ROUND 3- Freezer Crock Pot Meals {Recipe+Grocery List Download}

September 19, 2013


I have shared before my experience with entering the whole
freezer crock pot meal making world…
Here’s what I did the third time around!
Join me in trying out these recipes to
make meal time a little easier for us busy mamas!

I’m off to the Influence Conference next week,
and that was motivation to make up another batch of freezer meals.
I want to make it as easy as possible for my husband with the 3 kiddos.
And…it’ll give me some peace of mind knowing he has these to pull out!
Ben is great at cooking dinner when it comes to the crock pot.
He is better than me at remembering to get it going earlier in the day!

Here’s the recipes we are trying this time around…
keep reading to click to the original recipe links
and to download my grocery and recipe list!

I posted my first try at freezer meals HERE. and my second try HERE.
Our favorites out of those batches HAS to be the Chicken & Dumplings.
(without potatoes..because they kept turning brown. I don’t have time to blanch them!! ;)
I suggest making that one too if you are going to make up a  batch!
add it to the list gurl. asap.

This time around we are Making:
(Tonight I’ll link the original recipes here.
But I have to go get a haircut right now. haha.)
Teriyaki Chicken (1).
Maple Dijon Glazed Chicken(2)
Beef and Broccoli (1)
Pulled Barbecue Chicken (1)
Chicken Broccoli Alfredo (1)
not pictured– Chicken & Dumplings (1)
The husband likes broccoli..and the kids love chicken.
so that helped in the decision making of this round.
I’m not making the chicken & dumplings because I made
it a couple days ago already..but wanted to include
it in this round up since it’s a favorite!

You can download the GROCERY LIST to make it extra easy to shop.
You probably will have a lot of the items on there already
stocked up in your pantry like I did..but I wanted to make sure
to put each thing down so you can double check
what you have and what you need! :)
And you can download the RECIPE LIST to use when bagging up everything!
I love you. what can I say.

I kinda love the part where you write on the freezer bags the recipe title..any instructions of what to add to the crock pot directly (like water..) and how long to cook it for.
If your husband is making dinner with the crock pot..
he won’t even need to ask you a question about the recipe
..it’s all right there! the only think he’ll be saying is WOW WIFE.. YOU ARE AWESOME AND SO ORGANIZED AND PUT TOGETHER I’M SO LUCKY TO HAVE YOU.

Here’s the recipes I made up again.
I sometimes double them..but since these are all new recipes
I wanted to try them first before I make up a freezer full! ;)
Let me know what you think about the recipes and I’ll do the same!

40
  • mrslindseym
    September 19, 2013 at 2:09 pm

    both of the links take me to the grocery list :(

  • sarah @ life {sweet} life
    September 20, 2013 at 2:05 am

    Thanks SO much for sharing! Going to give it a shot. :)

  • Hayley
    September 20, 2013 at 3:57 pm

    Hey! Thanks for these recipes! I am making the chicken and dumplings. Do you shred the chicken after it’s done? Thanks.

  • Hayley
    September 20, 2013 at 8:12 pm

    Ok. I made it and shredded the chicken. It was SOOOOOOOO good. I added broccoli. My husband LOVED it. Awesome. Thanks.

    • Natalie Catherine of TheBusyBudgetingMama.com
      October 8, 2013 at 2:47 pm

      hey!! yay! Isn’t it amazing?? that’s my favorite crock pot recipe so far. I keep trying more..but always end up loving that one the most! But yes I usually just pull it out and slice it up and then toss it back in with the biscuits. :)

  • Anonymous
    September 21, 2013 at 2:21 pm

    Natalie, thank you so much for the great lists! A friend and I decided that we are going to do a day of freezer cooking together. These will be so helpful as we set our game plan!

  • Sarah N
    September 25, 2013 at 10:38 pm

    Creamed spinach pasta looks great! My little will eat pasta any time of day I am going to try this out for sure!

  • Aubrey
    October 5, 2013 at 9:10 am

    Each time I click on your links, it says sorry the page you requested is no longer available? I tried it for each of your posts on freezer cooking. ?

  • Emily
    October 8, 2013 at 12:41 pm

    This may be a silly question but when I take the bags from the freezer, do they need to defrost first or am I supposed to put frozen ingredients into the crock pot?

  • Alice
    October 9, 2013 at 11:20 am

    Just came across your freezer/crockpot meals. Excited to try these out!! I love PW’s Pulled Pork! We make that one a lot. Another meal I make at least once a week that you might like is Zesty Chicken Tacos. It is my favorite and I recommend it to everyone!!

    Crockpot Zesty Chicken

    1 package of raw chicken tenderloins
    1 package taco seasoning
    1 package Ranch seasoning
    1 can chicken broth

    Combine the broth and seasonings; mix well. Add the chicken. Cook on high for 4 hours or low 5-6 hours.

    After it’s cooked, shred with a fork. I serve it on heated corn tortillas with sauteed onions and bell peppers. I top it with a little fat free sour cream, shredded cheese, and cilantro.

  • Karen Skilling
    October 9, 2013 at 4:55 pm

    Thank you for sharing your family’s recipes. We had the chicken and dumplings today, and they are sooooo yummy! Anyway, I am wondering how many servings/meals your family got out of Round 3? I am guessing two meals per recipe, since that’s what most of the Round 1 and 2 have. I want to make all three “rounds” on our next freezer cooking weekend. Thanks again!

  • Helpdesk
    October 14, 2013 at 11:09 pm

    Hey I’ve got a great tip for shredding chicken REALLY fast. Just take the cooked chicken while it’s still hot and put it in your stand mixer (like a Kitchen Aid) with the regular mixing paddle and turn it on the lowest setting (mine is STIR). A few minutes later you’ll have shredded chicken. It’s wayyyy faster than doing it with forks or something and you can work on something else while it’s shredding by itself!

  • Taylor Valandingham
    October 29, 2013 at 5:07 pm

    Thanks for the recipes Natalie! I made them all last night and I feel like my life just got a little less stressful. It barely took me any time for 6 days of dinner, and I have enough meet left to make 4 more freezer bags! Thanks for the post. I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now =)

  • Anonymous
    November 19, 2013 at 10:27 pm

    Wow this is awesome, thank you so much! I’m just learning to cook, so a walk through like this is so helpful!

  • Anonymous
    November 22, 2013 at 9:09 pm

    For the chicken and dumplings… do you cook the biscuits first?

  • Christena Williams
    November 30, 2013 at 7:46 pm

    Hey! In the pulled pork recipe there is a half a bottle of dr pepper ingredient. What size bottle? A liter, or a 20oz?

  • mish
    January 5, 2014 at 10:27 pm

    hI
    canned biscuits??? what are they? an actual biscuit or jsut the dough? sweet biscuit / savoury and is there a substitute I could use? Im in OZ and they are very foreign to me

    • Natalie Catherine of TheBusyBudgetingMama.com
      January 8, 2014 at 12:05 am

      hey! yes canned biscuit dough.. you can get Pillsbury variety or the store brand! You could always make biscuits and then pour the crock pot mixture over it..but that would be more like chicken pot pie texture.

  • Anonymous
    January 12, 2014 at 3:06 pm

    Says both the recipe list and the grocery list are temporarily unavailable :(

  • Anonymous
    January 15, 2014 at 1:48 pm

    hi love your site and the chicken and dumplings, so no bbq sauce in the pulled chkn? and what do you serve with it? plz

  • gemma6
    February 9, 2014 at 11:52 am

    Hi – instead of high for 4 hours for some of these can I do low 6-7? I am out of the house all day and trying to figure these out – they look great!!!

  • Julia DeSimone
    February 20, 2014 at 8:19 pm

    Thank you so much for posting these! I’m a working mom AND a full-time college student, and these recipes are a life saver for weeknights :) Our favorite so far is the chicken & dumplings – even my 2 year old couldn’t get enough!

  • Em
    March 12, 2014 at 11:42 am

    Just a reminder to link the recipes, please!

  • Emily Hayes
    April 16, 2014 at 3:28 pm

    Do you eat the pulled chicken on rice or on buns? Also, did your family like them all, like would you double them next time?

  • Sarah Dallis
    April 30, 2014 at 10:38 pm

    Thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU! I love slow cooker freezer meals and I love more when I can find recipe and a shopping list!!! You are awesome and my family thanks you for making life simple!

  • Heather
    September 24, 2014 at 2:49 pm

    Sorry for the dumb question, but what do you mean by put in one bag, but it gives you two meals? Is the second meal leftovers? If it gives two meals, why not put it in two bags? Thanks!

  • Michelle
    December 11, 2014 at 12:42 pm

    I didn’t see it in the directions, and I was a little uncertain from the pictures – do you cut up the chicken beforehand or just put the whole chicken breasts right into your freezer bags and either cut or pull apart while it is cooking?

    • natalie
      January 15, 2015 at 10:11 pm

      I didn’t cut them up.. just straight into the bags :)

  • Amber
    March 24, 2015 at 2:23 pm

    HELP!!! I have all my ingredients sitting here on the counter so I can start throwing this all together but, the recipe link keeps giving me an error message!!!
    I have waited an hour and a half…. can you post it or email it or something???

    • Amber
      March 24, 2015 at 2:30 pm

      Yay!!! It works now!!!

  • Genna
    April 10, 2015 at 2:23 pm

    Hi :) I tried out a variety of your recipes to make 2 weeks worth of dinner, and meal time at our house has never been so stress free as it is now ! thank you! Our favorite is definitely chicken and dumplings.
    I did have one question:
    I loved the flavor of the beef barley soup, but it was really thick and of course got even thicker when refrigerating the leftovers (like the consistency of jell-o” did I do something wrong or is that just the way it goes? I’ve never cooked barley before so thought maybe that was it?
    Prepping my second round tonight or tomorrow, what a life saver.
    Thanks again

    • natalie
      April 10, 2015 at 10:47 pm

      It did that for me too! I’m gonna share our next round with our favorites and new ones to try. Our favorite for sure is the chicken and dumplings too!!