Get a jump start on your meal prep with these crockpot freezer meals, perfect for busy families and new moms. Make ahead freezer meals save time and save money. Prep and freeze the crockpot meals in a plastic bag for easy weeknight dinners.
This site uses ad networks and affiliate links to generate revenue.
Make Ahead Freezer Meals for The Crockpot:
Last month I decided to try out meal planning using crockpot freezer meals. The premade crock pot meals were a huge success and made dinner time so much easier. I didn’t have to deal with looking through the pantry and fridge wondering what I would cook for dinner.. I can take one of the slow cooker meals out of the freezer and thaw it in the fridge over night. In the morning I can add a crockpot liner and empty the freezer bag right into the crockpot.
By dinner time we had a home cooked meal ready without the stress of running around the kitchen making dinner, and little to no mess to clean up.
We enjoyed trying out the five slow cooker recipes that I made last month, but decided to give some new recipes a try. I decided on 8 different crockpot freezer meals. All these premade crock pot meals feed our family of 4, 2 adults 2 children, usually with at least one serving leftover – great for lunch the following day. You can always add in more veggies or meat to customize for your family.
Tips for making meals ahead of time.
- Gather all of your recipes
- Make a grocery list
- Write the name & directions on the freezer bag
- Dedicated one to two hours preparing the meals
- If you don’t have an extra set of hands, I highly recommend these baggy clips. They’ll keep the freezer bag open so that fill with meat, vegetables, spices, and sauces.
What crockpot do I use?
I use a programmable Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker With Temperature Probe, 6 Quart.
This week we decided on 8 frozen crockpot recipes to prepare that included chicken, spareribs, pork, and beef. The frozen crockpot meals included pulled pork, beef stroganoff, cheesy chicken potato and broccoli, BBQ spareribs, orange chicken, honey garlic chicken, chicken sweet potatoes, and nacho chicken for movie night.
Our Favorite Crockpot Products:
8 Crockpot Freezer Meals:
Crockpot Nacho Chicken
Ingredients
- 2-4 chicken breast
- 1 can Rotel
- 1 package taco seasoning
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in gallon size freezer bag. Seal bag and place in freezer. When ready to use thaw in fridge overnight. Empty the contents out of the bag and into crock pot. Cook on low 8-10 hours.
- Spread Nacho Chicken over tortilla chips, and top with your choice of toppings including shredded cheese, green onions, black olives, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and salsa.
Not familiar with Ro-Tel? It’s diced tomatoes with green chilies and can be found in the isle near the cans of diced tomatoes.
Crock-Pot Cheesy Chicken Potato & Broccoli
Ingredients
- 2-4 chicken breasts
- 1 large green pepper chopped
- 2 cups broccoli chopped
- 1 lb. red potatoes sliced thin
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
- 1/4 lb. 4 oz. VELVEETA®, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Add all ingredients except for cheese in a gallon freezer bag. Seal bag and place in freezer. When ready to use thaw in fridge overnight. Cook 6 hours low. Add cheese and cook on high for 5 minutes. Stir melted cheese in.
Crock Pot Orange Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 cups carrots
- 2 cups bell pepper
- 1 lb chicken breast
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 8 oz orange juice concentrate
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in freezer bag. Seal bag and place in freezer. Thaw over night in fridge. Empty contents out of bag and into crock pot. Cook on low 4-6 hours. Serve over rice.
Crock Pot BBQ Spareribs
Ingredients
- 2 lbs of pork ribs
- 1 1/2 cups ketchup
- 1 1/2 Tbsp seasoned salt
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
Instructions
- Place pork ribs in gallon sized ziplock. Mix remaining ingredients together in a separate bowl and pour over ribs. Seal bag and place in freezer. Thaw over night in fridge. Empty contents out of bag and into crock pot. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-7 hours.
Crock-Pot Honey Garlic Chicken
With just 5 minutes of prep this honey garlic chicken is a simple and easy weeknight dinner recipe. The chicken cooks all day in the crock pot with a delicious 5 ingredient honey garlic sauce.
Crock-Pot Honey Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
- 2-4 boneless chicken breasts
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 Teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 cups carrots or choice of veggie
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in gallon size zip-lock. Seal bag and place in freezer. Thaw overnight in fridge. Empty contents into slow cooker and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high 3-4.
Shop our favorite Crockpot Products:
Crock-Pot Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of cubed beef stew meat or 4 cups of cooked ground beef
- 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup sour cream
- 2 Tbsp. minced garlic
- packet of onion soup mix
- chopped mushrooms optional
- egg noodles to serve over the day you cook
Instructions
- Cook beef in skillet over med heat until no longer pink, set aside and let it cool. Once cooled, add all ingredients to a gallon size freezer bag except egg noodles. Seal bag and place in freezer. When ready to use thaw in fridge overnight. Empty the contents out of the bag and into crock pot. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Serve over egg noodles.
Chicken Sweet Potatoes:
Ingredients
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 1 tsp. curry powder
- 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
- 3 sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 cup peach preserves OR apricot preserves
- 3 tsp. apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
- 1/2 cup chicken broth or water
- 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
Instructions
- Coat chicken with salt, cayenne pepper, paprika, curry powder, and ginger. Add peach preserves, vinegar, and soy sauce to gallon freezer bag. Add in sweet potatoes and onion, and top with chicken. Seal bag and place in freezer. When ready to use thaw in fridge overnight. Empty the contents out of the bag and into crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours until chicken is thoroughly cooked and sweet potatoes are tender when pierced with fork.
- Combine chicken broth and cornstarch and mix well. Add to slow cooker. Cover and cook on high 10-15 minutes until sauce is thickened.
Crock-Pot Pulled Pork
Pulled Pork
Ingredients
- 4-5 lbs pork butt/shoulder
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 1-2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 4 tablespoons paprika
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 large onion - sliced thin
- BBQ Sauce
Instructions
- Combine all dry ingredients except onion in bowl.
- Rub the spice blend onto pork butt, covering all sides.
- Place onions and pork in the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours.
- Shred pork with 2 forks.
- Add BBQ sauce if preferred.
Notes
Nutrition
I don’t have the estimated cost for all of these crockpot freezer meals as I stock up on meats and canned food when on sale. You can always add in extra ingredients/change the recipe to your family’s liking, these are meals and ingredients that our family enjoys.
With our work schedule, the 4-6 hour slow cooking time works best which is why most of the recipes are not for 8-10 hour days. I also always have never placed the ingredients in frozen – always thawed, so I’m not sure the cooking time if frozen.
More Crockpot to Freezer Meals That You May Enjoy:
