There are only 2 times since having kids that I have felt “prepared” in the making dinner department. Both times has been when I prepped a bunch of freezer meals. Both times I was surprised how easy it was, how it’s actually kind of fun and how much time and money it saves. I searched for easy slow cooker freezer meals and found so many recipes.

How here’s how to prep about 12 nights of dinner in about an hour:

I say about 12 because I split the recipes in half. I like having smaller meals prepped since often I make something different for the kids. Since I now have them in smaller portions, if I do want to make enough for the whole family, I can just make both bags. So for each recipe I prefer to split it into 2 freezer bags.

I say about an hour because  the first time I made these it took a little less than an hour and when I made them this weekend it took a little longer since I was making them as a “fun Saturday night” and chatting and laughing the whole time.

Yes, you heard that right: making freezer meals CAN make for a fun Saturday night (the 24 year old me would really get a kick out of this). Kristin, my cousin/best friend/next door neighbor is about to have her first baby. I did my first round of freezer meals before Miles was born and it was a huge help to have. So I figured it would be fun to make them together so we are both prepared for the next few weeks. If you can make these with a friend, it makes it more fun and more cost efficient since you can split some of the spices, ingredients, etc. I keep saying if my kitchen was bigger, I’d have a few friends over and make a freezer meal party!

Also, when you are making these, you don’t have to freeze them all. You can keep some out to just put in the crockpot for the week. I am NOT a big frozen food person. I wish I was better with it, but besides when I make these slow cooker freezer meals I rarely have anything frozen in the dinner department.

To prep for the night, make sure you have a bunch of freezer bags. Make one big grocery list because you’ll find you can buy some ingredients in bulk that you’ll use in a few meals. If you find a recipe you know you’ll use a few times, double it! You’ll probably have enough ingredients and you’ll make even more meals in about the same amount of time.

Ok now for the 6 easy slow cooker freezer meal recipes we used:

Vegetarian Crockpot Freezer Meals:

All 3 of these vegetarian recipes come from the same post and you can actually print the shopping list right from the post (plus see 2 other vegetarian options).

1.Black Bean Fajitas 

2. Hearty Tomato Veggie and Barley Soup

3. Mexican Black Bean Chili with Cornbread Topping

Chicken and Turkey Crockpot Freezer Meals:

4. Mozzarella Stuffed Turkey Pesto Meatballs
5. Chicken Taco Soup
6. Honey Teriyaki Chicken

Last time I made crockpot freezer meals, I also did two SUPER easy recipes:

1. Chicken, salsa, black beans and corn
2. Chicken, applesauce, bbq sauce

Let me know if you find any others! I am going to NOT wait another 2 years before doing this again. I figure if I use 2 of these a week, I have 6 weeks of feeling “prepared” because dinner if ready for at least 2 nights. It might not be much, but even being “slightly” prepared for the week helps me out a lot. I hope this saves you some time mamas!

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