I decided to prep a bunch of healthy crockpot freezer meals last weekend and was able to make eight in only 45 minutes (including clean-up!). All of the recipes were very simple and included a meat, vegetable, and homemade sauce.
I loved the meat-veggie-sauce combo because it meant I could spend most of my grocery money on meats and vegetables and make the sauces with ingredients already in my refrigerator and pantry.
I typically double my freezer recipes and make two of each, but I decided to switch things up by focusing on recipes that work well with different types of meats. That way, I was able to save time and money, but make eight totally different meals. Great idea, right?!
Here’s what I made:
- Two bags of beef fajitas (I made one with chicken)
- Two bags of Italian chicken and veggies (I made one with beef)
- Two bags of honey dijon chicken and red potatoes (I made one with beef)
- Two bags of BBQ chicken and carrots (I made one with beef)
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE RECIPES AND GROCERY LIST
Now we’re set with dinners for eight busy weeknights.
Side note: I’m still loving my freezer baggy stands! I even bought six more last week with my birthday money. (You can read more about them in my blog post with crockpot freezer meals from Whole Foods.)
I know everyone has a different idea about what’s “healthy.” Personally, I’m looking for the following:
- Vegetables
- As few processed foods as possible
- An absolutely delicious taste (Because who wants to eat healthy food if is doesn’t taste good?!)
Overall, I spent $77 on ingredients and $60 of that was spent on meat. The beef was were more expensive than the chicken, so if you’re trying to save money you might want to make all of your meals with chicken or a less expensive meat, like pork chops.
I was happy to spend that amount on eight healthy dinners. My family of five probably couldn’t eat at McDonalds eight times for that price!
The printable recipes above will walk you through the process step-by-step. All of the meals are frozen without any cooking ahead of time so they couldn’t be easier to make. If you’re new to freezer cooking, my freezer cookbooks also include a ton of great recipes and tips.
If you have any thoughts or questions, please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.
[…] from New Leaf Wellness shows you how to make 8 Healthy Crockpot Freezer Meals in 45 […]
Love this. Think I’ll try this.
Thanks so much for sharing this!
This is the first time (or maybe second) I have visited your website- (found you through MSM) so forgive me if you have already addressed this question previously. It is my understanding that you can’t take frozen meat, thaw it and refreeze without cooking it first. Is that correct? We have loads of meat in our freezer (beef, chicken, pork chops, etc)
I believe you are correct. If I were you, I’d add the frozen meat to the bag frozen (in other words, don’t thaw it). If you’re not able to do that, I’d assemble the freezer bag without the meat, freeze it that way, and then dump it into the crockpot with the frozen meat the day of cooking.
actually you probably do it all the time without knowing it! most meat in the grocery store, including the butcher case was previously frozen. The worry about doing it at home is the way you thaw it. If you thaw it in the refrigerator rather than in a sink of water you should be fine. Better yet would be to not let it thaw completely…semi frozen meat is easier to cut too!
As a butcher and farm girl, I can safely state that if you thaw it properly, you can refreeze it. Especially if you are going to crock pot it…sometimes the texture will change a bit, but it’s not unhealthy or unsafe
[…] from New Leaf Wellness shows you how to make 8 Healthy Crockpot Freezer Meals in 45 […]
Where do you get the labels?
I designed them for my No Cook Freezer Meals cookbook.
So that could be something you could market-how did you design them?
I usually do my designs in photoshop. 🙂
I am curious about the frozen veggies? Don’t they get really mushy after cooking all day for 6-8 hours? I prefer my veggies with some firmness to them. I found the note about throwing the fresh potatoes into the freezer very interesting! I do plan on trying these.
They wil be a great timesaver.
To be honest, veggies do tend to get soft in the crockpot. You’ll have the best luck with veggies that start out pretty firm, like carrots, but one of the reasons that we love crockpot recipes is that the entire meal melts in your mouth. If you like crunchy veggies, I would wait to add them later during the cooking time or quickly steam them before serving.
Where do I get directions for freezing dinners?
Hi Kim. Right above the final picture, you’ll see some green text and links to the grocery list and recipes. The recipes will walk you through the process step-by-step.