Looking for easy dinner ideas for busy weeknights? Stock your freezer with crockpot freezer meals! Here are 31 delicious crockpot recipes that I’ve tried myself (grocery list included!).
I have three young children (and a fourth on the way) so I don’t have a lot of time to cook. Instead of scrambling in the kitchen every night, I spend an hour prepping crockpot freezer meals over the weekend and that’s all the cooking that I need to do for the week.
Here’s why crockpot freezer meals are a game-changer:
- They don’t require any cooking ahead of time, so they’re very quick and easy to prep.
- They cook for the first time out of the freezer and don’t taste like leftovers at all. Yay!
- You can save a lot of money by prepping a bunch of meals at once.
When I’m prepping freezer meals, I combine the ingredients in plastic baggies, remove as much air as possible, and freeze for up to three months. I’ve made hundreds of crockpot freezer meals this way and they’re all healthy, delicious, and easy to make. Since this is such a hectic time of year, I decided to compile of list of my 31 favorites that are perfect for busy weeknights.
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.
If you’re hesitant to freeze so many new recipes at once, I recommend trying a couple for dinner this week. Once you see how delicious they are you’ll want to stock your freezer ASAP. Enjoy!
31 Crockpot Freezer Meals for Busy Weeknights
- Cheesy Tortellini with Ground Beef
- Honey Dijon Pork Chops with Green Beans
- Cranberry Chicken
- Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Chicken Soup with Mexican Seasonings
- Mexican Chicken Chili
- Garden Veggie Soup with Ground Beef
- Mexican Chili with Cornbread Topping
- Beef Fajitas
- Chicken Philly Cheesesteaks
- Italian Chicken
- Balsamic Beef Roast and Carrots
- Mushroom Spinach Stroganoff
- Party Pork Roast (only four ingredients!)
- Chicken Teriyaki
- Sausage Spinach Tomato Soup (one of our favorites!)
- Pot Roast with Green Beans
- Lasagna Soup with meatballs
- Garlic-Mint Pork Tenderloin
- Italian Sausage Subs
- Stuffed Pepper Soup from Once a Month Meals
- Banana Pepper Shredded Beef (perfect for sandwiches)
- White Wine Chicken with Artichokes
- Ginger-Peach Chicken
- Honey Sesame Chicken from Damn Delicious
- Ham and Potato Soup
- Italian Sausage-Stuffed Mini Peppers
- White Chicken Chili
- Beef Enchilada Casserole
- Sweet and Sour BBQ Meatballs
A lot of these recipes are from freezer prep sessions that I’ve done this year so I typed up exactly how I prep and freeze each meal in this printable pdf with a full grocery list:
FREE PRINTABLE RECIPES AND GROCERY LIST
Thoughts or questions? Please leave a comment below and I’ll respond as soon as I can.
I shared these recipes on Thirty Handmade Days on 8/30/15.
Hi,
First of all THANK YOU for putting in all the hard work and making these freezer meals so simple. I’ve searched for a while and was so happy when I stumbled upon your recipes on Pintrest. However, my husband is skeptical about leaving the crock pot on all day while we are at work so what time and temperature do you recommend I cook the chicken entrees? 350F for 30 min? Sorry for the dumb question. 🙂
Thanks!
Farrah
Yes, that sounds like a good starting point.
Just wanted to say that I recently learned a crockpot is as safe as a nightlight! If that helps ease your husband s fears at all
I see all of these have meat. Do you have any without? These all look great but I don’t eat meat and my family are more occasional carnivores but these ease of freezer crock pot meals is awesome.
Check out this post, Melinda: https://thefamilyfreezer.com/2015/03/16/5-vegetarian-freezer-crockpot-meals-in-50-minutes/
You’ll also be happy to know that I’m releasing a meat-free mini cookbook next week.
Thanks for this! Can you please tell me where you get those clips that connect the bags or what they’re called? Thanks!
I bought 10 of them from here on Amazon. Love them!!
Thanks for sharing these. We are headed into “crock pot season”.
We will be eating very well this fall.
We bought your eBook bundle a few months ago and did a 30 meal freezer stockpile with the recipes. Out of all the sites we’ve tried for crock pot freezer meals, we are really liking what you have put together. The meals take fresher, if that makes any sense. So thank you! Are the meals above in the eBook? Or is this list a separate purchase?
Oh geez! Nevermind! I just saw the link. Ha! Thanks again.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU – these look amazing. My question is: what do people do if they will be gone longer than the 4-6 hours a recipe calls for? Do you know of any crockpots that have a delayed start – and would that be safe w/ the ingredients? Could an option be putting the recipes/ingredients in still frozen? We leave for work at 7 each morning and do not get home until 6:30. I would love any suggestion/solutions anyone has come up w/ for this problem. Otherwise we’ll simply enjoy these on the weekends 🙂
If you have a smaller slow cooker (4 quarts), you should be OK with meals that have longer cooking times, like roasts, soups, stews, and chilis. The chicken recipes are tricky so I would highly recommend a slow cooker with a timer if you want to cook them on days when you’re out of the house for almost 12 hours. I bought this one earlier this year and love it!!
PERFECT! Thank you.