Easy Crockpot Freezer Meals for Meal Planning

Crockpots are great at lending a helping hand in the kitchen. Not only are they a big help, but crockpot recipes are often delicious and enough for everyone. We can make things even easier if we use easy crockpot freezer meals for meal planning.

Meal planning with crockpot recipes makes for one efficient kitchen, especially when using easy crockpot freezer meals for meal planning. Slow cooker meals don’t sound like they are time savers; they aren’t.

Instead, slow cooker recipes are meant to help us use our time wisely. We can use the cooking time to do other things like run errands, help with homework, or just relax and catch up on insert show title here.

Crockpot Freezer Meals for Meal Planning Close Up of a Plate of Cashew Chicken

However, there is one home cooking step that we can’t skip or avoid in any way: prep. Prepping the food to be cooked is usually what takes the most time and effort, depending on the recipe. Even an easy meal may require 10, 15, or 20 minutes of prep time.

We can’t skip it, so how do we streamline the food prep without sacrificing a whole bunch of time? The answer might just be found in freezer cooking. The best way to understand crock pot freezer meals is to think about how we organize our time.

Crockpot Freezer Meals for Meal Planning Overhead View of a Plate of Broccoli and Beef on Rice

There aren’t many times when we are completely free of responsibilities or self-care. However, we can use the downtime to prep healthy freezer meals for the week or maybe even a month ahead of us.

Busy weeknights are no match for a person who has utilized freezer meal prep. Getting started is simple as well. You may need a few things like reusable freezer bags, a freezer bag stand, and, of course, the ingredients you get for the easy crockpot freezer meals for meal prep from the grocery store.

Easy Crockpot Freezer Meals for Meal Planning a Single Skillet Filled with Chicken Fajitas

Freezer Meals for Home Cooks

The idea is simple: take some of the ingredients of a healthy meal, prep them, put them in a freezer bag, and then store them in the freezer. We can then reach into the freezer on one of those busy weeknights and grab a bag.

Dump the bag into a crockpot and turn it on; that’s the beauty of freezer dump meals. Some recipes, like a maple bacon pork loin crockpot recipe, is simple. All you really need to do is put the raw pork loin in a freezer bag with the seasonings and put it in a freezer.

Crockpot Freezer Meals for Meal Planning Close Up of Two Tacos with Fajita Chicken in Them

However, not every recipe is going to be as straightforward as that. Luckily, we can find multiple easy freezer meals to do the job. Soon, this will become one of your favorite ways to save time and still enjoy your favorite recipe.

The contents of the bag might differ depending on the recipe as well, like in this crockpot cashew chicken recipe. Do we want to put the cashews in the freezer or just use some on the day we plan to cook them? The answer can be found in the recipe card.

Easy Crockpot Freezer Meals for Meal Planning Close Up of a Plate of Cashew Chicken

Make-Ahead Crockpot Meals

Great freezer meals help us save time and produce the best results for dinner. However, searching for recipes that are dedicated to the freezer prep stage is not always easy. We want easy weeknight dinners that don’t take up all of our free time.

The cooking time can be as long as it wants; we are focused on the prep work with freezer crockpot meals. For example, this shredded beef and carrots recipe is a great way to make an easy weeknight meal. This recipe takes 8 hours in the crockpot.

Easy Crockpot Freezer Meals for Meal Planning Shredded Beef with Carrots on White Rice

This freezer meal should be started on your way out in the morning. Grab the bag, dump it into the crockpot, turn it on, and go to work. You will have a delicious shredded beef dish to enjoy when you get home.

Coming home to a house that smells like pulled pork is another option with this sweet and sour tempeh crockpot recipe. It’s okay that the cooking session itself is longer; the prep will have already been done.

What if you want to turn regular recipes into easy crockpot freezer meals for meal planning?

Easy Crockpot Freezer Meals for Meal Planning a Plate with Cooked Chicken Bites and Rice

Family-Friendly Freezer Meals

One of the problems with cooking dinner for a family every night is that everyone wants something different. Unfortunately, there is no way to cook multiple different meals in a single crockpot at the same time. Instead, we need to find a way to please everyone.

A simple way is to give everyone a night to pick a meal from set options. Maybe you have a freezer bag in the freezer with a honey bourbon chicken recipe, another bag with a Thai chicken crockpot recipe, and a bag with a taco casserole slow cooker recipe ready to go.

Easy Crockpot Freezer Meals for Meal Planning Close Up of Cooked and Sliced Pork Loin

Those are the options they get to pick from for dinner. This helps new moms and big families greatly. Of course, we may run into a problem where there aren’t slow cooker freezer meals that your family wants to eat.

There is a solution for this, though it may take some time to learn. Luckily, it is an added benefit that we get delicious recipes to try as we learn. This is a good skill to learn in the long run.

You will soon be able to turn simple ingredients into freezer meal recipes all on your own. No more running to get fast food when you’re short on time.

Easy Crockpot Freezer Meals for Meal Planning Six Wooden Spoons Laying Flat with Different Seasonings in Each Spoon on a Wooden Surface

Easy Crockpot Freezer Meals for Meal Prep

Finding the exact recipe you want as a make-ahead freezer meal isn’t always possible. There are plenty of easy crock pot recipes for families, but they aren’t always freezer meals.

We can take those recipes and turn them into freezer meals; we just need to learn what can be prepped and put in a freezer bag and how long the ingredients will last in the freezer.

Easy Crockpot Freezer Meals for Meal Planning Two Cutting Boards Topped with Chopped Onions, Carrots, and Beef

A great recipe to work with to learn is this delicious crockpot beef and vegetable stew recipe. You can freeze the beef for quite some time, but the veggies are a different story. We want a delicious meal, not mushy veggies.

Fresh produce works best; just prep it and freeze it immediately. Frozen veggies can last a whole year, while fruit will only last up to 6 months. Any liquid will be fine as it will freeze just fine, like in this crockpot chicken and gravy recipe.

Easy Crockpot Freezer Meals for Meal Planning a White Dinner Plate on a Black Placemat with Two Forks and a Knife

Both will provide you with a delicious, ready-made meal without having to worry too much about the freezer space. You can’t freeze every type of ingredient; it is important to keep that in mind.

You will need to add those ingredients while cooking.

More Crockpot Recipes

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup | Crockpots are amazing soup-making tools. It only takes one bite of a soup recipe like this one to understand.

How to Make Crockpot Meatballs | Meatballs do extremely well in a crockpot, especially with the right sauce mixture.

Budget Friendly Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese | Homemade macaroni and cheese is vastly different from the blue box stuff you are familiar with.

Pork Chops with Cream of Mushroom Soup Recipe | Smothered pork chops really have a chance to absorb the flavors you add when you make them in a crockpot.

Slow Cooker Shrimp Scampi Recipe | Shrimp scampi is one of those dishes that sounds impressive and difficult, but it is easier than you think.