Freezer Crockpot Meal Bags

Recently I came across the concept of FREEZER Crockpot Meal Bags. Basically it's where you prep the whole recipe, place it in a bag in the freezer, thaw it the night before, and then plop it in the crockpot the day of! I found out about it via a google image search for regular crockpot recipes, and then a site called: MamaAndBabyLove.com


I couldn't imagine being on my feet for as long as it would take to grocery shop, wash, and prep everything, especially at nine months pregnant; so, last Saturday my mom visited and helped me do this for 8 freezer meals. (Thank you Mama!)Below is basically how we did it, and what I learned. 

ADVICE/GUIDELINES: 
So, first, is recipe selection. Select your recipes wisely, or modify them. Don't even try to freeze sour cream, creams, cheeses and other dairy products, or delicate vegetables and fresh herbs such as green onions, parsley or cilantro. Stir those ingredients into the recipe at the end of the cooking time, or garnish on individual servings.

Planning/Timing: If you're gonna be making many meals with dried beans or beef/steak meals that require soaking the beans overnight or browning of the meat, you may want to do those tasks, plus washing your veggies the night before so everything's ready to go in the morning. (Otherwise, if you do everything all in the same day, the beans stay too firm (for my taste), the meat doesn't cool fast enough to put into bags, and the veggies take forever to wash!) Just a suggestion that I wish we would've thought of; but, it's your choice of course.

To start Prep Work: clean/sanitize your entire countertop. Pull all needed spices, condiments and sauces out so they're ready to go. Drain & rinse any canned beans. Start to wash, and cut all your veggies to their sizes. Then place them all assembly-line style down the counter. **Tip:   prep your potatoes and onions last so they don't brown too much, nor stink up the kitchen, respectively! 

Before Filling bags: Label each on a FLAT surface (Yes, I learned that the hard way! heehee) Recipe Name /Date, Cooking time/Setting, Anything that will need added in (water, broth, cilantro, etc)

Lastly, I did see 2 advisories somewhere online: 1) About Needing to THAW out the bag the night before to prevent your crock from cracking!  And 2) That you don't want to skimp on the quality of the freezer bags. I don't KNOW that either is mandatory, but you wouldn't want to learn the hard way, right!?  

MY RECIPES: 

The weird thing I found while researching...as usual, the measurement were given in typical 'cups', etc. BUT I needed to know HOW MANY of each veggie to buy. So, I changed the recipes I found to show the NUMBER of veggies I needed. Sorry if that's confusing for you; I wasn't planning on posting them. It's really a personal choice of proportion anyway - answering for yourself which veggies you want to dominate according to your tastes.  

With all that said, here are the 4 recipes I came up with: I'm gonna try cooking each for: 6Hrs on LOW and see how they turn out in my 3qt crockpot. Wish me luck cause the recipes I used CANNOT be called *TESTED* until I eat them in about a month from now when baby's born :-P

BEEF STEW:
3 carrots, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 yellow squash, diced
3/4 cup green beans, fresh or frozen, diced
1 med onion, diced (or 1 tablespoon onion powder) 
1 1/2 potatoes, cubed
1 lb. Beef Stew Meat, cubed
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained


2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp. beef bouillon
1 tsp chopped garlic (chopped, diced, or pureed)
1/4 tsp pepper (white or black)
1 tsp salt 
2 T. A/P flour
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
**ADD:  2 cups water to crockpot


POT ROAST: 

6 carrots, large cut OR 1 bag  baby carrots

4 stalks celery, large cut

1 large onion (or 2 med.) large cut

5 med potatoes, large cut

2lb beef, large cut & browned/pan seared & cooled

2 tsp beef bouillon

2 tsp garlic puree

1/2 tsp pepper (white or black)

1 tsp salt

1tsp onion powder

2 bay leaves

**NO WATER ADDED

BEAN CHILI: 

1 zucchini, diced

1 med. green pepper, diced

1 med. onion, diced

2 can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 cans dark kidney beans, drained

1 can black beans, drained

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp garlic puree

1/4 tsp pepper (white or black) 

1/2 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp onion powder 

1 T. cumin powder

2 T chili powder

VEGGIE SOUP: 

1 carrot, diced/grated

1 stalk celery, diced

1 cup green beans, diced (fresh or frozen)

1/2 zucchini, diced

1/2 squash, diced 

1 med onions, diced

1/2 potato, diced  

1 cup Peas, frozen

1 cup Corn, frozen 

1/2 cup lima beans, frozen

2 can tomatoes, diced

1 can navy beans , drained 

1tsp garlic puree

1/2 onion powder

1/4 tsp pepper (white or black)

1tsp salt

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp paprika

Fruits of My Labor & Family Traditions!

Don't they look scrumptious!?  They are!   There is just nothing quite like a fresh warm blueberry right from the bush!  It was a beautiful morning of picking with friends, old and new.  I probably did more talking than picking, but came home with 5.25 lbs.!  A respectable amount I'd say!  It's certainly better than the handful I picked Tuesday when we got rained out of picking!  I plan to freeze about 2 lbs., bake a few things (not sure what yet), and have some leftover to share with friends and neighbors.

While I'm on the subject of fruit, I have to mention that we have been eating so much fruit this year compared to previous years.  Heck! In Cleveland I barely remember eating any sort of fruit other than watermelon and bananas.  But here in NC, farmers markets abound, and along with all the local/regional produce that Whole Foods sells, I've found a renewed love for fresh fruit, for many reasons!  Here's one cute reason: a mom mentioned to me this morning how, after multiple questions from her daughter as to why exactly grapes had stems, she was able to show her why fruits have stems, simply by their picking berries together!   I love that!

My sisters and I as kids used to pick strawberries with my Italian grandfather and bring them home to my grammy for some serious jam making!  And at the supermarket, grammy would somehow choose for us the sweetest plums I've ever eaten.  I hadn't tasted a plum so sweet since then, until this past week when I bit into a Black Velvet plum form Whole Foods. of course, once Munchkin tried it, he wanted the res of it, but what I did get to try of it was DELICIOUS!!  I think they were from Florida or SC, and they were fuzzy like a peach - best of both fruits! (But I hope it wasn't a type of "genetically modified" fruits!)  Believe it or not, after 4yrs of living in NC, I just this year tasted a Georgia peach -- WOW!  It was honestly hard to stop at just one!  But the local NC peaches at the farmers market will do just fine, too!

Whether Jack Lalanne was just selling juicers or really meant it that fresh fruits are so much better for you than frozen, I'll never know; but, I DO know it's good for the SOUL to pick them with your own hands! For our family it seems to be somewhat of a tradition to pick fruits, on both sides of the family.  Kudos to my mom for her success in growing her first plums this year!  She planted them when I was pregnant, specifically so her grandchildren could come to "GaGa's" house and pick fruits straight from the trees, just as my sisters and I did from her parents' :-)  It warms my heart to see Munchkin enjoy whole foods so much!  What will make me equally as happy will be to know that he understands where his food comes from!  I forgot for a while in my early twenties, but have been reminded by this wonderfully fruitful state of NC!

So have you picked or do you plan on picking some berries/fruits this year?

Good things come to those who...

Those who reach out their hands and grab, of course!  

In Munchkin's case it's excusable since he can't speak yet -- heehee.   

Probably "my bad" for placing them on the window sill within arm's reach.  

At least they're made from whole wheat & oatmeal, right!?  

Wild Black Rasberries!

Last summer, Munchkin and I discoverd wild blackberry bushes while walking one of our city's greenways.  I don't mean a couple of bushes, I mean hundreds!!  He was very young, so I couldn't stay long and pick much, but I quickly (like within 15min) picked almost a quart!

So naturally, I put a reminder in my calendar to return again this year, and on Monday and Wednesday, in just two 20min pickings came home with 2 quarts of black raspberries!  They're not HUGE like the Costco ones, or farmers market ones for that matter, but they are MUCH sweeter!  And have that natural tang to them!  They are delicious plain (how Munchkin likes them), but they are sublime with a dollop of whipped topping on them.  I can barely stop eating them once I start!   Free, organic, wild black raspberries -- DIVINE!    

Isn't life sweet!?

Sweet blueberry goodness.  These were de-li-cious.
Sorry to tease, but I made these and just HAD to share them with you somehow --
even if it had to be through cyberspace.
Hope you're out there enjoying some treat for yourself that's just as wonderful!