Freezer Meal Day!

Yesterday I spent my day in the kitchen doing a different kind of back to school prep.  I made 17 crockpot meals for the freezer!  After posting about it on Facebook, several people asked what I made and for the recipes.  So, here is how it all went down and links to the recipes.

I started by looking for way too long on Pinterest for recipes.  There are so many to choose from I didn't know where to start.  I ended up just making a list of the ones that sounded good to me that day and that I thought maybe (ok, its a big maybe) my kids would eat or at least entertain the thought of trying.

Next, I printed out the recipes and made a grocery list.  This is a no joke shopping list people!  It's a full page long!  I'm pretty sure my shopping cart has never been so full.  But...Meijer was also having 10 for $10 sales and they had chicken/hamburger on sale, which certainly helped my wallet!

Anyway, the next step was to chop all the veggies.  5 green peppers, 3 red peppers, 4 potatoes, a million baby carrots, 5 onions and lots of tears and stinging eyes later, I was done!  I wish I had timed this part...it felt like I chopped for hours, but it made it really nice and easy to put the meals together!  Totally worth it!

I chose to chop the chicken as I prepared each recipe rather than all of it ahead of time because I didn't want it to sit on the counter that long.  Doing it as I went along meant more hand-washing but it kept the chicken cold!

Next, I just jumped in!  I started with the first recipe, wrote the name of the dish and the cook time on a freezer bag (make sure you get the kind with write on labels) and if I needed to add anything to it before cooking I also wrote that on the bag.  Then I added all the ingredients to the bag!  I started with the meat on the bottom and dumped everything in on top.  After everything was in and zipped closed I mashed it around a bit to mix things together.  A few bags were really full so I double bagged them just to be safe.  I don't enjoy cleaning my freezer very much!

I made 17 meals - from chop to freezer - in exactly 5 hours.  I had another soup recipe I wanted to make but forgot one ingredient.  Wouldn't you know it?  No biggie...I will make that one this week.

So, what did I make?

From Ring Around the Rosies I made:

Sweet and Tangy Meatballs (makes 2 bags)
Sausage and Peppers (makes 2 bags)

From 6 Cents :

Hawaiian Chicken Sandwiches (makes 2 bags)
Salsa Chicken (makes 2 bags)

From Stick a Fork In It :

Crock Pot Chicken and Rice (for this one, I left out the cream cheese and will add when cooking)

From Six Sister's Stuff :

Black Bean Taco Soup (double bag this one!)
Chicken Broccoli Alfredo
Hearty Beef Stew (double bag this one!)

From Pearls, Handcuffs and Happy Hour :

Crock Pot Potato Soup (this is the one I haven't made yet)

From Allergy Free Cooking :

Enchilada Wraps

From Squidoo :

Teryaki Chicken
Beef Stroganoff
Divine Chicken
Chili (for this one I decreased the beans by half and added 1 lb. of hamburger) (double bag!)


I will say...I have not actually tried any of these recipes except Crock Pot Chicken and Rice from Stick a Fork In It, which we all loved! 

So there you have it!  Five hours, 17 meals done, 1 more to finish...whew!  Enjoy!