6 Crockpot meals in 1 hour 49 minutes

A few weeks ago I used an empty Sunday afternoon to prepare 3 casserole dishes for later in the work week. The feeling of coming home to almost NO dinner prep was pure bliss. I used the time to read to my kids, cure cancer, and find world peace. Or maybe this just left more time for me to harp on them to finish homework, clean the play room, and to stop jumping on the couches. Either way, I appreciated one less thing to do in my busy evenings.

I've been lucky enough this year to have hoarded some extra vacation days that allowed me to take some quality time off this holiday season. I knew it would be hard to go back to a 5-day work week after all this vacation time, so to re-create the feeling of bliss I previously felt, I chose 6 appetizing crockpot recipes to prepare in advance and store in the freezer for my first stressful week back at work.

1) Crockpot Chalupas - prep time was 15 minutes
2) Manly Chicken - prep time was 8 minutes
3) Crockpot Tortellini - prep time was 13 minutes
4) Chicken Alfredo with Mushrooms and Spinach - prep time was 11 minutes
5) Curried Chicken Stew - prep time was 34 minutes, lots of chopping!
6) Jambalaya - prep time was 28 minutes, but I blame the shrimp I had to peel and de-tail



As I prepare each meal, I will write a new post detailing each recipe and the outcome, and I will link the post to the names of the meals above. Each post will have its own shopping list.

USEFUL TIPS:

Put your gallon-sized ziploc bags in a pitcher or blender without the blade. This will hold your bag upright and open while you add your ingredients.

Label your ziploc bags before you fill them. Include any cooking tips specific to each recipe that you think you might forget in the next few weeks.

Create a shopping list to buy your ingredients all at once. When you get home, separate them according to recipe, then do all your prep right away. This saves you from unpacking the groceries, putting them away, and getting them back out again. A small time-saver, but still a time-saver.

Freeze any fresh herbs separately in a small baggie. You can tuck it in the gallon ziploc bag after you add the ingredients, or tape it to the outside.



When you're ready to put your frozen dinner in the crockpot, either put it in the fridge the night before to thaw, defrost the bag in the microwave just enough to loosen the liquid, or just put the whole frozen chunk in the crockpot. When I go to work, I'm gone for 11-12 hours. This is long enough to cook even a frozen solid 2lb chunk of pork shoulder!