a few years later as you dive to the depths of your deep freezer. What’s brownish, frost bitten and might be for dinner if your unlucky?! Would you like some frost with your foods? Chill, it might be fun to play name that random freezer foods for dinner.

That’s totally the picture I had in my head when friends started talking about how they manage to cook healthy freeze ahead meals nightly for their families, in spite of moonlighting as the family taxi driver/coach/tutor/peace keeper/ master of the laundry/ slayer of all beasts found under the bed, most nights of the week. I slowly began to see that the freezer and Crock Pot were my $$$ saving Partners In Crime!

Most of us can not afford to eat out too often without busting our budgets. Our family thinks it’s a great thing that we have to eat a home cooked meal together every night. It is the healthiest, tastiest, cheaper way to make the most memorable times while giving them something they will beg to have again.

Everyone wants every meal to be fantastic!

Truth: I totally make flop meals too! Oh yeah… my family still thanks me for my valiant attempt and recognises that the odds are now stacked in their favor, at least for a few weeks or so before I take a freaky leap into the weird again.

I somehow managed get tofu banned around here due to a few “Special” flops.

I have to announce it’s being served but make sure to have plenty of milk in the fridge for the family stampede to the cereal for a “safer” dinner.

I still love you tofu… I can’t help the heathens broke up with you due to my misadventures.

Never Fear! These Recipes have been tested time and again and continue to come through with flying colors! Promise!

Maybe you got a great deal on chicken this week. Or maybe you went to Costco and find yourself with a bunch of food you need to use or you’ll lose. Maybe you’ve set a great goal of prepping the weeks meals in a few hours on a more convenient afternoon for you. Great for when you know you or a friend will be out of commission and could really benefit from a freezer with meals ready to dump into the crock pot and go.

4 Chicken Recipes that will take you LESS than 35 minutes to prep before you freeze them!

Yes you heard me right!

ALL gets tossed into your Crock Pot in the morning before you go and by dinner time your meal will be waiting on you for a change!

4 super quick, easy and budget friendly Meals… Chicken!

Step One: Be the proud owner of a Crock Pot.

There are many sizes to choose from. I tend to believe bigger is best when it comes to my coveted Crock Pot but please remember I am feeding 6+ nightly. My view from my full table is a bit distorted. Choose a size that can be easily stored in your home.

Step Two: Purchase good quality FREEZER Bags.

Recipe #1 TERIYAKI CHICKEN for 4 ( make another bag for 2 more servings)

*Label/date 2 freezer bags & open them

*One bag of Baby Baby Carrots, split between your bags

*1 large Red Onion chunked, split between your bags

*1 20oz. can Cubed Pineapple Chunks UNDRAINED PER BAG

*1 Tsp. or more if desired of Chopped Garlic

*2 Chicken Breasts per bag

* 1/2 Cup Teriyaki Sauce Per Bag

Squeeze out the extra air from your bags and zip them tightly. Place them in the freezer for another day. When your ready to use it… empty your frozen bags into your Crock Pot for 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH. Serve over your favorite Rice.

Took less than 8 minutes to prep!

Recipe #2 CHICKEN SPAGHETTI for 4

*Label/date 2 freezer bags & open them

*Your Leftover Homemade Spaghetti Sauce OR 1 Jumbo or 2 small cans of spaghetti sauce split between bags

* 2 Chicken Breasts per bag

* some chopped fresh parsley

* Salt & pepper each bag to taste.

Squeeze out the extra air from your bags and zip them tightly. Place them in the freezer for another day. When your ready to use it… empty your frozen bags into your Crock Pot on LOW for 8 hours. Shred up your Chicken and return to sauce. Serve over your Favorite Noodles!

Prep time: 5 minutes! Bonus points if you made a big batch of your own sauce to freeze, eat and make other fabulous meals too!

Got Garlic?

Recipe #3 HONEY GARLIC CHICKEN

* Label/date 1 Big Freezer bag

*Add 1 Chicken Breast per serving you desire

*1 Tablespoon Crushed Garlic (or more if desired)

*1 teaspoon Basil

* 1/2 Cup Soy Sauce

* 1/2 Cup Ketchup

*1/3 Cup Honey

Squeeze out the extra air from your bags and zip them tightly. Place them in the freezer for another day. When your ready to use it… empty your frozen bag into your Crock Pot for 3 1/2- 4 Hours on HIGH. Serve with rice or my SUPER EASY VEGGIES!

Prep time: 8 minutes

Recipe #4 GUILT FREE BBQ CHICKEN for 4

*Label/date 2 freezer bags & open them

*2 Sliced Green Peppers split into your bags

*1 Sliced Red Pepper split into your bags

*1 Chopped Zucchini split into your bags

*2 Chopped Onions split into your bags

*6 chopped Red Potatoes split into your bags

*1 15oz. can of Tomato Sauce split into your bags

* 1/2 Tablespoon Quick Cooking Tapioca per bag

*1 tsp of Chopped Garlic per bag

*2 Chicken Breasts per bag

*1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar per bag

*1 Tablespoon Worcestershire per bag

*1 Tablespoon Mustard per bag

*2 Teaspoons Paprika per bag

* 1/4 Teaspoon of Pepper per bag

Put directly into your crock pot OR Squeeze out the extra air from your bags and zip them tightly. Place them in the freezer for another day. When your ready to use it… empty your frozen bags into your Crock Pot for 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH. Serve over Rice or an Egg or other favorite noodle.

Prep time: 12 minutes! No need to rush the chopping… I like your cute fingers as they are, not sliced and diced.

Making sure to LABEL & DATE, LABEL & DATE!

No one wants to wonder what treasures might lurk inside.

If you could spend an extra 30 minutes to an hour, once a week and prep 4+ meals for your freezer. Before long you’ll notice how much further your produce, meats or leftovers can really go while the savings are adding up and NOT skimping on flavor!

You’ll feel like a Super Human when you managed to work all day in or out of the home, taxi to lessons, remember her this and his that, got everyone home and had dinner on the table before anyone even had time to complain.

Pin a Gold Star next to your name! You Rock Super Frugal Folks!!

I make and freeze based on what the sales are for that particular week. After a couple of weeks you’ll have a nice assortment of meals. Nothing beats home cooking! I LOVE the way a Crock Pot dish fills my home with such wonderful rich fragrances. When you walk through the door, it greets you like an old friend, inviting you in and begging you to sit down to enjoy together.

The guys in my house are HUGE fans of the home cooked meal!

Luc has been known to start inquiring as to what we’re doing for the next meal, an hour after the previous meal was consumed. Just curious and often trying to sway any votes his direction BUT he does have a love for the art of cooking as well.

Get your kids/friends/spouse/family involved in your prepping process. Bonus: They learn such great tools too AND it cuts down the time it takes you to prep it! It can be a really fun time to spend together! When everyone pitches in… it just tastes better!

TIP: When it gets REALLY HOT during the summer. I’ll put my Crock Pot in the garage to cook so the house stays as cool as possible.

Don’t be afraid to try it!

You can do it & it’s going to be AWESOME!

Strap on your Super Cape and get going!

Always Looking For More Frugal Cooking Ideas,

Meg xoxo

Like this post? Got Ground Beef? You can find my other Freezer ready post, From The Freezer To the Crock… 5 Ground Beef Meals in 45 minutes Here!

You can find my post & other crazy talented bloggers at Frugally Sustainable’s Blog Hop!

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Your vote counts BIG TIME! XOXO

10 comments

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Sierra

May 29, 2012 at 9:25 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment


Yuuuuuuuum…. Great ideas for big chicken stock up sales! I’ll definitely have to give some of those a try!
Tracey

May 30, 2012 at 6:46 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment


Love this idea and plan on making these when I do my groceries this week!! Love that you shared your wealth of knowledge with all of us!!!
Claudia

May 30, 2012 at 4:01 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment


Love this….thanks:)
Ericka @Chef PickyKid and Me

July 7, 2012 at 10:02 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment


I love crock pot recipes, and these look great! Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friends Friday!
Lois Christensen

July 7, 2012 at 5:35 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment


These are great ideas! I love the teriyaki one! Thanks for sharing!
Robyn

July 7, 2012 at 9:33 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment


When my kids were at home I would make freezer meals like this. It made dinner so much easier. I love the ease of using a crock pot.

Thanks for sharing at Foodie Friends Friday!

~Robyn
Irish Carter

August 22, 2012 at 2:44 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment


I love storing meals in the freezer. The hubs gets wierd about it, but I don’t let him see me take it out of the freezer…haha He always scarfs it down and tells me how good it is (what he doesn’t know wont hurt him I guess, kind of within reason). OK, got to try one of these chicken recipes.

Hugs my dear…..keep cookin = P

Irish
Valeria

October 7, 2012 at 1:39 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment


Heya i’m for the first time here. I came across this board and I find It really useful & it helped me out much. I hope to give something back and help others like you helped me.
Anonymous

October 20, 2012 at 6:16 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment


You’re so interesting! I don’t believe I’ve read something like that before. So great to discover another person with a few original thoughts on this subject matter. Seriously.. thanks for starting this up. This web site is something that is needed on the internet, someone with a bit of originality!
Lynden Blossom

March 17, 2013 at 2:52 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment


Finally made the Honey Garlic Chicken yesterday (not from frozen or in a crockpot, but just slowly on the stove) – Yummmm! Thanks! ;-}
Lynden
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