I've been making freezer crock pot meals for a while now. A lifesaver on those days when I'm working and won't be home till dinner time, but a sporting event, band concert, school function, etc mean dinner needs to be RIGHT when I get home from work (either that or I end up cranky and hungry trying to manage cranky, hungry, tired babies! Not fun!!).
A few months ago I thought, wouldn't it be fun to do this WITH other people? I love my house full of boys, but some times I just need some girl time. Thus, my freezer meal party prep days started. About once a month, a group of ladies (who ever happens to be interested and free that day) bring ingredients and we chat and prep meals.
It's GREAT!
Girl time plus our freezers are a little more stocked.
Win Win!
We make 5 or 6 recipes each time and since there are a wide variety of family sizes represented at the parties, I usually try to make sure that each meal will feed one entire large family. Those that have smaller families either cook the entire meal and then refreeze portions for later use or separate the meal into multiple bags when they get home. For the the larger families, I think it averages out to be around $10-12 per meal and less per meal for the families that can get two or three meals out of each recipe.
Here are some recipes that I've posted before.
Part 1 - Teriyaki Chicken (you can do this with pork too); BBQ Ribs; and Salsa Chicken
Part 2 - Cheesy Chicken; Sausage Lentil Soup (this is a HUGE favorite); Sausage and Bean Supper
Part 3 - Quinoa Chili (this is a big hit too!); Black Bean and Chicken Tacos; Korean Beef Tacos
Here are a few more that we've been making.
Tortilla Soup (this one is SUPER yummy!)
Note for the crock pot meals: I recently saw an article that stated that the FDA recommends not cooking meat from frozen in your crock pot - not because the meat doesn't get thoroughly cooked, but because it stays at what they consider an unsafe temperature for too long. I'm a thaw meat on the counter, dump frozen meat in my crock pot and go girl...use your own judgement and do what you're comfortable with. The crock pot meals can all be pulled out of the freezer the night before and thawed in the fridge for easy dump and go the next morning.
Here are two that don't go in the crock pot.
Here are some for the grill.
Grilled Korean Pork Chops (this is SOOO Yummy!!)
And this is on my "got to try this soon" list!
I need to try and remember to take pictures of these when I cook them!
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