Freezer meals have long flooded my Pinterest feed. I’ve heard so many people talk about them. It wasn’t until someone made them for us that I realized just what I had been missing. Crockpot cooking has forever been changed for me.
Now I’m going to tell you why you need freezer meals in your life! Trust me.
I have never enjoyed cooking. One of my least favorite parts of the day is figuring out what we are having for dinner and then preparing it. If I’m being completely honest, we were eating out way more than we were eating at home. My meal planning was pretty non-existent. I did a great job planning meals before I went grocery shopping. Then the plan would fall on it’s face as I always forgot to take meat out of the freezer and by the time I realized it…it was too late and we had nothing in the house for a back up.
Fast forward to now. Majority of our meals are being eaten at home. There is very little effort change on my part. Yet there is a big impact to our meal quality…not to mention our bank account. I no longer need to remember to take something out of the freezer. Preparing dinner is as easy as taking a bag out of the freezer and setting the crockpot.
I used to feel just so-so about crockpot cooking. Yes, I used it when I could. However, I will admit some of the things I prepared were less than stellar. I was never as impressed with crockpot meals as I had wanted to be. They were so easy, but there seemed to be limitations.
Our first crockpot freezer meal was the exact opposite of what we expected. There was so much flavor. We were given a week’s worth of meals and our menu went beyond just a typical pot roast or stew. It opened my eyes to the possibilities. I began paying attention to all those pins in my Pinterest feed.
Here are some things I have learned along the way.
How Crockpot Freezer Meals Changed My Life
- Time Back – I am no longer spending up to an hour in the kitchen every evening preparing dinner! The first time we made our own freezer meals, we put together 8 meals in 1-hour! The second time (just a couple of weeks ago), we put together 22 meals in 3-hours.
- So Easy – Once you figure out what meals you like, there isn’t much meal planning involved. Just buy the ingredients, use an afternoon (or evening) to prep, put everything for the meal into the same freezer bag, and put it in the freezer. In the morning, pull a bag out of the freezer. Pop it into your crockpot. In 4-6 hours, dinner is ready!
- Wide Customizable Selection – You can make most meals as a freezer meal. There are so many recipes out there. Each recipe can be tweaked to fit your family’s taste. Mix it up. If you feel the recipe is missing something, add it next time. Once you have your tried and true recipes it’s fool proof.
- Flavor – Your meat will begin marinating as you put all of the ingredients into the bag. I used to associate bland cooking with a crockpot. That is simply not the case! Add as much flavor as you can handle.
- Budget – This wasn’t a prime focus for me necessarily. However, we did the math after our last session. Those 22-meals only cost $7.68 each. That easily feeds our family. Depending on the meals, some nights there are left overs.
I have spent so much time lately talking about my love of freezer meals. One of my best friends is jumping on board to make her own. I am working on my Mom. I think this will not only revolutionize how to cook for a family, it does the same thing when cooking for 1. You decide the portion size of the bag.
Just spend a little time finding recipes and tweak them to your style, then give it a try. I would recommend starting small. Maybe make a couple of receipes at first to get the hang of it. The more you do, the easier it becomes. Trust me, it won’t take long and you will be like me…looking to buy a big deep freezer to accommodate my new freezer meal obsession.
Have you had success with crockpot freezer meals? What are your favorite recipes?