Crockpot Freezer Meals

I had this idea that it would be nice to put together a couple of crockpot meals ahead of time in the freezer. How nice it would be to take a meal ready to cook out of the freezer and put it into the crockpot and not have to think about dinner until dinner time rolls around and then add a salad (and in the case of the first recipe some brown rice pilaf).

Here are the meals that I assembled tonight after grocery shopping today. I bought a large package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 6 lbs) from Costco and wanted to get them in the freezer as soon as possible. This was fresh chicken, not the frozen type. You can also use boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I used the thighs because they were less expensive, and lately grocery prices in my part of the world have seemed to really sky rocket in price and every little bit of savings helps.

I feed basically 5 adults and 2 teens so these meals are on the larger size. If your family does not need this much food for a meal these meals can be split up so you would end up with more meals.

I have not actually tested these recipes (just created them :). But I feel confident that they will be good as they have ingredients that my family enjoys. I plan on putting both recipes on next week’s menu plan and will give you a review of them at that time.

The night before I plan to cook these meals I will take the meal out of the freezer before bedtime and put it in the fridge to defrost. In the morning I will dump the contents of the bag into my crockpot and cook.


Crockpot Honey & Dijon Mustard Chicken
3 lbs chicken thighs, boneless, skinless
1 onion, sliced
1 cup honey
½ cup Dijon mustard
Salt, pepper to taste
Cut up chicken in bite size pieces. Put chicken and all remaining ingredients into a gallon size zip lock bag. Seal the bag closed tightly and squish the ingredients around to mix them up. Label the bag and freeze.
On cooking day dump contents of bag into crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours. I plan to serve this with brown rice pilaf ( http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/brownricepilaf.htm  )

Here it is in pics..

Cut up chicken, slice onion and measure out honey and mustard…..



Add chicken to the bag..




Add onions..



Add honey & mustard ….



Seal the bag closed and squish it around to mix it up (can it get any more simple? :)…



Freeze..



Crockpot Mexican Chicken
***This recipe will make 2 meals. I divided the ingredients listed below into 2 gallon size zip type freezer bags.

3 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 onion, sliced
2 cups salsa
2 cans (14oz) diced tomatoes
2 cups frozen corn
4 cups cooked beans (pinto beans, red beans, black beans, your choice), I used 1 quart of my canned pinto beans
2 t chili powder
1 t cumin
Salt & pepper to taste

Cut your chicken into bite size pieces. Divide chicken between 2 gallon size freezer bags. Divide remaining ingredients between freezer bags. Seal the bag closed tightly and squish the ingredients around to mix them up. Label bag and freeze.

On cooking day, dump the contents of the whole bag into the crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours. Serve with tortilla chips, salsa, sour cream and a little cheddar cheese grated on top.

Here it is in pics..

Cut up chicken, slice onion and gather together ingredients. I used my own home canned salsa and my own canned beans. You can use store bought salsa and cook your beans up (or used canned)…



Divide chicken between 2 gallon size bags…



Add 1 cup of salsa to each bag and 1 can diced tomatoes…



Add 1 cup corn and the sliced onion to each bag…



And 2 cups of cooked beans (and spices.. I forgot to add the spices, blame it on a long day and tired brain!! But I will add them on the day I cook the meal)…



Seal bag and squish all ingredients together and freeze.