Hi friends! Do you ever have those days where you just don’t know how you’ll get dinner on the table and still get the kids to bed at a decent hour? We have those A LOT in my house, especially now that my three kiddos have twelve (yes, 12!) weekly extracurricular activities between them. And then there are the busy weekend days when we’re out and about for this blog or just hitting up our favorite seasonal haunts for some family fun time.
This fall, I decided to do some Pinterest scrolling Internet research and see how other busy families handle this challenge. One idea that kept popping up was the make-ahead freezer meal. I was intrigued! Even better, I found options for make ahead freezer meals that I could prepare in my slow cooker. With this ingenious concept, you place ingredients into a freezer safe bag or container, store the meal in the freezer until you are ready to use it, thaw overnight in your fridge and then dump into your slow cooker the next day. I mean, short of your kitchen appliances and utensils coming to life à la Beauty and the Beast, this is the closest you can get to dinner cooking itself!
So I started this post to keep track of the best Slow Cooker Freezer Meals I’ve found. So far I’ve stocked my freezer with more than a dozen! I hope this list helps your family enjoy being “out and about” together, knowing that no matter how busy your day, you can still sit down to a yummy family meal when you get home 🙂
I also recommend downloading the Paprika app and storing your recipes there. This little powerhouse app lets you download and organize recipes directly from websites with just one click, but best of all it allows you to create a shopping list from recipe ingredients that’s sorted by store department. It’s on the pricier side as apps go, but I think it’s worth every penny–it’s like having a personal assistant in the kitchen!
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***NEW*** Slow Cooker Ranch Chicken Tacos from My FreezEasy
A tasty alternative to traditional beef tacos! This one is so easy you can make several batches at the same time. One recipe makes enough for leftovers even with my family of five. Pick up some tortillas (lately we’ve been loving mini street taco tortillas) and set out with your favorite fixings. This chicken would also be delicious with rice and beans in a homemade burrito bowl!
***NEW*** Slow Cooker Sweet-And-Sour Pot Roast from Allrecipes
My kids’ favorite! To adapt this for the freezer, I skip the browning step and leave out the carrots and potatoes (you could add those fresh the day of cooking if you like). I just make this with meat, onions and sauce. Then, before serving I remove the meat and pour all the remaining contents of the slow cooker (sauce and onions) into my blender and blend into a delicious gravy. Just remember to vent your blender if you’re making the gravy while it’s hot! I like to serve this with frozen fries for the kiddos and ready-to-heat mashed cauliflower for the grownups.
***NEW***Slow Cooker Peach Barbecue Chicken from Modern Honey
This is my kids’ favorite BBQ recipe! I always mean to make this as a freezer meal, but it’s so darn easy I usually decide to just throw it in the slow cooker and make it! To adapt as a freezer meal, you can freeze the reserved portion of BBQ sauce in a separate bag or container and thaw/heat for use.
Slow Cooker Chicken Curry from The Family Freezer
Heat up some store-bought naan bread and a package of microwave-ready rice for a meal that comes together quicker than making a take-out order.
Shredded BBQ Chicken from The Family Freezer
The mango slaw sounds delicious, but in a time crunch I just serve this with a side of applesauce or canned mandarin oranges.
Simple Crockpot Taco Soup from The Family Freezer
This was SO delicious, and it makes A LOT. We topped the soup with shredded cheese and sour cream.
Crockpot Mongolian Beef from Mommy’s Fabulous Finds
My husband’s favorite! So much healthier than take-out and on the table just as fast. Microwave a package of rice and a package of green beans (or steam some broccoli if you have time) and you’ve got a meal.
Slow Cooker Meatloaf from No Getting Off This Train
I was skeptical about this one, but it turned out great! I did thaw the meatloaf in the fridge overnight, so I can’t say how it turns out when you cook from frozen as the recipe instructs. After cooking, I strained the solids out of the liquid in the slow cooker and used it as a tasty sauce for the meatloaf. I made baked potatoes to go with it (or mashed would be amazing if you’ve got that kind of time!), but french fries from the freezer would be good too. Add a prepackaged salad kit and you’ve got a meal!
Salsa Chicken from Mess for Less
This was incredibly tasty. You could serve it over rice, with tortillas, or straight up in a bowl with some shredded cheese and sour cream. Yumm.
Freezer-to-Crockpot Chicken Fajitas from The Humbled Homemaker
Another winner! Serve with tortillas and all your favorite fixings.
Slow Cooker Maple Pork from Sweet Peas and Saffron
I love meals like this for nights when everyone is on a different schedule and dinner together is out of the question. Just leave the cooked shredded pork in the slow cooker on warm with a pile of rolls nearby and everyone can make their own BBQ sandwich when they are ready to eat. Better than a drive-through and faster too!
Crockpot White Chicken Chili from Sweet Peas and Saffron
This creamy and delicious chili does require an extra prep step after slow cooking (and, full disclosure, it involves hauling out your blender). But if you have a few extra minutes to spare one night, it’s totally worth it!
Sticky Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs from Sweet Peas and Saffron
This was so good served over brown rice with broccoli.
Slow Cooker Beef Roast with Carrots from The Family Freezer
This may be my favorite pot roast recipe I’ve ever made! I didn’t particularly care for the carrots– they had a strong flavor after slow cooking in all that spice, so the second time I made this I just omitted them and made another veggie on the side.
Hearty Beef Stew from Mommy Savers
This is the perfect meal to have on hand for a chilly (and busy) day.
Slow Cooker Sausage Spinach Tomato Soup from The Family Freezer
Another hearty soup that’s perfect for busy winter evenings. The recipe does instruct you to add the dry pasta towards the end of cooking, so it’s not totally hands off, but you could also add pre-cooked pasta to the finished soup to skip that step.
Mexican Quinoa from Chelsea’s Messy Apron
This is a great meatless option for a busy evening. It was delicious in a bowl with taco fixings, but I bet it would be good wrapped in a warm tortilla too! Full disclosure: I have not tried this as a freezer meal yet. It was so easy to just dump everything in the slow cooker on the day I made it (almost all the ingredients came right out of my pantry). But my kitchen intuition says that you could probably freeze everything but the quinoa in a bag, and then add the quinoa to the slow cooker before cooking. I’ll give it a try and report back! Oh, and definitely cut up that butternut squash into small pieces. I had a few larger ones (I got lazy after all that cutting), and they did not cook through.
I’ll keep updating this list as I try new meals, so check back often for busy day meal inspiration! In the meantime, visit our Amazon Store for some of my favorite cooking accessories, including make-ahead freezer meal essentials like a crockpot, these clever bag holding thingies (technical term) and, of course, freezer bags. As an Amazon associate, we earn from qualifying purchases so you can support Out and About Mom at no additional cost to you. And we only list what we love!
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