How to prepare a crockpot freezer meal session

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One of our most popular posts on our blog is how to prepare 20 Slow Cooker Freezer Meals in 4 hours. This post has been viewed by millions! In fact our video has been viral on Facebook with over 5.6 million views. We have had many questions for beginners who are just getting started preparing freezer meals so we decided to share these tips!

How to prepare a crockpot freezer meal session:

Make a grocery list (feel free to use our printable shopping lists if you using one of our plans to save time) of what you need for each recipe. Check your cabinets, pantry and freezer and cross off all ingredients you already have on hand.
Go to the grocery and purchase all the ingredients you need, including freezer bags. I like to use Kroger ClickList and request my meat to be cut in advance for me.
Label the ziploc bags. (Have each recipe pulled up on your computer and write the instructions on the bag along with the date you are preparing them. All of our recipes can be printed quickly for your ease. Many of our readers place them into a separate ziploc bag and reuse them each time they prepare our freezer meal plans.
On the day you are ready to prepare clean your kitchen counter tops and and pull out all ingredients for each recipe and place them on your kitchen table or counter (depending on how much room you have).
Get out cutting board and knives, measuring cups, mixing bowls, etc. Place your trash in a central location (near your cutting area) without the lid, or collect trash in paper bag to discard/compost later.
Wash and dry all produce. Peel, chop, or dice as needed, then set to the side.
Open all cans and discard sharp lids. Open all boxes/bags then set to the side.
Get out all spices that you will be using and remove the lids. I like to make a spice area on my counter so that I keep all of my spices together.
(If) the recipes call for you to cook any of the meat in advance then do that for all recipes at once and allow it to cool before placing it into the ziploc bags. Tip on how you can do this: Make a basic ground beef mixture of onions, and garlic then split the batch between the meals that call for ground beef, adding additional spices after you separate the meat by meals. For meals requiring cooked chicken, bake chicken breasts with salt and pepper, garlic powder, and paprika, adding additional spices to the meat after it’s separated by meal.
Follow step by step directions from the first recipe and fill the bag, then move to next recipe.
Lay the crockpot freezer meals flat in the freezer to take up less space.
When ready to prepare pull the freezer meal out the night before you want to cook and let thaw in the fridge overnight.

Be sure that you invest in a good quality slow cooker. Our favorite is this programmable cook and carry 6qt oval slow cooker. We hope that these tips help you will your first (or next freezer meal session). The first time that you prepare a freezer meal it will take you longer and then as you get more comfortable with it you will start taking less time.