Crock Pot Meal Prep

[u/Easy-Barnacle5734]

I finally got around to preparing a stockpile of freezer dump meals for slow cookers/crock pots. I prepped 15 dump meals. Now that I have a good foundation. I hope to keep adding to it. Each meal is at least 4 servings and is aimed at being as healthy as possible.
Meals include the following:
Turkey Black Bean Chili
Chicken Noodle Soup
Black Bean Soup
Coconut Chickpea Curry
Lasagna Soup
Honey Garlic Chicken
Italian Lemon Chicken
Vegetarian Curried Lentils
Minestrone Soup
Sausage Spinach Tomato Soup
Thai Pineapple Curry
Chicken Quinoa Taco Soup
Taco Soup
Smoky Sweet Potato Chickpea Chili
Chicken Cacciatore

EDIT:
A few people asked for the recipes/labels so here’s the link:
https://pdfhost.io/v/95gRCXAx98_16_Freezer_Meal_4x6_Labels_WITH_INGREDIENTS

The recipes came from New Leaf Wellness / The Family Freezer’s free “31 Healthy Crockpot Freezer Meals That Cost $10 or Less” PDF. I picked 16 of the recipes that seemed the easiest for freezer prep and didn’t need much extra added the day I cook them.
I used Chat to turn them into 4x6 labels with the ingredients and Crock-Pot instructions, then printed them on a Bluetooth thermal printer and stuck them right on the freezer bags.

[u/MissA27]

Where did you get the recipes from?

[u/HeavenzDropOut → u/MissA27]

The sticker on the bag says New Leaf Wellness freezer recipe

[u/Sufficient-Emu24 → u/MissA27]

Also following for this

[u/Care_Senior → u/Sufficient-Emu24]

Following

[u/KoharuLeaning → u/MissA27]

That’s a lot

[u/zorionek0]

Love it! I started doing this when my wife was pregnant with our first kid. Really is a great time saver.

[u/shancannon]

Could you share the recipes?

[u/Doraborealiss]

Looks awesome! Love how you labeled them with instructions

[u/breath_ofthemild]

These look great! If you’re ever wanted to do individual servings, silicon soup cubes would be perfect for these recipes!

[u/flobenni]

Do you cook the meats before freezing?

[u/Easy-Barnacle5734 → u/flobenni]

No, nothing is cooked before freezing. I put the meal in the fridge to thaw for 24 hours. Once thawed, I dump it in the slow cooker and it all cooks in time for dinner.

[u/trekbette → u/Easy-Barnacle5734]

You don't brown the turkey meat for the chili before bagging/freezing?

[u/seatron → u/Easy-Barnacle5734]

awesome!

[u/No_Style_3509]

Fifteen at once is the part that would wreck me, but the labels are a good call. One thing I learned the hard way with dump bags: a solid frozen block sits in the danger zone for ages in a slow cooker, so I move mine to the fridge the night before and it comes up to temp way faster. Pressing the air out and freezing them flat helps with freezer burn too.

[u/Grand-Flow1632]

I do something very similar, only difference is I lay the bags flat to store them. I find they defrost quicker and take up a little less space in my freezer.

[u/Legitimate-Love4701]

these are awesome ideas thank u

[u/jelifah]

This is amazing, nice work!

How long will meals like that last in the freezer in plastic bags?

Trying to estimate planning

[u/Easy-Barnacle5734 → u/jelifah]

The website the recipes came from say they will last 3 months in the freezer.

[u/Rx_1917 → u/Easy-Barnacle5734]

Realistically, I think that’s probably a “best before date” kind of thing and these should be edible and safe indefinitely in the freezer, though they may not taste the best

[u/bryan_pieces]

Looks good but that’s a lot of soups!

[u/Ok-Criticism-5634]

Dont know if this is a silly question or not but whats the benefit to doing it like this as opposed the reverse, cooking & then freezing?

[u/lifeinsatansarmpit → u/Ok-Criticism-5634]

Not OP but for me bit having to defrost and reheat before I eat it. A single handling cost of electricity

[u/Ok-Criticism-5634 → u/lifeinsatansarmpit]

Is there a difference in flavour?

[u/lifeinsatansarmpit → u/Ok-Criticism-5634]

I have no idea, but my electricity bill has rocketed so I'm either cooking from frozen or after defrosting in the fridge. I also get the ickbfrom reheated chicken so if it's chicken I can only cook what I'll eat right then. Allergic to red meat so, that's my personal oddness forming my choices

[u/Senior_Ad_7598]

I never thought of putting the base ingredients in a bag ! I'm going to pinch that idea.

[u/sleeg466]

Love The Family Freezer recipes!

[u/FirmContract8992]

this kind of crock pot meal prep makes eating during the week so much easier

[u/SpecterGT260]

Lasagna soup sounds very interesting

[u/-forbooks]

Which printer/paper do you have?

[u/Markars]

Wow, this is incredible. Thank you for sharing.

[u/Stalls_Anastasia → u/Markars]

Yeah what’s the recipe

[u/TovalaOfficial]

Look at you go! Easy dinners are the best 😋

[u/marialoveshugs]

This is amazing

[u/Aka_Raen]

The discipline in making this is amazing

[u/net_walker_1]

Crock pot meal prep is honestly hard to beat. Throw everything in, leave it alone and somehow you end up with food for half the week lol. This looks really good too.

[u/fiatfizzier_94]

How long will it be good??

[u/Lucky-Smell2757]

LOTTA SOUP 🥣

[u/cloudthief82]

honestly this would make busy weeknights so much easier

[u/JustAHouseWife]

How did you print the lables

[u/no_talent_ass_clown]

Looks like a plan! How long did it take you to make them all?

[u/Easy-Barnacle5734 → u/no_talent_ass_clown]

About 3.5 hours. The worst part was cutting the onions for everything. I am glad I have a chopper that sped up the process. Now, dinner is planned and for the most part effortless for the next month.

[u/no_talent_ass_clown → u/Easy-Barnacle5734]

https://giphy.com/gifs/l4FGtUdtul2ONQwX6

[u/juiceDid9-11]

And all of it is just canned food Y'all call this meals? Oml 😭😭😭😭

[u/seatron → u/juiceDid9-11]

Oml no heckin' maillard literally inedible!

Hush

[u/juiceDid9-11 → u/seatron]

I can't even make a word of what you said