10 meals - 4 hours!
A few of my friends have asked me to write about it, so here is what I did.
FYI regarding my cooking style & crock pots. The crock pot works well for our family. I'm pretty easy going, not too perfectionistic, when it comes to food. If its edible I'll eat it, my family is pretty much the same. The husband will touch up his food to his taste upon plating (tonight he put hot sauce in my homemade chicken soup) but he is stoked about anything I make. The crock pot works great for us in this regard, normally the flavor cooks out a bit in the crock; needing to be re-seasoned after cooking, therefore each of us can adjust the flavors to before we eat.
Recently I've tried the freezer to crock pot method & it worked great. One gallon size freezer bag makes a meal for the family with leftovers for a lunch the next day. Last time I made 6 meals during nap time; this time I made 10 meals in 4hrs (including an emergency trip to Kroger for tomato sauce which I forgot on the initial shopping trip - this summer I plan to grow & can our own sauce so this won't be a problem).
Growing up in California I'm a fan of southwestern flavors, so 4 out of the 5 recipes fit into this category, plus it narrows the shopping list. The 5th recipe was planned based on items I had on hand.
Recipes
(each recipe yields 2 freezer bags):Mama's Healthy BBQ chicken (a family favorite from Mama and Baby love site - if you love this cooking method check out her e-cookbook, its awesome!)
Mama and Baby Love
Veggie chili (Adapted from Real Simple Veggie Chili with Sweet Potatoes)
Real Simple
Chicken Enchiladas (Adapted from Taste of Home Slow Cooker Cookbook)
Lazy Day Stew - (Adapted from Ring Around the Rosie) her recipe called for lima beans. I substiuted kidney beans instead.
Ring Around the Rosie
Southwestern Chicken - my own recipe
I choose to use dried beans instead of canned, so the night before I soaked a bag of black beans and a bag of red kidney beans to use in these recipes (just soak - they will cook in the crock pot). I did a big bag of beans. The leftover beans I simmered for about an hour until they were soft. I divided then into 15 oz (can size) portions in freezer bags, with a bit of the liquid. This was I have a few "cans" on hand in the freezer, without using cans.
Shopping List
6 Sweet Potatoes6 Baby Red Potatoes
2 Green Peppers
2 zucchini
6 yellow onions
2 red onions
2 jaleneno peppers
2 15 oz cans of fire roasted tomatoes
5 15 oz cans of tomato sauce
2 cans Rotel
2 cans of diced tomatos
4 lbs chicken thighs
4 lbs chicken breast
4 lbs cube beef for stew
bag of frozen corn (or 4 cans whole kernnel corn)
bag of dried black beans (or 6 cans)
bag of kidney beads (or 6 cans)
celery (5 stalks)
4 carrots or bag of baby carrots
chili powder
cumin
ground yellow mustard
brown sugar
salt & pepper
Worchester Sauce
honey
arrowroot powder (or other thickening agent)
Steps
Prep - a few days before I gathered the recipes I wanted to use, checked the pantry for what I had on hand & then created my shopping list. The night before I soaked my beans. You can also do some of the chopping. Potatoes turn brown if chopped too early.Label Freezer bags with recipes name, date, cook time & what to add on cooking day.
Chop all Veggies. FYI - I did not know this - use gloves or a plastic bag on hands when chopping jalepenos, the oils burn for days!
Line up bags to be filled. I had onions to go in each bag - so I filled each bag with the appropriate amount of onions, so bags would stand upright.
I'm pretty cautious about chicken. So I get EVERYTHING else in the bag with only the chicken remaining.
10 Meals ready for the freezer!
My shopping for these meals were $41. I had Worcestershire, honey, spices, arrowroot powder, bag of dried black beans, bag dried kidney beans, 2 cans of rotel & garlic in pantry. I also had gallon size freezer ziplocs on hands. So other than that that's $4.10 per healthy nutritious meal for the family, plus left overs. Can't really go wrong here!
Recipes
divide each recipe evenly between 2 freezer bags
Veggie Chili with Sweet Potatoes
2 medium red onion, chopped
2 green bell pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
kosher salt and black pepper
2 - 28-ounce cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes
2 - 15.5-ounce cans black beans, rinsed
2 - 15.5-ounce cans kidney beans, rinsed
2 medium sweet potatoes (about 8 ounces), peeled and cut into 1⁄2-inch pieces
Day of cooking add 1 cup water. Cook low for 7 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours.
Lazy Day Stew adapted from Ring Around the Rosies
4 lbs beef cubed for stew
6 red potatoes cubed
2 15 oz kidney beans
4 tsp of arrowroot powder (or similar thickner)
Salt & Pepper
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce (1/2 in each bag)
2 tbs brown sugar
4 cups carrots chopped
2 onions chopped
2 cups celery chopped
Day of cooking add 1 cup water. Cool low for 4-6 hrs.
Chicken Enchiladas
this recipe actually called for turkey drumsticks or thighs, but i didn't like the look of them at the market so I substituted chicken breasts.
2 chopped jalepeno
4 large chicken breasts
2 8 oz cans of tomato sauce
2 15 oz of black beans
2 15oz corn
1 cup chopped onion
4 tbs of Worcestershire sauce
4 tbs chili powder
4 cloves garlic chopped
Southwestern Chicken:
4-6 boneless chicken thighs
2 - 15 oz corn
2 - 15 oz black beans
2 - 15 oz kidney beans
2 - 15 oz diced tomatoes including juice
2 cans Rotel
2 tbs chili powder
2 tbs cumin
salt & pepper
Cook on low for 8hrs. Serve on torilla with sour cream, cheese, salsa, & avocado.
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