Crockpot Freezer Meals
Crockpot Freezer Meals are great. I love being able to pull a meal out of the freezer, put it in the oven or crockpot and not have to slave in the kitchen all day on those busy days when you just don’t have time to cook…or don’t feel like cooking.
Busy Moms need quick, easy solutions for the every day things that we do.
If you haven’t read up on what this is all about, start at my Crockpot Freezer Cooking. Then come back and you can get going on the actual recipes.
This is the second in the Crockpot Freezer Meals series. This is the Hamburger series. When you’re cooking in bulk. It’s obviously easier to gather several of the same meat recipes and cook those at the same time. So that’s what I did with this series. I bulk cooked 4 lbs of hamburger and then split it up into each of these 4 recipes.
Freezer Bag Tips:
When prepping your Crockpot Freezer Meals, get your freezer bags out ahead of time. Write the Meal on the bag and instructions. After adding all ingredients, squeeze out as much air as you can, lay flat to freeze.
Cooking Tips:
You may have to adjust cooking times. I cooked all of the hamburger ahead of time so all that is needed is for the meals to thaw out and for the other ingredients to cook. That may not take the time stated. All slow cookers/crockpots are also different so just watch your meals and adjust accordingly. Sometimes you might also just need to add a bit of water to your slow cooker or crockpot to keep it from cooking dry.
Make sure to also check out my Bulk Cooking Tips.
Crockpot Freezer Meals Hamburger
Recipes in this Series:
BBQs
Taco Soup
Chinese Hamburger
Tater Tot Casserole
1. BBQs
Ingredients
1 lb hamburger (already cooked)
1 can chicken gumbo soup
1/4 C ketchup
1 T mustard
1 package buns
Directions
Add all ingredients to bag (minus the buns). Mix to coat and freeze.
Write on Freezer Bag
Thaw slightly and add contents to crockpot.
Cook on low for 1-2 hours or until heated through.
2. Taco Soup
Ingredients
1 lb ground beef (cooked)
1 med. onion chopped
1 can corn drained
1 can back beans drained
1 can navy beans drained
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
2 14 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 sm can diced green chiles
1 package taco seasoning
Toppings:
shredded cheese
Fritos
chopped green onions
Directions
Add all ingredients to bag and freeze.
Write on Freezer Bag
Thaw slightly and add contents to crock pot.
Cook on low for 4-6 hours or until done.
Serve with shredded cheese, chopped green onions and Fritos.
3. Chinese Hamburger
Ingredients
1 lb ground beef (cooked)
1 onion diced
2 ribs celery diced
1 can chicken noodle soup
1 can cream mushroom soup
12 oz can Chinese vegtables
1/4 – 1/2 t salt and pepper
1 green pepper diced
1 t soy sauce
Directions
Add ingredients to crockpot and mix. Freeze.
Write on Freezer Bag
Thaw slightly and add contents to crockpot.
Cook on high 3-4 hours or until done.
Serve over rice.
4. Tater Tot Casserole
Ingredients
1 lb hamburger (cooked)
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2 cans green beans, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 C milk
32 oz bag frozen tater tots (do not add to bag)
Directions
Add all ingredients except tater tots to bag. Mix. Freeze.
Write on Freezer Bag
Line bottom of crock pot with tater tots.
Thaw slightly and add contents over tots.
Cook on high 3 hours or until done.
Hope you enjoyed the Crockpot Freezer Meals Hamburger Series. You can find the printer friendly version here with Shopping list.
I love the idea of having ready to make crock pot meals
With the taco soup, do you use regular 14 1/2 oz cans of corn and beans?
Yes, sorry I didn’t specify. Just regular can sizes. Although you sure can go up and down depending on what your preference is. My family likes more corn, less beans so I certainly could add less beans if I wanted to. This is kind of one of those add in whatever you like soups. 🙂
I really need to take some time out of my chaotic life and do this. I wish we had a big, separate freezer – then I would definitely be more apt to do this for sure. I can’t wait to try the tator tot casserole.
I don’t have a big separate freezer either. The beauty of this system is that the ziploc baggies lay flat so they take up so much less room. I cleared off just 1 1/2 shelves on my side by side freezer and that’s where I stored all of them. Even if you just do a set of 4 or 5 meals, you’re saving yourself so much time and/or money/calories eating out. Yet alone the stress of “what’s for dinner.” 🙂 I’m looking forward to my next bulk cooking day. HA crazy!
That’s true – I didn’t think of it that way. Thank you!
I am definitely going to have to try the tater tot casserole – it sounds like a great all-in-one meal!
I just made it the other night. Took it out of the freezer, popped it in the crockpot. Came out very yummy! 🙂
Your tator tot recipe is similar to mine except I add a small bag of frozen mixed veggies not canned beans. =D I’ll definitely try this in the CP – I never thought to add the tots to the bottom of the casserole!
I have heard of the recipe with the mixed veggies but never tried it. I’ll have to try that next. 🙂 I’ve always done this recipe in the oven. It turned out great in the crockpot. Loving my cp!
Thank you for the shopping list to print! Such a time saver.
I actually just used this myself yesterday too 😉 I didn’t have time to plan..had to run out and shop quick. So I printed my freezer meals and the shopping list and headed to the store. So glad I have this for myself too. 😀
don’t the potatoes get all soggy in the tater tot casarole?
Nope, they don’t. But you don’t put in the tater tots with the rest of the ingredients. You’d just keep the tater tots in their own bag in the freezer and add them to the top when you put in the rest of the ingredients in the crock.
how does the taco soup become soup if you don’t add any water or chicken broth?
You could probably call it more of a chowder than a soup but there’s still some liquid in there. 🙂
Would it possible to put the meat in raw and just increase the cooking time?
I have never done raw hamburger in the recipe. However, I have cooked hamburger in the crock before. The trick to that is crumbling and stirring as it cooks. Otherwise you’ll have one big block of meat. 🙂
Im getting ready to make some of these today – Im pretty excited about it!!! I work graveyard shift and some days its a real chore to get dinner for the family. I like this idea because dinner will be cooking while I sleep, YAY!!! Thank you for the recipes and shopping list 😀
I am looking forward to trying the Chinese Hamburger! Great advice-it’s been a while since I’ve prepared ahead of time. Thank you!
I need to get back into batch cooking. Really does make fixing dinner so much easier.