But, our story begins about a month ago. I was standing in my kitchen (crying) because I hated the fact that I was cooking dinner while my 4.5 month old (at the time) was playing. I thought to myself, why on Earth am I cooking right now?! This little baby is so happy and playing...and I am missing it.
I started surfing Pinterest (after he went to bed that night, and I stopped being emotional) to find crockpot recipes to make my evenings a little less occupied. I found this pin that lead me to this blog that got me thinking - I bet I could save money AND time in the long run if I spent a day prepping.
In comes my email to Robin (who has a three year old and is way preggers right now) soliciting help in this new venture. Most crockpot recipes will feed 4 adult dinners with one or two leftover lunches. My email asked for her to pick 10 crockpot recipes and I would pick 10. We would consolidate the lists, split the cost and split the meals.
After we consolidated everything to one master Excel list (submit a comment here and I will email you the document), Robin bought all the canned, non-perishable goods and frozen foods earlier in the week. I bought all the meats at Sam's Club and the fresh produce the morning of.
We spent the day laughing and having girl time while we chopped and diced and sliced and cut and boiled and sauteed and pureed until we felt like we could chop, dice, slice, cut, boil, sautee and puree no more.
It was a great time, a LOT of work, but think about how easy these meals will be now that both of our freezers are STUFFED to the gills.
Without further ado, here is a list of all the recipes we prepared. Click the link to it's individual blog post that includes ingredients and cook times.
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A few special words of note:
All the recipes listed are the FULL recipe. If you make it as-is it will feed a family of 4 (with lunch leftovers). If you are doing this experiment by yourself, either cut each recipe IN HALF, or SPLIT every meal between TWO bags. Don't forget the purchase one-gallon freezer bags before you start. You'll need 40. And, don't skimp and buy the generic brand. Nobody likes freezerburn.
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SOUP
These soups have been cooked (no crockpot necessary). Simply remove from the container and heat up. (I prefer the stove top method, but if you are putting in plastic containers, you could probably nuke it, too).
MAKE-AHEAD MEALS
While these are also not crockpot recipes, they are great pre-prepped, fast meals
CROCKPOT MEALS: PORK OR HAM
CROCKPOT MEALS: BEEF OR SAUSAGE
CROCKPOT MEALS: CHICKEN OR TURKEY
So there you have it! With a little bit of patience and a lot of space in the freezer, I can now throw on the crockpot a few times a week and gain my evenings back to spend with my family :)
