Freezer cooking can save you time and money. And this list of easy crock pot freezer meals is no exception! These 5 recipes make up 40 servings. AND it'll only take you about 48 minutes. There's also a printable grocery list to go with the printable recipes.

Saving money is important and saving your time is too! So print out that grocery list, stop by the store, and set aside an hour. You'll have meals prepped for at least a week or maybe even two.

Easy Crock Pot Freezer Meals!

In This Article (click headings to jump)

1 Step-by-Step Easy Crock Pot Freezer Meals
- 1.1 Supplies for Easy Crock Pot Freezer Meals
- 1.2 Step-by-Step Freezer Meal Prep Timetable
2 Printable Grocery List & Recipe Links
3 Pin It for Later for "Easy Crock Pot Freezer Meals"
4 AND More Crock Pot Freezer Meal Cooking Sessions

Step-by-Step Easy Crock Pot Freezer Meals

Supplies for Easy Crock Pot Freezer Meals

Today we're making 5 recipes with 8 servings each. And, of course, ya'll know that's an estimate. Like littles usually eat a lot less than growing teens. So we're estimating 40 meals.

So, if you're feeding 6 to 8 people, I'd use gallon freezer bags for this. If you're feeding 4 per meal. I'd use mostly quart sized freezer bags and double the amount you need.

Freezer Bags
- 6 1-gallon zippable freezer bags (if you're cooking for 6 to 8 people)
- ~OR~
- 12 1-quart zippable freezer bags (if you're cooking for 4 people)
Sharpie Marker
Vegetable Peeler
Cutting Board
Excellent Knives for Slicing
Baggies Holders: Totally optional but SO helpful!
Printed Printable Grocery List (You can see and print that down below)
Printed recipes

Step-by-Step Freezer Meal Prep Timetable

This timetable (just like the number of meals) is a time estimate. This is how long it took me.

This is the summary and you can scroll down to see the what/how/why for each thing...

Pull out your bags and label them (me = 4 minutes)
Set up your baggie holders and slip on the baggies in a row. Place printed recipe in front of appropriate baggies. (me = 4 minutes)
Dice and slice the vegetables (me= 15 minutes)
Dice up the meats (me = 10 minutes)
Start a sink of hot soapy water (for step #7...I have terrible water pressure) and pour remaining ingredients into correct baggies (me = 5 minutes).
Lay bags flat (one by one) and toss baggie holders in the wash water as they are removed. Squeeze out excess air and freeze in a stack (me = 4 minutes).
Toss any extra packaging in the trash and compost the vegetable scraps. Wash the dishes...which is really just the knife, vegetable peeler and baggie holders for me. And lastly, wipe down the kitchen (me = 6 minutes).

Vegetable Prep Detail:

Carrots:

(me = 4 minutes)

One recipe calls for baby carrots and the other for whole carrots. It really doesn't matter which you use.

If you're opting for saving time, use baby carrots. And if you're worried about added chemicals, purchase organic baby carrots.

If you're wanting to save money and invest a little more time, go for whole carrots and then peel and slice them. I did half and half and followed my recipes. So, I did...baby carrots for the roast beef and regular carrots for the broccoli cheese soup.

Garlic:

(me = 3 minutes)

You can purchase (or grow) garlic bulbs. Or you can purchase the pre-minced stuff in a jar. Also, you can get the bags of fresh garlic cloves that are pre-shelled. Pre-shelled, hmmm. I'm not sure that's the right term or even if it IS a term...

I bought the stuff from the produce section that's fresh but ready to use. It's already "shelled" but in whole cloves. But you still have to dice up the cloves. So it still has a fresh flavor... but no peeling the cloves.

Peppers:

(me = 4 minutes)

No shortcut on this one for me. I just purchased fresh and sliced. You can purchase frozen if you want to save more time.

Onions:

(me = 4 minutes)

Same goes for the peppers. I did fresh, you can purchase frozen as a time-saver if you like.

Potatoes:

(me = 0 minutes)

Me personally, I don't usually freeze my potatoes. Some folks do. I just don't like the texture. Every once in a while I'll give it a shot. They usually work okay in soups or with a sauce frozen around them.

I didn't in this batch of cooking. They'll get tossed in the day of cooking So that's added to the label in step #1 to "add # of diced/chunked/sliced potatoes. You can always freeze them if you want, or you can opt for frozen potatoes.

Meat Prep Detail:

We've got 3 types of meat we're prepping here. Kielbasa, a beef roast, and chicken breasts.

I am not telling you to wash the cutting board between each cut. And I am not telling you NOT to. I'm gonna say I clean the cutting board between each type of meat. I just think it's safer. So that added a little extra time. Only like 45 seconds. So worth it to me to not even chance food poisoning 😉

Kielbasa/Smoked Sausage:

(me = 3 minutes)

First of all on meat prep is the sausage. Or kielbasa. They are really one in the same. Just different spices are used in the making.

I don't slice the links at an angle. Nor, do I worry about slicing them super thin. I just open, slice and toss in the correct baggies.

If you get a good brand, they'll puff up and sorta "pop" when you cut or bite into them. I really don't have a good way to explain it. But if you look at the picture of our One-Pot Smoked Sausage Dinner, you'll get what I mean.

Or, you can also purchase the little smokies sausages that are in the original recipe. That would save more time and cut out the washing of the cutting board 🙂

Beef Roasts:

(me = 3 minutes)

I needed to cut mine in half. Only because I'm making two freezer meals, not one. So I just opened the package and sliced it in two. Then the two pieces got tossed in the correct baggies. Lastly, I washed the cutting board again.

Chicken Breasts:

(me = 4 minutes)

Last thing on meat preps. And there's nothing complex about this one either. Just slice into strips and toss into the Chicken & Potatoes baggie(s). And, of course...wash and sanitize the cutting board.

Dairy Prep:

I don't think I'm gonna freeze dairy anymore. Well, I will change that to say I am being more selective about freezing dairy.

I've had several folks tell me evaporated milk separated on them. And a few tell me that their cream cheese wouldn't combine with the recipe very well.

While I've not had this problem myself, I've researched a bit and here's what I think...

Seems like (to me) that most types of milk will separate if they heat up too fast. Like from a cold pantry or freezer and you cook on high...or if your crockpot heats up really fast.
And some brands of cream cheese do not freeze well. Some do. But, I'm not plugging any brands, so I'll not name names.

So, all in all, I am thinking it'd be best to stir in all these in the last 20 to 30 minutes of your cooking time before serving. OR you can also freeze it separately. Like in its own bag. Check out this section in the broccoli cheese soup recipe to get what I mean...

Shredded cheese. It doesn't count, freeze way 🙂