This scrumptious Slow Cooker Mushroom Barley Stew is a great family vegetarian dinner soup that is also a freezer meal! I prepared this meal in an afternoon when doing twenty crockpot freezer meals for my family's dinners. With end of the school year activities in full swing and summer break coming, I wanted to make a bunch of prep ahead meals that I could make for my family. This is one of the 20 Slow Cooker Freezer Meals in 4 Hours Plan.
So I got busy finding and creating recipes so I could take an afternoon and have meals ready to go for my family. This vegan crockpot stew recipe was one of my favorite meals out of all the slow cooker meals. I served the delicious vegetable stew with a hot loaf of bread. It would also be great with salad. My family really enjoyed this meal and it was a great way to stretch our family budget. I like to skip a traditional protein once a week to help reduce our budget. My husband and I really loved the mushroom in the stew as an alternative to meat.
Be sure that you invest in a good quality slow cooker. Our favorite is this programmable cook and carry 6qt oval slow cooker. I hope you enjoy this slow cooker mushroom barley stew recipe as much as my family did! It is soon to be a family favorite.
Ingredients
- 1 lb mushrooms
- ¼ cup baby carrots diced
- 1 sliced celery rib
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1 cup uncooked barley
- 2 quarts vegetable stock
Instructions
- Label gallon size freezer bag with name of recipe, date and instructions.
- Place all ingredients in bag except vegetable stock and seal.
- Place in freezer.
- To Cook: Thaw overnight in fridge.
- Dump bag in slow cooker and add vegetable stock; stir well.
- Place lid on.
- Cook on low 8 hours.
- Serve and enjoy!
More Freezer Meals Recipes and Ideas
8 Crockpot Freezer Meals in 2 hours plan
10 Healthy Slow Cooker Freezer Meal Plan
Shelley is a boy mom, marine wife, and is blessed with an amazing family. She loves sharing recipes, travel reviews and tips that focus on helping busy families make memories.
Eric
The mushrooms look sliced in the photo, but the recipe doesn't say they're sliced. Also, wouldn't mushrooms be a weird consistency after freezing and thawing?
Melissa@StockpilingMoms
Yes, they are sliced. I will update. No strange consistency at all 🙂 Enjoy!
Maryann D.
Pinned: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/6966574404678831/
Lauren
I can not find Barley pearls...could I use lentils instead?
Melissa@StockpilingMoms
Yes, should be no problem.
Susannah
Can you pour the broth into the freezer bag with everything else before freezing?
Melissa@StockpilingMoms
You can but there may not be enough room to freeze.
Andrea
My husband would require a meat for his meal could i add a meat to this dish?
Melissa@StockpilingMoms
Absolutely! Add beef stew meat - that would be oh so good!
Marissa
Can I make this and then freeze it?
Melissa@StockpilingMoms
Yes you can.
Cheyenne
How long does it cook if you are not freezing it first?
Melissa@StockpilingMoms
Same amount of time 🙂
Jeanette
Any substitutes for mushrooms in this recipe you would recommend? I am doing the 20 freezer meals in 4 hours and this is the only recipe I'm iffy about if I will like it (not a fan of mushrooms). I don't want to really double another recipe because I am relying on the shopping list to ensure I have everything and not sure if these ingredients are found in other meals. Do you recommend putting stew beef in the place of the mushrooms?
Melissa Jennings
Yes, I would sub beef.