12 CROCKPOT FREEZER MEALS AT ONCE!

12 CROCKPOT FREEZER MEALS AT ONCE! 

Okay, this was a multiple day process but so worth it! It will save you SO much TIME and MONEY! This is also coming from a 38 week pregnant person, so maybe for the ambitious it could all be done in one day :) Here is how I did it...

Day One:
- Collect recipes you want to make
- Make grocery lists
- Check your own kitchen's inventory

With the help of pinterest and google, I chose 12 recipes that I wanted to make. I wrote out each recipe on an index card, like this:

The 12 recipes I chose were:

1. Pork Chops
2. Chicken Chili
3. Salsa Chicken
4. Turkey Meatloaf
5. Honey Teriyaki Chicken
6. Buffalo Chicken Bites
7. Ground Turkey Casserole
8. Sausage Spinach Tomato Soup
9. Creamy Italian Chicken
10. Beef and Broccoli
11. Chicken Fajitas
12. Minestrone Soup

Obviously, I am a little partial to chicken but I tried to do a variety of meats to keep it varied and for hubby's sake. He is also not the biggest soup person, but there are a TON of easy freezer crockpot soup recipes you could choose from if you want to! 

I also had a rule for my own sanity - anything that had more ingredients than what could fit on my little index card was automatically out. Nobody's got time for that. 

You can find a blog for each of these recipes in my "crockpot" section of my blog!

Next, I made grocery lists in CATEGORIES. This was super helpful for me and made me feel way less overwhelmed. So my categories were:

1. Meats
2. Liquids
3. Seasonings
4. Veggies (fresh)
5. Canned/frozen goods
6. Miscellaneous

After I checked and double checked that I had EVERY ingredient from every recipe, I took inventory in my own kitchen. Anything that I already had enough of I highlighted so I knew not to buy it again. Like this:

Day Two:

- Grocery Shop!

I highly recommend going at a time when the grocery store will not be packed and you can TAKE your TIME! I probably went through the whole store at least twice. But having those bulk lists was a huge help, and buying in bulk (meats), although seemingly expensive at the time, definitely saved me a lot of money in the long term. 

Also, as always friends, do NOT start this adventure hungry or grouchy! Make sure your belly is full and you're ready to do this so that you do not have to make a second trip back out! Here I am right before going inside the Trader Joe's! 

*Note: the one thing I forgot to put on my miscellaneous list was GALLON BAGS (duh). I was totally that person that had meat and veggies scattered all over the kitchen and had to quickly run to CVS to get more. So, do not forget those! 

Honestly, by the time I got home and THEN put everything away I was spent. But like I said, if you are feeling ambitious, you may want to combine day 2 and day 3. 

Day Three:

- Chop everything

- Assemble your bags

- Label your bags

- Get all of them to fit in your freezer ;) 

Okay, the chopping is the most tedious and time-consuming part after the actual shopping trip. Here is what I recommend:

- Take all your meats out of the freezer and let them defrost slightly in your sink (you are going to freeze them again, they just need a slight defrost so you can handle them, separate them, etc.) 

- In the meantime, chop up all of your veggies and drain any canned goods 

I chopped all veggies but left them in big bulk piles (example: I needed a total of like 5 yellow onions; I chopped and kept them all together, I did not separate them for each recipe). Then when you are making your bags, you can either eyeball it or measure them out. 

- Next, get ready to assemble! I put the meat on the bottom of all of the bags (consider how you are storing them before you start this). Then I added heavier veggies, lighter veggies and beans, seasonings, and garnishes on top. EVERYTHING goes in EXCEPT liquids. You can add those as you are dumping everything into the crockpot. 

- I labeled each bag with the name of the meal, the date I put it together, and how long it needed to cook. Example: "Creamy Italian Chicken. 12/02/2016. HIGH 3-4 hours, LOW 6 hours." The date is important because you should not let these meals sit in the freezer for more than 3 months. 

Then you are done! Store all bags in your freezer and you want to take them out and place them in the refrigerator the night before cooking. It's hard to give you an exact number of how much this cost me because I bought other stuff simultaneously, but my rough math is coming out to about $170. That comes out to about $14 per meal, NOT including leftovers! Winner winner chicken dinner!