Want to simplify your dinner routine? Stock your freezer with crockpot freezer meals! Here are 25 of my favorites (printable recipes and grocery list included!).
Three reasons I love crockpot freezer meals:
- There’s no cooking required ahead of time so they’re super easy to make. Simply combine the ingredients in plastic freezer bags and freeze for up to three months.
- They cook for the first time out of the freezer and don’t taste like leftovers at all.
- I can save money by buying the ingredients in bulk.
Since I’ve tried hundreds of crockpot recipes, I decided to compile a list of my favorites for busy weeknights. These recipes are all family-friendly and easy to make.
If you’re nervous about mixing raw meat and vegetables, don’t be. I did a lot of research when I was writing my No Cook Freezer Meals cookbook and, according to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, freezing to 0 °F inactivates any microbes present in food (such as bacteria, yeasts, and molds). That means freezing raw meat with vegetables, sauces, and spices is perfectly safe. (You can find more info on food safety here.)
I’ve tried every single one of these recipes myself and they’re healthy, delicious, and easy to make. Enjoy!
25 Easy Crockpot Recipes For Busy Weeknights
- Southwestern Pork Chili
- Honey Sesame Chicken from Damn Delicious
- Greens & Beans
- Hawaiian Chicken
- Party Pork Roast
- Salsa Verde Chicken (only 5 ingredients!)
- Beef Fajitas
- Turkey White Bean & Kale Soup
- Ginger-Peach Chicken Thighs
- Chili with Steak Meat (Yum!)
- Tomato Turkey & Vegetable Soup
- Beef Barley Stew from Live Simply
- Mexican Chili with Cornbread Topping
- Chicken Chili
- Chicken Curry (one of the most popular recipes on my blog)
- Beef Roast & Carrots (our fave)
- Guinness Honey Pork Roast
- Orange Shredded Beef
- Cranberry Pork Roast
- Mississippi Roast from Table For Two
- Turkey Black Bean Chili
- Chicken Soup with Mexican Seasonings
- Coconut Chickpea Curry (vegetarian)
- Beef, Lime, and Cilantro Chili
- Shredded BBQ Chicken with Mango Coleslaw
If you’re motivated to prep all 25 at once, I typed up exactly how I freeze and cook each meal in a printable pdf. I also included a super detailed grocery list:
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE PRINTABLE RECIPES AND GROCERY LIST
Thoughts or questions? Please leave a comment below and I’ll respond as soon as I can. I’d love to hear from you.
These are great, thank you so much for sharing these. This is a great resource for so many of us 😀
Do your kids eat all of these meals?
Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don’t. Haha. They’re very normal kids who can be picky at times. My one-year-old is the best eater and will at least try most things that I make. She loves vegetables in soup and so does my three-year-old, so that’s why I love so many crockpot soup recipes. My five-year-old is the pickiest, but she’s getting better. If she won’t eat the meat, I’ll let her eat the veggies and side dish (normally rice or bread). I just keep trying. I figure if they keep eating what we’re eating they’ll like it eventually. 🙂
I just want to start by saying thank you dearly for changing my life for the better! As a working, pregnant wife, for the last few months I have been using your recipes to stockpile our freezer before our little guy arrives this May. Me and my husband are now obssessed with using our crockpot for dinners! With that, I have a question: some of these recipes call for browning the meat before cooking. If you were making these in the gallon freezer bags would you still brown the meat before freezing? Or can I add the meat uncooked and… Read more »
Yay! I’m so glad you’re “hooked”, Ashleigh. I used to brown all of my ground beef before adding it to the crockpot, but I found that step was unnecessary. Now I add it raw to my freezer bags or crockpot. Hope your pregnancy is going well!
I love using my slow cooker during the week, or even on the weekend when I don’t want to worry about interrupting family time to make dinner. (or shall I just admit to being lazy) This is a great collection of recipes, I’ve pinned many of them to test them out over the coming weeks. Thanks for sharing!
Yay! Thanks, Diana!
I’m new to freezer cooking- when you prep the bags, do you have to thaw it overnight before you put it in the slow cooker or can it go straight from freezer to crockpot?
I recommend thawing them overnight in the refrigerator.
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